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**Disclaimer: This Tournament of Champions article is based on the writer's opinion. Readers' discretion is advised.**
Season 6 of Tournament of Champions aired its semifinals and finals on April 20, 2025. One of the semifinal cook-offs was between Chef Lee Anne Wong and Chef Sara Bradley. The battle's winner would move on and face the winner of the other semifinal between Chef Antonia Lofaso and Chef Britt Rescigno.
While each put their best foot forward, Sara won the round by two points, crushing Lee Anne's dream of winning the champion's belt and the $150,000 cash prize. However, Sara lost the final battle to Antonia, who had a healthy lead of six points, becoming the winner of season 6 of Tournament of Champions.
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Sara is a two-time Top Chef runner-up, while her semifinal opponent, Lee Anne, is a Top Chef All Star and culinary producer. Sara, a ToC amateur, and Lee Anne, a first-time semifinalist, both wished to defeat the other to progress to the next stage of the competition and get closer to the $150,000 cash prize.
While they wanted to outperform the other, I believe a victory in the semifinal round and then in the competition held a deeper meaning to both Sara and Lee Anne. For Sara, it was an opportunity to prove herself as a first-time participant and to make her family and daughters proud.
However, for Lee Anne, it was about resilience, a chance to regain her and her family's financial stability and help her staff regain theirs.
Thus, I believe the competition held a deeper value, an emotional baggage, for both chefs, making the cook-off bigger than just another victory.
Tournament of Champions stars Sara and Lee Anne had specific goals in mind
Before entering the Tournament of Champions arena, Lee Anne told the cameras that it was a win she needed because it would help her recover from the hardships of life after losing her restaurant, Papa'aina, located at Old Lahaina's 122-year-old Pioneer Inn, to the Maui wildfires in 2023.
Despite losing her restaurant, Lee Anne dedicated her time and resources to feeding the evacuees by teaming up with local chefs, volunteers, and culinary students at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Consequently, when she confessed that it would be a "huge win" for her post-fire, it not only signified a competition win but a personal one, a pat on the back for being resilient.
"Super, super, super, proud of myself. It's emotional for me because I've had such a really difficult year after losing my restaurant in the Maui fires. I want that belt, want that briefcase, I think, more than anybody else," she added.
Similarly, Sara told the Tournament of Champions cameras that if she won, it would be "betterment" not just for herself but also for her family, her daughters, Lula Bea, and Hazel, who looked up to her.
It further illustrates my point that at this point in the competition, winning a battle had become more than just adding to one's list of victories. It was personal. It was meaningful.
Moreover, it was Sara's opportunity to showcase her skills and prove she was just as good as the others, despite being the underdog, a first-time competitor on Tournament of Champions.
"This is my first year, and there's a chance that I might take this whole thing home. I came in, I had nothing, and now here I am. I've made it to the final four, and all I want to do now is win and blow everybody out of the water," Sara stated.
While speaking to the cameras, Lee Anne disclosed that she had spent the past year without a primary income. Consequently, she needed to win the semifinal and potentially ToC, not just for the sake of winning, but to buy time and help herself and her colleagues regain stability in the industry. Meanwhile, Sara explained that she needed to make her family proud because she knew they would be watching.
For their cook-off, the elements Sara and Lee Anne got were blue silkie chicken, sorrel, turmeric leaves, en papillote, and the color black. Sara prepared a crispy silkie chicken with en papillote potatoes and schmaltz chili oil. Lee Anne cooked silkie "black" chicken and dumplings en papillote.
The ToC contestant Sara mentioned that the cook-off would be challenging because both were cooking for their families and their communities with the intention of making people's lives better. It shows how the competition was much more meaningful to the chefs.
However, only one contestant could emerge victorious, and it was Sara with 85 points. Regardless, their journey into the semifinals and the motivation behind their cooks proved why it was not just another battle to win for them.
Stream Tournament of Champions on Max.
