Top Chef announces NYC all-star season with Anthony Bourdain serving as judge

[HMG Celebrity News] – After a snooze-inducing seventh season that drew painful reviews from both critics and fans, Top Chef has announced a much-needed dessert that might help reduce the bad taste — An all-star edition.

Bravo has released a statement explaining that eighteen contestants from the past seven years will now return to the kitchens to do battle for the prize of ultimate bragging rights;

“With seven seasons of Top Chef under our belt, the timing feels right for an All-Star edition,” judge Tom Colicchio told E-News. “It has all the elements to be our best season yet.”

And Tom says season eight has one ingredient that could make it a classic — The famously grumpy gourmand, Anthony Bourdain.

“Getting Tony Bourdain to serve as a judge throughout the season was the icing on the cake,” Tom enthuses.

And the chefs charged with impressing his palette are: Season one’s Stephen Asprinio, Season two stars Elia Aboumrad and Marcel Vigneron, plus Dale Levitski, Casey Thompson and Tre Wilcox from Season Three, with Season four’s Richard Blais, Dale Talde, Spike Mendelsohn and Antonia Lafaso,

They are joined in battle by Season five’s Carla Hal, Jamie Lauren and Fabio Vitani, the season six pair of Jeniffer Carroll and Mike Isabella, and Tiffany Derry and Angelo Sosa from ‘Chef’s most recent outing.

These happy few joined Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons and Colicchio for the new season, which has already been filmed in New York and will debut on Bravo on December 1st.

So who agrees with the casting? And considering how dull season 7 was, who plans to watch?