Top Chef favorites are headed back to the Last Chance Kitchen — and possibly season 16

Top Chef type TV Show network Bravo genre Reality

Cooking

Three familiar faces are headed back into the Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen — and EW has an exclusive first look at the new season of the Emmy-winning digital series.

Carrie Baird and Brother Luck from season 15, and Jim Smith from season 14 are back for a chance at redemption and another shot at the coveted title of Top Chef.

Image zoom Brother Luck Tommy Garcia/Bravo

“With more than one opportunity to get back into the competition, host Tom Colicchio continues to keep the chefs on their toes with fast-paced challenges to determine which chefs have what it takes to stay in the game,” explains a release from Bravo Media.

Image zoom Carrie Baird Tommy Garcia/Bravo

Baird, Luck, and Smith will compete against eliminated cheftestants from season 16 of Top Chef, which takes place in Kentucky.

Image zoom Jim Smith Tommy Garcia/Bravo

The Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series will kick off the new season with two weeks of supersized premieres, beginning Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. ET, and will feature 15 new chefs from across the country who will compete all over the state of Kentucky, including the cities of Louisville, Lexington, and Lake Cumberland, before heading to China for an epic finale showdown in Macau.

Padma Lakshmi will return as host, and head judge Tom Colicchio will be joined by Graham Elliot, Nilou Motamed, and Gail Simmons.

Here’s the full list of contestants and their hometowns:

Eric Adjepong — Washington, DC

Sara Bradley — Paducah, KY

Kelsey Barnard Clark — Dothan, AL

Edmund “Eddie” Konrad — Philadelphia, PA

Pablo Lamon — Miami Beach, FL

Natalie Maronski — Philadelphia, PA

Michelle Minori — San Francisco, CA

Nini Nguyen — Brooklyn, NY

Brandon Rosen — San Mateo, CA

Kevin Scharpf — Dubuque, IA

Caitlin Steininger — Cincinnati, OH

Justin Sutherland — St. Paul, MN

David Viana — Asbury Park, NJ

Adrienne Wright — Boston, MA

Brian Young — Boston, MA

Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen — which is sponsored by Hidden Valley Ranch — will be available on Bravotv.com directly following the season premiere of Bravo’s Top Chef on Thursday, Dec. 6 from 9 p.m. ET.

Related content: