Top Chef (Middle Eastern and North African TV series)

Top Chef
Also known asTop Chef Middle East
Top Chef MENA
Arabicتوب شيف
GenreReality competition
Cooking show
Directed byWassim Succar
Presented byMona Mosly
JudgesBobby Chinn
Maroun Chedid
Country of originLebanon
Saudi Arabia
Original languageArabic
No. of seasons11
Original release
NetworkLBC
Release26 April 2011 (2011-04-26) –
17 July 2012 (2012-07-17)
NetworkMBC
Release21 September 2016 (2016-09-21) –
present

Top Chef (Arabic: توب شيف), also known as Top Chef Middle East or Top Chef MENA, is a reality competition television series and an Arabic adaptation of the American television series of the same name. Contestants from across the Arab world compete against one another in culinary challenges and are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other personalities from the food industry, with one or more competitors eliminated in each episode.

The first edition of the show, created by LBC, aired in 2011 and 2012. After a hiatus, the series was relaunched by MBC in 2016.[1] The fifth season of the MBC version was nominated for the 2022 International Emmy Award for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment.[2]

Show format

Each episode typically consists of three segments: the Quickfire Challenge, the Elimination Challenge, and the Judges' Table.[1]

In the Quickfire Challenge, each contestant is required to cook a dish with specific requirements or participate in a culinary-related challenge within one hour or less. A guest judge selects one or more chefs as the best in the challenge. In the Elimination Challenge, the contestants have to prepare one or more dishes to meet the challenge requirements, which are often more complex and time-consuming than the Quickfire. Some Elimination Challenges are individual, while others may require the contestants to work in teams. The chefs then report to the Judges' Table, where the judges deliberate on the best and worst dishes. The chef with the worst dish is eliminated from the competition.[1]

Seasons

Season Winner Runner-up Original air dates Host Judge(s)
LBC version
1 Morocco Omar El Ghoul[3] ? 26 April – 19 June 2011 Siham Tueni Joe Barza
2 Jordan Selma AbuAlia[4] ? 23 March – 17 July 2012 Jumana Murad
MBC version
1 Morocco Issam Jaafari[5] Syria Hala Ayash 21 September – 14 December 2016 Mona Mosly Bobby Chinn
Maroun Chedid
2 Egypt Mostafa Seif[6] Palestine Asil Sharif 18 October – 27 December 2017
3 Jordan Ali Ghzawi[7] Morocco Mounir Rochdi 5 December 2018 – 27 February 2019
4 Saudi Arabia Sama Jaad[8] Algeria Mohamed si Abdelkader 11 December 2019 – 11 March 2020
5 Lebanon Charbel Hayek[9] Bahrain Naseem Rasrummani 13 October 2021 – 19 January 2022
6 Tunisia Aïmen Samhoud[10] Lebanon Abdullah Bekri 14 September – 7 December 2022
7 Palestine Tareq Taha[11] Algeria Mohamed si Abdelkader 27 December 2023 – 6 March 2024
8 Egypt Shehab Medhat[12] Tunisia Alaeddine Zitoun 10 December 2024 – 25 February 2025
9 Palestine Ruba Khoury Egypt Ahmed Allwani 19 November 2025 – 10 February 2026

References

  1. ^ a b c "MBC Launches Arabic version of "Top Chef" Show". Arabisk London. 20 September 2016. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  2. ^ "PROGRAMS & PERFORMANCES FROM 23 COUNTRIES NOMINATED FOR 2022 INTERNATIONAL EMMY® AWARDS". International Emmy Awards. 29 September 2022. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  3. ^ Davies, Catriona (28 March 2012). "Saudi foodies ditch fast food for fine dining". CNN. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Meet the Chef: Selma AbuAlia". Taste of Jordan. 11 May 2014. Archived from the original on 31 December 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Moroccan home cook crowned 'Top Chef Middle East'". Arab News. 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Mostafa Seif, Executive Sous Chef at Khufu's and Khufu's Bistro". Middle East Travel & Tourism. 6 March 2025. Archived from the original on 18 March 2025. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  7. ^ Kaafarani, Lara (10 April 2019). "An Interview with Top Chef Middle East: Ali Ghzawi's Culinary Journey". The Insider. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Meet Saudi Arabia's Female Top Chef Winner". About Her. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  9. ^ "Ferrières Alumni Charbel El Hayek crowned "Top Chef" of the Middle East, 2022". Ecole Ferrières. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  10. ^ Ghantous, Rita (1 June 2023). "A view from the top with award-winning chef Aïmen Samhoud". Hospitality News Middle East. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  11. ^ Ghantous, Rita (16 October 2024). "Tareq Ziad Taha: an all-star is born". Hospitality News Middle East. Archived from the original on 2 November 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
  12. ^ Magdy, Sherouk (26 February 2025). "Egypt's Own Chef Shehab Medhat Wins MBC Top Chef 2025!". This is Cairo. Archived from the original on 19 March 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
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