top chef duels is an american reality competition series which premiered on august 6, 2014, on bravo. the culinary show is one of the several spin-off series of the popular cooking competition show "top chef" aired on the same network. announced in january 2014 as "top chef extreme", the series features eighteen contestants who have previously competed in "top chef" and "top chef masters". during each episode, two of the contestants face each other in various culinary tasks. the winner is picked at the end of an episode to compete in the championship finale. the series is hosted by curtis stone. besides hosting, stone is also a judge together with gail simmons, while wolfgang puck, hugh acheson and other celebrity guest judges make numerous appearances throughout the series.