Yum! We visited the London set of Top Chef

On a warm day in August of last year, dozens of Top Chef fans gathered outside London's Alexandra Palace venue to taste dishes cooked by competitors on season 20 of the reality competition show. Among them is an American woman named Anna who has driven herself the roughly 120 miles from her home in Britain's West Midlands area — despite being due to give birth in just five days.

"I've loved it since season 1, but I never thought I'd get the chance to be here," she tells EW. "I haven't had any contractions yet!"

Such enthusiasm explains why the Padma Lakshmi-hosted show has lasted so long and spawned an array of international versions. The production is celebrating the milestone of 20 seasons by temporarily relocating Lakshmi and her two fellow judges, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, from America to London for a World All-Stars edition. This new format means that contestants from Bravo's parent show, including season 19 winner Buddha Lo, will compete against winners and finalists from Brazil, Thailand, Germany, Canada, and other countries.

"We've done finales before outside of the country, but not a whole season," Colicchio tells EW. "For the 20th season, we wanted to do something really big. We thought it would be good to take it on the road." Colicchio explains that production assembled the line-up of contestants by "trying to get as many winners as possible, and then after that, we were going to people who were runners-up."

There's a little time before the judges have to go in front of the cameras. Colicchio is casually dressed in shorts and sandals, making the lauded restaurateur and chef look like a man on vacation. Colicchio admits that there are tougher jobs in the world than his Top Chef gig.

"I always say, this is like going to summer camp for me," he says. "It's really nice, it's a change of pace, and I get to meet so many young chefs, most I probably would not meet."

Below, Colicchio talks more about World All-Stars, the future of Top Chef, and the chances of your correspondent lasting as a contestant beyond a season's first episode.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Obviously it's early, but how is this season shaping up?

TOM COLICCHIO: Usually, in the first couple of episodes, you can kind of figure out who has real skills and who's going to struggle a little bit. Right now, with this competition, it's hard to figure that out. It's really really solid contestants across the board. But it's early, so we'll see.

I think with the level of competition, this is going to be a tough season to judge. You know, usually early on, you're getting sent home for big things: this is not properly cooked! We've only had one challenge so far, but on that challenge the difference between the bottom and the top is pretty small. Usually, they're pretty far apart, and then they start coming together. Everybody's starting pretty close together.

Have the chefs gotten better doing the show, because they've had the chance to watch so many episodes now?

Absolutely, yes. What's interesting is, some of the early seasons, it was much more cutthroat. I think as you see the industry change, as the industry becomes more inclusive and is going through a process of making sure that we're changing like the rest of the world is changing, you start to see the chefs helping each other, there's more camaraderie, all the machismo seems to get pushed aside, so that's nice to see.

I appreciate you don't want to spoil what tasks the contestants are being given, but how British is the show going to be this season? And what does "British" even mean in that context?

Oh, part of it will be. I think there'll be some challenges that have to do with maybe pub food or things like that. But we always do that. Whenever we go into a town or a city like London that city becomes a character, almost a contestant itself. That's part of the reason cities want us to come because we can become a real calling card for that city, especially when it comes to food. So, yeah, there's going to be, I'm sure, challenges that have to do with more traditional British things.

London's restaurant has undergone a radical transformation over the last couple of decades in terms of quality.

There's good food everywhere. What's interesting is, there seems to be a contemporary, almost global, food scene that is happening where it really goes past borders. Everyone is bringing in a sense of who they are, but if you see a technique that's happening in Spain, you'll see it here as well. You'll see it in the States, you'll see it in Australia, you'll see it in Germany. I think that has more to do with the internet. When I was coming up, you literally had to go on a plane and go somewhere to see what people were doing. Now, a couple of clicks, and you can see what people are doing in terms of new techniques and things like that. You see trends happen very very quickly.

When I watch the show I inevitably think, how would I do? And I've got a theory that I might be able to last one round by cooking risotto.

Why?

Because I know how to cook it and there's a high chance that someone else will make a catastrophic error trying to make something more difficult.

But risotto is one of those things where, the timing is so tough. Chefs starting way too soon in most cases. Risotto plated too soon? [Pulls face]. Usually the question is, how would I do [on the show]. I say, my 26-year-old year old [self] would have done really well. My 60-year year old self? No way.

But you're touching on something here that's interesting. Is that the strategy? Is the strategy to win or not to lose? I think in some of the early rounds it's just, don't screw up big time. You don't have to beat everyone, you just have to beat one person, right? That's all you have to do.

Exactly. It's like, you don't have to run faster than the lion, you just have to run faster than one of the other people being chased by the lion.

That's exactly right! Unless that lion's very hungry and decides to kill and then store the food. But, no, that's really it, you have to be better than one person. There's a lot of strategies. But my feeling is, if you're always playing to win, you're probably better off.

This is season 20. Do you see the show, and you with it, going on and on?

We were at a panel discussion for the Emmys a couple of months back and that was the last question the journalist who was moderating the panel asked us. We all kind of looked at each other. Finally, the producer said, there has never been a discussion about ending this show, and then looked at us and said, as long as they're going to do it, we're going to do it. So that's the answer we have so far.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Top Chef premieres on Bravo March 9.

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