Gender balance in Top Chef at the Final Four

Is there a relationship between the gender balance and the gender of the winner?

Jun 11, 2025

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We’re so close to the end of this amazing, heart-wrenching season. The elimination at the final five was rough - I didn’t want anyone to go home! But then I saw this week’s episode. I don’t think I’ve cried this much at any other season. I loved this final four!

I’ve written about regional representation and age representation on Top Chef. The next demographic information I want to dig into is gender. There haven’t been any openly nonbinary chefs on Top Chef, so this analysis will look at two genders, men and women, and will focus on final fours.

Some findings about the gender ratio at the start of the Top Chef season (see Table 1):

Only two seasons started off with more women than men: Season 4 Chicago and Season 19 Houston.

Gender balance in Top Chef at the Final Four

Is there a relationship between the gender balance and the gender of the winner?

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