THE TOUGHEST AND MOST UNPREDICTABLE CULINARY COMPETITION IS BACK - "TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS IV"

New Season Premieres Sunday, February 19 at 8pm ET/PT on Food Network and discovery+

NEW YORK - January 12, 2022 - Guy Fieri's iconic culinary competition, Tournament of Champions, returns with a supersized fourth season on Sunday, February 19th at 8pm ET/PT. The skills and abilities of the most talented chefs from the East and West coast will be pushed to the limit in the most difficult bracket-style culinary competition. This year's lineup features 14 tournament rookies who are on a quest to shake up the competition. The pressure is intense, and emotions are high as the elite chefs do not know who their opponents will be and what cooking challenges they will face, with the latter determined by the dreaded randomizer. This season, Guy has added a twist with randomizer wild cards that progressively get harder and harder in each round. Each battle will feature blind judging by a rotating panel of judges consisting of the biggest names in the food world as the chefs watch their critiques from backstage. For this year's finale Guy is pulling out the ultimate wild card by inviting a surprise judge who is one of the most respected and revered chefs in the world. After 8 weeks and 31 grueling head-to-head battles, one talented chef will win it all and be crowned champion, taking home the coveted Tournament of Champions belt and a $100,000 cash prize. Before the competition begins fans can look back at the Road to Tournament of Champions IV in an hour-long special on Saturday, February 11th at 11pm ET/PT on Food Network. featuring the most outrageous randomizer combinations, the biggest victories, fiercest rivalries, and the most shocking upsets.

"Tournament of Champions is the most intense culinary competition ever created. We've got single-elimination, sudden-death, head-to-head blind battles and judging," said Fieri. "But of course, every year we've gotta up the ante, so we made the competition even more wild and unpredictable with the introduction of wild cards in every round. Get ready for some big-time surprises!"

The chefs representing the East Coast are: Eric Adjepong, Karen Akunowicz, Kelsey Barnard Clark, Maneet Chauhan, Leah Cohen, Madison Cowan, Tobias Dorzon, Graham Elliot, defending Tournament of Champions III winner Tiffani Faison, Darnell Ferguson, Jose Garces, Ilan Hall, Stephanie Izard, Christian Petroni, Britt Rescigno, and Jonathon Sawyer. The chefs showing off their chops from the West Coast are: Carlos Anthony, Nate Appleman, Shirley Chung, Tiffany Derry, Elizabeth Falkner, Timothy Hollingsworth, Mei Lin, Antonia Lofaso, Brian Malarkey, Shota Nakajima, Viet Pham, Joe Sasto, Tracey Shepos Chanami, Adam Sobel, Jet Tila, and Lee Anne Wong.

"Tournament of Champions is consistently Food Network's highest-rated series with nearly 11 million viewers at the edge-of-their-seats last season," said Betsy Ayala, Senior Vice President Programming and Development, Food Network "This season will not disappoint. We have some of the most impressive competition chefs to date, alongside some very talented fresh new faces. Don't expect to know who's going to win because this season it's truly anyone's game."

Simon Majumdar and Justin Warner deliver real-time play-by-play as all the action unfolds in front of a live audience. Hunter Fieri follows all the action backstage, capturing competing chefs' reactions as they watch the rotating panel of food icons blindly judge their dishes and learn who is moving ahead and who is going home. Judges include, Michelle Bernstein, Scott Conant, Cat Cora, Rocco DiSpirito, Lorena Garcia, Alex Guarnaschelli, Nancy Silverton, Daniela Soto-Innes, Ming Tsai, Jonathan Waxman, Andrew Zimmern, and one of the most highly regarded chefs to be revealed in the finale on Sunday, April 9th at 8pm ET/PT.

Fans can join the conversation on social media using #TournamentOfChampions for weekly live Twitter parties, and across Food Network's Facebook and Instagram find an insider's look at the competition, as well as all-new videos with Guy, the competitors, and the judges every week. On FoodNetwork.com/TournamentOfChampions, fans can also browse behind-the-scenes photos and binge-watch clips. Beginning on Monday, February 13th, fans can enter the Tournament of Champions Bracket Sweepstakes, where they can build their own brackets and decide who they think will win every round and share their picks on social media to enter for a chance to win huge cash prizes all season long.

Tournament of Champions IV is produced by Knuckle Sandwich and Lando Entertainment for Food Network.

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