“I like chefs who take charge of their cooking”: Hugo Riboulet, winner of Top Chef 2023, reveals his favorite candidates for this new season!

Wednesday March 13 marked the start of the new season of Top Chef. A special edition since the program is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. It was therefore the perfect opportunity to shake up the show with the arrival of two new chefs: Dominique Crenn and Stéphanie Le Quellec.

If the jury promises to be 15 stars, the level of the candidates also promises to live up to the public’s expectations. The year 2024 will be a great vintage and it is not last year’s winner Hugo Riboulet who will say the opposite: “The new promotion has a very good level, there is a lot of technicality”, the young man told us during an interview. Between passing the torch and favorites, the cook confided in us about this new season of Top Chef. We tell you more.

After winning Top Chef 2023, Hugo Riboulet now passes the torch to the new class of this 2024 season. In a few months, he will give way to the new winner, who completely accepts it. The young man does not apprehend:“I always told myself that every year there is a winner of Top Chef but that doesn’t destabilize me. I think it’s up to you to make sure you’re not forgotten. It’s normal, it’s the logical next step.”

Far from being nostalgic, Hugo affirms, on the contrary, to be happy to discover these new candidates. His Top Chef adventure allowed him to better understand what new participants experience: “We must not spit on the new seasons. I like the show and in fact I watch it. I know the other side of the story and I know now that it’s not that simple. I’m more lenient than anyone when seeing the candidates because I’ve been there before them. You can only realize this once you have experienced it”.

Concerning the new promotion, Hugo Riboulet says: “this promises great things”. Among the 16 candidates, the cook already has his preferences. Two candidates caught his attention.

The first is none other than Clotaire: “I saw that he had worked in many starred restaurants around the world. And it’s a strength because it allows you to have enormous culinary wealth. In addition, he works in Nordic countries, notably Copenhagen and we know that there, two stars are equivalent to three stars in France. He’s a candidate that I really like.”

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A publication shared by Clotaire Poirier (@clotaire.poirier)

The second participant to have marked Hugo is Valentin. He has established himself in a very short time as one of the leading candidates of this new season. We shared his portrait with you a few weeks ago. What appealed to Hugo about Valentin was his singularity: “I like the fact that he takes a bias in his dishes and doesn’t give himself limits. The fact, for example, that he opts for charcoal cooking is great. It’s a good cooking method and it’s unusual”.

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A post shared by Valentin Amine Raffali (@valraffali)

More broadly, the former candidate from Philippe Etchebest’s brigade explains that he appreciates chefs who stand out and dare: “I like chefs – who, like me, are plant-based – take responsibility for their cooking. They do what they want: if it pleases, so much the better, if it doesn’t like it, too bad, you’ll look elsewhere”

As you will have understood, Hugo Riboulet assiduously follows the program. He even ends up concluding: “I can’t wait to see the next episode!” See you Wednesday at 9:10 p.m. on M6.