Fully boneless poultry without sauce, gourmet snails deprived of butter and tricolor ravioli to the millimeter: the semi-final on M6, broadcast on Wednesday June 3, 2026, transformed the candidates into real strategists. Each plate counted double, for the plate of course, but also for the mind.
This 14th episode, called “The Masters of the Game”, saw Alexy Algar-Denos, Viviana Pisacane and Victor Kuntz compete on their own favorite grounds. After three ultra-technical challenges, an “extremely rare scenario” at 1 point everywhere preceded a close verdict: Alexy Algar-Denos and Viviana Pisacane won their place in the final, Victor Kuntz left the adventure at the gates of the last duel.
Top Chef 2026 semi-final: a “Masters of the Game” format under high tension
For this Top Chef 2026 semi-final, M6 turned the format upside down: the candidates became “masters of the game” by each imposing a test on the other two. Broadcast at 9:10 p.m., episode 14 was based on a simple scale, one point for the winner of each challenge, only two tickets for the season 17 finale. No repechage possible, no second chance.
Facing them, an impressive tasting jury brought together Philippe Etchebest, Stéphanie Le Quellec, Pascal Barbot, Pierre Gagnaire and Guy Krenzer. Implicitly, another issue appeared: with Viviana Pisacane in the final, season 17 adds one more woman to the list of around forty finalists in seventeen seasons, including only eight women and three winners – Stéphanie Le Quellec in 2011, Naoëlle d’Hainaut in 2013 and Louise Bourrat in 2022.
Poultry, snails, ravioli: the challenges that sent Alexy and Viviana to the final
Each candidate drew a test in their own image. The trio challenged each other with three technical exercises:
- a whole bird, entirely boned and stuffed, without sauce, designed by Victor Kuntz;
- gourmet snails without butter, garlic, parsley or cream, imposed by Alexy Algar-Denos;
- tricolor checkerboard ravioli, without coloring, signed Viviana Pisacane.
After the first two challenges, Alexy, Viviana and Victor all three find themselves with one point, a tie that Stéphane Rotenberg describes as , cited by Orange. The last tricolor ravioli test turns the evening around: the plates of Alexy Algar-Denos and Viviana Pisacane further convince the jury, offering the duo their place for the grand final, scheduled for Wednesday June 10, 2026 at the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris, in front of around a hundred volunteers from the Red Cross and the historic jury accompanied by Adriana Karembeu.
Victor Kuntz, eliminated but confirmed as leader
Chef of Ida – La Table by Denny Imbroisi in Paris, Victor Kuntz embodies a generation of instinctive cooks, with raw, intense and refined cuisine, centered on the product and the contrasts of textures. Born in Paris, he started in 2017 as a commis at Ida with Denny Imbroisi, then trained at Cordon Bleu Paris before going through Corretta as chef de partie, then Mamma as sous chef, before returning in 2025 to Ida as chef.
In this semi-final, a detail costs him his place, but not his esteem. The episode returns to his bond with his father, more concerned with seeing him happy in his profession than winning medals at all costs. Nouvelles Gastronomiques recalls this lesson from Hélène Darroze: , confides Hélène Darroze, quoted by Nouvelles Gastronomiques. Enough to resonate with the idea, hammered out in the episode, of not confusing a one-off error with one’s value as a cook, and of continuing to “leave one’s bubble” to confront the gaze of others, as Viviana Pisacane explains. In the brigade, Alexy Algar-Denos also assumes his role as a positive energy which, far from being anecdotal, helps the team to hold up under pressure.
Who was eliminated in the semi-final of Top Chef 2026?
In the semi-final of , it was Victor Kuntz, chef of Ida in Paris, who was eliminated after the last challenge of the tricolor ravioli.
Who are the two finalists of season 17 of Top Chef?
The two finalists of season 17 are Alexy Algar-Denos and Viviana Pisacane, qualified at the end of episode 14 “The masters of the game” broadcast on M6.
What was the rule of the “Masters of the Game” format in the semi-finals?
In the semi-final, each candidate imposed a technical test on their opponents, one point was awarded to the winner of each challenge and only the best two advanced to the final.
