The Official Airline of the Show, Delta Flew Top Four Cheftestants to Site of Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 for Final Quickfire Challenge Alongside Team USA athletes
- Bravo’s Emmy-award winning culinary competition series, “Top Chef” World All-Stars season inches closer to the finale this evening with a special integrated Quickfire challenge with brand partner, Delta Air Lines in Paris, France.
- Delta, a long-standing partner of parent company NBCUniversal, flew cheftestants across the globe to London, England, for the 20th season. This marked the first time the flagship edition of “Top Chef” has gone abroad for an entire season.
- Delta and NBCU’s enterprise partnership is a unique, one-of-a-kind relationship that unites the power of NBCU’s Partnership Commitment and One Platform like never before.
- This evening, the final four Cheftestants competing for the title of “Top Chef” landed in Paris – thanks to Delta – for the upcoming grand finale of this iconic 20th season.
- Not only has Paris been a dream destination for the series, but NBCUniversal and Delta came together to create an Olympic and Paralympic inspired partnership, marking the first cross-promotional moment across NBCUniversal’s One Platform for next summer’s Olympics.
- The episode featured the final four cheftestants – Sara Bradley, Ali Ghzawi, Buddha Lo, and Gabri Rodriguez – competing in a memorable Quickfire wall challenge at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
- Delta as the official airline of Team USA, flew in four U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes to participate featuring Suni Lee, Sydney McLaughlin -Levrone, Mallory Weggemann, and Hunter Woodhall.
- Each Team USA athlete was paired with one of the cheftestants to explore pantries filled with global ingredients and work hand-in-hand to bring a dish to life in 30 minutes.
- The catch, however, was that the chefs and the athletes were not in the same room to create their dishes. Instead, the chefs had to walk their counterparts through the making and plating of their dishes through a divided wall, demonstrating the importance of connecting with their team in the kitchen.
- Dishes were then pitched by the chefs and their athlete partners to the judges, with host Padma Lakshmi and guest judge Alexandre Mazzia crowning a winner based on the dishes that most closely resembled and tasted like one another.
- The winning chef was Ali Ghzawi who was paired with Paralympian, Mallory Weggemann. As the winner, he received a Delta Gift Card valued at $10K to take a trip anywhere Delta flies worldwide.
“At NBCUniversal, we are at the forefront of innovation. We are always looking to create unique can’t miss experiences for brand partners to connect with our massive fanbase. This incredible enterprise partnership with Delta demonstrates just that. We were able to strategically pull the right marketing levers across the NBCU portfolio, while also connecting communities around the world with cultural and culinary stories that ultimately drive impact for our viewers, our partners and our One Platform.”
-Jamie Cutburth, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Content Partnerships, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships
“Our partnership with Delta continues to demonstrate the depth and breadth of possibilities that exist when partnering with NBCUniversal’s One Platform. Not only did Delta help make an international season of Top Chef possible – we were able to close out the competition in Paris, while also leveraging and cross-promoting one of the most iconic tentpoles we have access to – the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We could not be more thrilled being almost a year out and celebrating Team USA in a new, unique way with Delta.”
-Dan Lovinger, President Olympic & Paralympic Partnerships, Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal
“Travel and food are two of the best ways to experience cultures, and with a shared focus of connecting the world, Delta’s partnership with Top Chef this season highlighted the special connection between these two passion points. As we look toward Paris 2024, this episode’s Quickfire challenge with Team USA made next summer feel even closer. We love seeing the shared attitude of the athletes and chefs to ‘Keep Climbing’ whether in their athletic pursuits or in the kitchen – and this competition was fierce. Watching the athletes take on a new challenge outside of their norms and bring the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the Top Chef table was an exciting preview for what’s to come in 2024.”
-Emmakate Young, Managing Director of Brand Marketing and Sponsorships, Delta Air Lines
- In addition, earlier in April this year, Delta further tapped into Bravo’s “Top Chef” IP when opening up a third Delta Sky Cub at MSP Airport in a new nature-inspired oasis with a regular menu rotation featuring recipes from one of the show’s alum, Justin Sutherland, for a limited time as part of Delta Sky Club’s Local Flavor program. The program continued in Delta’s Sky Club at BOS Airport this May, showcasing recipes from Top Chef alumni, Karen Akunowicz.
- Delta’s “Top Chef” integrated challenge aired on Bravo on June 1, 2023 and is available to stream live and on demand exclusively on Peacock on June 2, 2023.
- The finale of “Top Chef” World All-Stars airs next week, Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo.
- For more information on “Top Chef” World All-Stars and its lineup of cheftestants, please visit Bravotv.com/top-chef.
- The Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11, 2024, and Aug. 28 – Sept. 8, 2024, respectively, will be presented across the networks and platforms of NBCUniversal.
- NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Paris (2024), Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). The host city for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games has not yet been chosen.
