Top Chef Masters Season 5

Thirteen chefs arrive in Los Angeles to participate in culinary heats in the Season 5 opener. Here, the foodies take flight by cooking outdoors for a professional skydiving team and are given the opportunity to dive from the sky themselves. In Season 5, the chefs also have sous-chefs who will compete in their own online competition.

The chefs create classic American cuisine with an Asian spin.

Soap-opera themes inspire culinary creations. Appearing: the cast of "Days of Our Lives.

As every chef knows, curry is difficult to hurry, but the chefs are challenged with making their version of curry in 30 minutes for this week’s Quickfire Challenge. Host Curtis Stone is not easy to surprise, but the tables are turned on him this week as fiancée Lindsay Price and the chefs team up to throw Curtis a surprise engagement party he won’t forget.

The epic "Restaurant Wars" challenge tasks the foodies to open eateries with a Los Angeles theme. Appearing: actress Busy Philipps and culinary editor Dana Cowin.

Special guest judge actress Ali Larter challenges the chefs to elevate nachos for their Quickfire. Then the chefs get totally tubular as they cook up the catch of the day for Malibu locals. Divided in to pairs, they have to create a dish with a hot and cold preparation of the same fish, and hope that the critics’ response is better than lukewarm.

The winner of this week’s Battle of the Sous Chefs challenge, along with their Top Chef Master, get to create today’s Quickfire. Then, the chefs face a culinary body slam, as they create dishes with a Mexican flair for the wrestlers of Lucha Vavoom.

The chefs serve up their version of a burger for a surprise guest critic. Also: The culinarians pay tribute to teachers through food; and three contestants advance to the finale.

Season 5 comes to a close with the final three master chefs creating memorable dishes from their personal and professional lives, after which the winner is revealed.