‘Top Chef: Seattle’ premiere: Watch the first ten minutes now!

Can you now wait until Wednesday night’s “Top Chef: Seattle” premiere? If this is the case, we fully understand; and thus, we have a brand-new sneak peek for you just of what you can expect to see unfold in the show’s first ten minutes. (Sadly, it won’t work for any of you outside of the United States.)

Since the clip is below, we’re not going to spell things out for you too much and spoil what is actually there; but from a critical standpoint, this is already leaps and bounds ahead of “Top Chef: Texas” last season. For one thing, that insane twist involving 29 contestants having to win an apron on the show is gone, and we are starting out this time around with the right amount of contestants for the season to take place normally. Thanks in part to this, the cast superficially also feels more balanced. Whereas “Top Chef: Texas” was stuffed full of contestants who either dull or unlikable (save for a pretty good winner in Paul Qui), the group here is not only diverse, but also interesting.

Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi are back as hosts for the season, and they are joined once again in some challenges by judges Hugh Acheson, Gail Simmons (of “Top Chef: Just Desserts”), and a new addition to the show this year in Chef Wolfgang Puck. Puck’s addition is in some ways a surprise given that he has been a face on “Hell’s Kitchen” in the past, and these cooking competitions like to keep their personalities separate. (Granted, it’s not like Puck was anything more than an occasional presence on some seasons of the Gordon Ramsay show.)

Are you feeling much more optimistic about this season than last year?