‘Top Chef: New Orleans’ premiere: Watch the introduction now (video)

Tomorrow night, some of the best young chefs in the country are squaring off in the latest season of “Top Chef,” but unlike the recent “Top Chef Masters,” they’re playing for keeps. The cash prize at the end is theirs and theirs alone, and the title that comes with winning this show is almost an invitation to become one of the most-popular chefs in America overnight. If you are able to make it to the end and win this season, you definitely have to deserve it.

So before you tune in to Bravo to check out the new season, you can look below to see the very first introduction to the new season. There is going to unsurprisingly be plenty of tears, and there will also be great challenges for the new crop of chefs working to make life in the Big Easy work for them. As Tom Colicchio tells one particular contestant, this is not a vacation; it’s probably one of the most intense, creativity-testing experiences that these contestants will ever deal with.

While the challenges for the year have not been disclosed just yet, it is pretty easy to say that expectations are high for them to be beyond intense. You have a city rich in food culture, and we already envision them having to do such things as cook with alligator and frog, or using some local gulf seafood to produce some fantastic dishes. If they make it far enough, they may also have to travel to a different locale (they went to Alaska last year) in order to showcase some other skills.

Want to get even more excited about this season now? Then just be sure to click here, where you can see the finale for “Padma’s Picks,” the web series where the winner got an opportunity to join the competition this year.

Photo: Bravo