Here's why I believe Martha Stewart's appearance as a guest judge on Tournament of Champions made sense
**Disclaimer: This Tournament of Champions article is based on the writer's opinion. Reader discretion is advised.**
Tournament of Champions season 6 finale, which aired on April 20, 2025, saw Chef Antonia Lofaso clinch the champion's belt and the briefcase with a $150,000 cash prize. Antonia defeated Chef Sara Bradley by a margin of six points, earning two more in the category of taste, three more in the use of the Randomizer, and one more in presentation.
For the final round of blind tasting to determine the winner of ToC, host Guy Fieri introduced four experts, three former winners and one guest judge. Maneet Chauhan (seasons 2 and 5 winner), Brooke Williamson (season 1 winner), and Mei Lin (season 4 winner) were joined by businesswoman and television personality, Martha Stewart, in the last round of judgment.
While introducing her to the audience, Guy described her as one of the "greatest authorities in food."
"She turned her local catering business into a culinary and lifestyle empire that endured over four decades. Her game-changing daytime show taught America how to cook and how to host with style. And along the way, she took home 18 Emmys," he added.
Tournament of Champions winner Antonia, upon seeing Martha, called her "iconic" and stated:
"She's eaten everywhere, all over the world."
While her appearance in the finale of Tournament of Champions received mixed reviews from netizens, I believe her role as a guest judge made sense. From having hands-on catering experience and numerous cookbooks to presenting cooking and kitchen tips on The Martha Stewart Show for seven years, Martha, in my opinion, has the knowledge base to judge a plate of food.
Moreover, she has been a recurring guest judge on Food Network's Chopped, which further testifies why she was an appropriate choice for ToC.
Tournament of Champions guest judge Martha Stewart brings more to the table than her opinions on the taste of food
Although Martha Stewart is not a chef with a culinary degree, it does not take away from her understanding and knowledge of food. Moreover, what makes her stand out is her understanding of the business of food. Having built a successful career in the culinary and hospitality sectors, I believe Martha possesses the qualities to appear as a judge on the Food Network show.
In my opinion, her understanding of the business of food, other than her knowledge of recipes and taste, justifies her feature on Tournament of Champions. I believe it can add another element to the review of each dish presented before her.
Although Martha started her career as a stockbroker, she never gave up her passion for gardening and harvesting. She continues to blog about gardening tips on her official website (marthastewart.com), helping readers understand the produce and ingredients they cook with. It showcases her wide-ranging knowledge about ingredients and their uses.
In a competition where chefs are challenged to cook with a random assortment of ingredients, Martha's judgment of each element will only help viewers get a better sense of the food presented to the Tournament of Champions panelists.
After leaving Wall Street, where she worked as a stockbroker, Martha opened her own catering company from her kitchen. She prepared everything from scratch, and the recipes were eventually added to her cookbooks. While Martha may not be a professional chef, she has had first-hand experience running her catering company, for which she had to come up with recipes.
Her familiarity with the stress of creating recipes for her business further testifies why her feature on Tournament of Champions made sense. In the competition, the chefs were in a familiar situation, pushed to concoct recipes in a stressful environment to represent their skills.
Martha's first book, Entertaining (1982), is a complete guide on creating recipes for events big and small. Her second publication, Martha Stewart Living (first issue published in 1990), is another guide on recipes for celebrations and more, helping numerous amateur cooks around the globe get familiar with their kitchen and cooking overall.
In a Teen Vogue article, published on July 13, 2017, the writer shared a personal anecdote, describing how Martha's cookbooks changed her approach to cooking and hosting as an amateur.
"Every time I open Entertaining it whispers, 'It can be done' and no matter how much flour I'm covered in, or how many times I've broken down over a dessert that didn't come out as it should, it's the thought of Martha that keeps me going," the writer wrote.
In an interview with NBC Insider, published on April 28, 2025, the Tournament of Champions guest judge revealed how she honed her cooking skills.
"I've never taken a professional cooking class, actually, but I've learned," she said.
She added that her "great career" helped her "tremendously" in being able to judge other chefs. In the same interview, she expressed that she watched and questioned chefs about the food they cooked and then tried to make it herself.
It shows that one does not always need a degree to prove they were capable of something. Martha gained her knowledge and understanding about food from experience, which, in my opinion, trumps degree-based information.
Martha's Everyday Food magazine and the Everyday Food TV program (2005) further focused on catering to the real problems faced by people in the kitchen and offering viable solutions. Martha Stewart's Cooking School (2008) is another publication that is a testament to the fact that Martha has an all-around understanding of cuisines.
In 2022, she opened her first restaurant, The Bedford, which offers seasonal dishes prepared with locally sourced ingredients. Thus, I can conclude that Martha's vast on-and-off field experience in the culinary world has helped her expand her knowledge about food.
Having had years of experience, I believe she deserved that spot as a guest judge on Tournament of Champions because her judgment would not only revolve around taste, but also the use of ingredients, the recipe created, and the understanding of the ingredients provided. It makes Martha more than a food enthusiast, someone, in my opinion, who has the skill set to judge a dish.
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