Sam Talbot

Just when you thought it safe to go back in the kitchen, Bravo’s hit culinary competition series "Top Chef 3 Miami" kicks off with an hour-long special.

Eight new chefs face off against eight returning chefs in Charleston, S.C.; the new chefs enter the kitchen first to cook as many dishes as possible in one hour using a whole chicken; the veterans square off to re-imagine shrimp and grits.

The chefs join the judges for a traditional shrimp boil; the newcomers face off against the returning chefs to put a spin on a low-country family meal; after dining with chefs Carrie Morey and BJ Dennis, each team creates a family-style feast.

Padma and guest judge Chris Cosentino divide the chefs into teams to compete in a mise en place race; the teams must go head to head and create a seven-course progressive meal in which each dish features the same ingredient: the radish.

The chefs tackle a challenge based on the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a traditional seafood-filled dinner, using "trash fish;" the chefs serve special guests Gail Simmons, Richard Blais, Hugh Acheson, and Graham Elliot.

The chefs face a mountain of baking ingredients pointing to a biscuit challenge; barbecue master Rodney Scott tasks the chefs to prepare a whole hog and three side dishes for 150 barbecue lovers, including country music star Darius Rucker.