The Next Iron Chef: And The Winner Is...

Spoiler Alert!

The Food Network crowned its "Next Iron Chef" on Sunday night, and the much-deserved win went to Food Network regular (and fan favorite) Alex Guarnaschelli.

In the finale of the eight-part series, Guarnaschelli battled it out against fellow competitor Amanda Freitag after taking down the rest of the competition, which included chefs Elizabeth Falkner, Nate Appleman, Spike Mendelsohn, and Jehangir Mehta. As this was a "Redemption" series, all the chefs had competed for the title in previous seasons but came up empty-handed.

In the finale, the two remaining chefs battled head-to-head in Kitchen Stadium, which is the setting for Iron Chef. They were challenged to make three dishes that best represented the cultural heritage of the judges, Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, and Masaharu Morimoto, and Guarnaschelli's pasilla chile cherry tart blew the judges away, securing her victory. She now joins the likes of Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, Jose Garces, Michael Symon, Marc Forgione and Geoffrey Zakarian, the other current Iron Chefs.

Guarnaschelli's first prime-time Iron Chef battle will take place on Sunday, December 30th at 9 PM ET on The Food Network.