Garlic Showdown at Festival - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

GILROY, Calif. -- Garlic Showdown at Festival. Another Gilroy Garlic Festival is in the books. Many people were drawn in for the final food competitions.

Celebrity contestant Jason Gronlund won the Garlic Showdown. He was competing against Jason Lavinsky, Manny Pulido, and Mike Yakura.

It's the 6th year the festival has hosted the competition. We got an exclusive interview with the hosts of the show Micheael Giletto and Marcy Smother, both nationally acclaimed culinary artists.

They gave us the scoop on what to look for in a top chef. "Creativity originality and definitely the flavor and presentation probably would be heart to heart with us. Anything outside of the probably just love and respect for the passion of what they are putting into the plate," said Giletto.

Marcy told Central Coast News her favorite part of being at the festival was being able to interact with all the visitors. "Everyone is happy here. I call it the NASCAR of food festivals. There's such a passion for the food I just love walking around and seeing all the different foods," said Smother.

The Showdown winner walked away with a $5,000 cash prize.