“Please pack your knives and go.”
Soon, someone else will be saying those famous words on Top Chef.
After 17 years, Padma Lakshmi is leaving her post as the host of the longtime cooking competition show on Bravo. Lakshmi made the announcement with a statement on her social media channels on Friday, just a day after the penultimate episode of this season – the show’s 20th – aired.
The finale of Top Chef: World All-Stars hits Bravo on June 8. Presumably, it’ll be the last time the show sees Lakshmi as its host.
“I am extremely proud to have been part of building such a successful show and of the impact it has had in the worlds of television and food,” Lakshmi said in a statement.
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) June 2, 2023
Lakshmi wasn’t the original host of Top Chef, but joined the show in its second season in 2006 – replacing Katie Lee – and has been around ever since, becoming part of the show’s fabric along with Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, quick fires and restaurant wars. Lakshmi earned four Emmy nominations for outstanding reality show host during her tenure and 10 more Emmy nominations for Outstanding Competition Program during her run as an executive producer on the show, which began in 2010.
Lakshmi won’t disappear from the limelight. The second season of Taste the Nation debuted on Hulu last month, and she was recently in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue. Lakshmi is also the author of six books and might have another one of those up her sleeve.
But Top Chef will move on without Lakshmi, as Bravo has already ordered a 21st season of the show. Which means the show will need a new host.
And we have some ideas.
Kristen Kish
The 39-year-old native of South Korea is a former Top Chef winner, as she was crowned champion of Season 10, which took place in Seattle, Alaska and Los Angeles. Kish won four elimination challenges and was then eliminated in episode 11. But then she won five straight rounds of Last Chance Kitchen to earn her way back on the show, where she triumphed over Brooke Williamson in the finale.
Since winning Top Chef, Kish has continued to work in television. She co-hosted 36 Hours on the Travel Channel, was a host on Netflix’s Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, and was the star of the National Geographic mini series Restaurants at the End of the World. She has also been a contestant on TruTV’s Fast Foodies.
Kish has authored a cookbook, has been a chef de cuisine in Boston, and opened her own restaurant – Arlo Grey – in Austin, Texas.
She knows food, she knows TV and she knows Top Chef.
Chef @KristenLKish gave the #DisneyCaliforniaFoodAndWine Festival plant-based menu her stamp of approval – and cooked up a dish of her own at the @NatGeoTV food demo at @Disneyland! pic.twitter.com/QDzGs1CjcC
— National Geographic TV (@NatGeoTV) April 28, 2023
Melissa King
King twice competed on Top Chef. She placed fourth in Season 12, which took place in Boston and Mexico, and then returned for Season 17’s All-Star competition, where she won and was named Fan Favorite. Leading up to her championship win over Stephanie Cmar and Bryan Voltaggio, King had won six elimination challenges.
Since Top Chef, King – the 39-year-old daughter of Chinese immigrants – has launched her own line of signature sauces, modeled for Levi’s and Gap, appeared on Sesame Street, and has been a judge on Food Network shows. She’s also used her platform to be an advocate and philanthropist for various causes, and has hosted virtual cooking classes to benefit charities like The Trevor Project.
Last year, King was the star of the National Geographic docuseries Tasting Wild on Hulu.
Like Kish, King is a superb chef who has continued to work in TV. A return to Top Chef doesn’t seem farfetched.
Should we start a petition to @BravoTopChef 😂 https://t.co/3dcY1wKeEB
— Melissa King (@ChefMelissaKing) June 3, 2023
Nadiya Hussain
If you’re a fan of baking shows, you know who Hussain is. Or, perhaps you’re one of her 874,000 Instagram followers.
She won the sixth season of the Great British Bake Off in 2015, and her fame rose from there. She has since appeared on or starred in several other cooking shows, including Nadiya’s Time to Eat and Nadiya Bakes on Netflix. She has also appeared on talk shows and written columns, cookbooks, children’s books and novels.
Oh, and Hussain once baked a birthday cake for Queen Elizabeth II. How’s that for a resume booster?
Great British Baking Show's charming and cheerful winner Nadiya Hussain is back and her twist on the omelette is a breakfast game-changer.
Nadiya's Time to Eat is now on Netflix pic.twitter.com/X0LEIbXQsT
— Netflix (@netflix) April 29, 2020
Daymon Patterson
You might know Patterson better as “Daym Drops,” or as the host of Netflix’s Fresh, Fried and Crispy, for which he earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding culinary host. Prior to his stint on Netflix, Patterson hosted a Travel Channel show, Best Daym Takeout.
He’s no stranger to television, having also appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and in commercials.
Becoming the Top Chef host would be an incredible come-up for a guy who started out reviewing fast food on YouTube. His 2012 review of Five Guys, where he describes the “crispity crunch” of the fries and the “seriousness” of the bacon, has 11.9 million views. Top Chef could use these kinds of reactions at the judge’s table.
Action Bronson
Yes, the rapper.
Before Ariyan Arslani was Action Bronson, he was a cook in New York City – and even cooked some postgame meals for the Mets. In 2011, a Rolling Stone story on him was titled “The Rapping Chef.”
After achieving some fame as a hip-hop artist – where he often references food in his rhymes – Action Bronson published a cookbook and hosted a TV show of the same name on Viceland called F*ck, That’s Delicious. The show ran for five seasons and featured chefs like Michael Voltaggio and Mario Batali.
This is a guy with tons of personality who is comfortable in front of the camera and around Michelin Star-level dining. And, as he mentions in the video below, he’s a Top Chef fan.
