‘Top Chef’ Champ Kristen Kish to Replace Padma Lakshmi as Host

Top Chef has named Padma Lakshmi‘s replacement. Renowned chef and Top Chef Season 10 winner Kristen Kish will step into Lakshmi’s place as host of the Bravo culinary competition series, starting with the upcoming Season 21. Lakshmi took her final bow in Season 20 after hosting the series since its inception.

Kish joins head judge Tom Colicchio and perennial judge Gail Simmons at the judges’ table for Season 21 of the Emmy, James Beard, and Critics’ Choice Award-Winning series. Colicchio and Simmons both serve as executive producers. Lakshmi formerly served as host for the last 19 seasons and announced her departure from the series on June 2, 2023.

Kish first appeared on Top Chef in 2006, going on to win the season. Starting in 2015, Kish returned to culinary television as a judge on Chopped Junior and also served on the judges’ panel for Dismantled and Easy-Bake Battle: The Home Cooking Competition. She co-stars in Fast Foodies, co-hosts Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, appeared on Selena Gomez‘s Selena + Chef, and most recently starred in and produced the docuseries Restaurants at the End of the World. Kish said in a statement that hosting Top Chef “feels like coming home.”

“Top Chef is where I started my journey – first as a competing chef, then a guest judge, and now as host I have the honor of helping to continue to build this brand,” Kish said. “I’m thrilled to sit alongside Gail and Tom as we get to know new incredible chefs and see what they cook up. It feels like coming home.”

Lakshmi is thrilled for the former Top Chef winner. “I’m so proud of you @KristenLKish and am over the moon that you’ll be taking over for me on @BravoTopChef!!!” she tweeted with a photo of her and Kish in a kitchen. “I’ll be rooting for you and our whole crew next season. Congratulations!!!”

I’m so proud of you @KristenLKish and am over the moon that you’ll be taking over for me on @BravoTopChef!!! I’ll be rooting for you and our whole crew next season. Congratulations!!! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/PgGMBzqeLi

— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) July 11, 2023

“Kristen Kish represents everything that makes Top Chef incredibly special,” said Ryan Flynn, Senior Vice President, Current Production, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “She’s an acclaimed chef and her experience as a cheftestant, winner, and judge, alongside her culinary curiosity, makes Kristen the perfect host for the next chapter of Top Chef as we take on a new region of the country we haven’t explored.”

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Said unexplored region is Wisconsin. In Season 21, Bravo teases, “a new batch of talented chefs from across the country battle it out for the coveted title in the energetic and unique culinary scenes in Milwaukee and Madison. With a backdrop of picturesque landscapes, acres of farmland, miles of shoreline, and vibrant urban communities, the cheftestants will explore the fresh flavors and local bounty of this rising culinary destination.”

Top Chef is produced by the Emmy Award-winning production company Magical Elves with Casey Kriley, Jo Sharon, Doneen Arquines, Hillary Olsen, and Tracy Tong serving as executive producers. Kriley and Sharon, Co-CEO’S of Magical Elves, added, “Kristen is a beloved part of the Top Chef family, and we’re thrilled to have her join and bring to the competition her unique, fresh, and global culinary perspective, as well as her true passion for food. We look forward to Season 21 and know our incoming chefs will be inspired by the bourgeoning culinary scene in Milwaukee and Madison known for blending tradition with innovation and utilizing farm-fresh ingredients.”

“Kish was born in South Korea and adopted into a family in Kentwood, Michigan,” Kish’s bio reads. “At a young age, she showed an affinity for cooking and, prompted by her mother, attended Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. After culinary school, Kristen spent the next 10 years in Boston honing her skills in several high-profile restaurants, ultimately becoming the Chef de Cuisine at a Relais & Chateaux property. From 2012-13, Kish competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Season 10 where she ultimately won the coveted title.”

“From there she went on to co-host 36 Hours, a Travel Channel show that partnered with The New York Times to bring the hit newspaper column of the same name to television,” her bio goes on. “In 2017, Kristen released her first cookbook, Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques, and in 2018 partnered with LINE Hotels to launch her first restaurant, Arlo Grey in Austin, Texas. The restaurant reflects Kish’s playful yet refined cuisine, pulling inspiration from her classical training as well as nostalgic dishes that highlights her upbringing and love of travel.”

Top Chef, Season 21 Premiere, TBA, Bravo