Padma Lakshmi announced on Friday that she is stepping down as host of Top Chef after the Bravo reality competition show wraps up its 20th season next week.
“After much soul searching, I have made the difficult decision to leave Top Chef,” Lakshmi wrote on social media. “Having completed a glorious 20th season as host and executive producer, 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.”
She went on the say that 17 years on the show, she feels it “time to move on” and “make space” for other projects like her Hulu travel show Taste the Nation.
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In a statement, a spokesperson for NBCUniversal told The Daily Beast, “Padma Lakshmi leaves behind an incredible legacy on Bravo’s Top Chef. Her impact on the Emmy, James Beard and Critics’ Choice Award-winning series is undeniable. We are grateful to Padma for being a consummate host, judge and executive producer, and for bringing her ingenuity and exceptional palate to each episode where she ate every bite of food on the series for over 17 years and 19 seasons. She will always be part of the Top Chef and the NBCUniversal family and has a seat at the judges’ table anytime.”
Lakshmi joined Top Chef as host in the show’s second season in 2006, replacing Season 1 host Katie Lee. As the show’s producers recently revealed in an oral history for The Hollywood Reporter, Lakshmi was always their first choice to host, but by the time they were ready to start shooting the first season, she had booked an acting gig on a British miniseries.
“I’d watched the first season, so I got a sense of it,” Lakshmi explained. “I was a little worried people would assume that Bravo was sticking another model on the show because of Heidi [Klum]—I’d written a cookbook and hosted another food show—but I was just glad I got to say ‘Please’ before the ‘Pack your knives and go.’”
Top Chef’s other two main judges, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, are expected to stick with the show into its upcoming 21st season.
