Tom Colicchio Was Shocked And Devastated By The Death Of "Top Chef" Contestant Floyd Cardoz

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"Top Chef" judge Tom Colicchio opens up about the death and legacy of "Top Chef" contestant, Floyd Cardoz, who sadly passed away at just 59-years-old from complications due to the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

RICKY CAMILLERI: You know, everybody is getting, at this point, everybody is getting touched or is going to be touched by COVID-19 in some way. You, yourself, have as well. One of your winners on "Top Chef Masters" passed away, Floyd Cardoz. Can you talk about what it was like hearing that news and tell us a little bit about him?

TOM COLICCHO: Yeah, I knew, I knew Floyd was sick. And I assumed that he was a healthy guy. And he was 59. I thought he was younger. He was 59. I, you know, we all expected him to be OK. And I got the news. And you know, it just, it brings it all home. It's just, it's shocking. I mean, I had a young guy who managed one of my Witchcraft stores in his 30s who died, I just found out two days ago.

RICKY CAMILLERI: Wow.

TOM COLICCHO: He wasn't with us anymore. He left about a year and a half ago. But still, he's known to everybody who worked there and I have family members that have mild cases, but have been affected by it. I spoke to a colleague today that one of his cooks died last night.

RICKY CAMILLERI: Wow.

TOM COLICCHO: We're going to start hearing more and more of this. I mean, you see the numbers and I'm not where we're at today, and last night was over 5,000 people. There's also tons of people dying at home that, you know, they're not part of that 5,000, because you know if you have to be diagnosed to die of COVID, but you're dying of it and you're not in the hospital. And so these numbers are going to continue to grow. We're all going to know people. There's going to be stories. It's going to be like after 9/11 where these stories are coming out and this is what's sad. And you can't get that back.

I mean, Floyd you know, I've known Floyd for about 20 years. You know, when I was partners with Danny Meyer, Floyd was working with Tabla, as part out of that whole restaurant group. And I knew him pretty well and you know, even now, I've talked to about once, once every other month or so, and usually we talk about business and what was going on. But you know with Floyd is, and everybody says this and this is true.

Every conversation you had with Floyd, he would talk about his family. Always. Always what his kids were doing. He was really proud of them. They were college and you know, that's, he was just that kind of guy. It's just devastating. And you know, I, it's just, it's hard to, it's hard to comprehend that someone who you talked to shortly, you know, a little while ago who was healthy and just you know, gone, gone. And this is where you get frustrated. And this is where you're frustrated with quite frankly, our government's response when they saw this happening and didn't take the necessary steps to make sure that we were protected.

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