Top Chef: Season 10 Winner Kristen Kish to Replace Padma Lakshmi as Host

Onetime Top Chef winner Kristen Kish will be the one telling contestants to pack their knives when the Bravo series returns for Season 21.

Kish, who previously won Season 10 of the reality competition series, will replace Top Chef staple Padma Lakshmi, who stepped down as host in June after 19 seasons. Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons will both be back as judges for Season 21, which will be set in Wisconsin.

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“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 in a statement on Tuesday. “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.”

In addition to her own Top Chef journey, Kish has substantial hosting experience, having led series like Netflix’s Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend (which she co-hosted with Alton Brown), Travel Channel’s 36 Hours (alongside Kyle Martino) and NatGeo’s Restaurants at the End of the World.

Lakshmi announced her plans to depart as Top Chef host on June 2, just days before the show’s Season 20 finale. “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 wrote in a Twitter statement at the time. “I feel it’s time to move on and need to make space for [Hulu’s] Taste the Nation, my books and other creative pursuits. I am deeply thankful to all of you for so many years of love and support.”

What are your initial reactions to Kish as Lakshmi’s successor? Drop ’em in a comment below!

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