Skip to main content

Padma Lakshmi to Host Bravo's "Top Chef"

Bravo has announced an replacement for outgoing Top Chef host Katie Lee Joel who "departed" the culinary reality series last month, locking 36- year-old Indian supermodel, author, and actress Padma Lakshmi to step into Joel's designer shoes.

Known as the world's first Indian supermodel, Padma Lakshmi joins Bravo's Top Chef at the start of the second season, where she'll introduce the challenges to the contestants and join Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons at the judges' table each episode.

Lakshmi is no stranger to the culinary world, having hosted cooking series Padma's Passport and documentary series Planet Food on Food Network. For the latter, Lakshmi traveled the world on an ongoing quest for exotic cuisine. She is currently writing her second cookbook, which is due to be published next spring. Her first cookbook, "Easy Exotic," netted her a prize at the International Versailles Event for the best cookbook by a first time author.

Lakshmi also recently appeared in ABC's mini-series The Ten Commandments and will next be seen in BBC America's Sharpe's Challenge. She next joins Dylan McDermott and Aishwarya Rai Paul Mayeda Berges' film Mistress of Spices.

Lakshmi is married to noted writer Salman Rushie.

Principal photography on Top Chef's thirteen-episode second season is set to begin filming this month and, in a departure from last season's San Francisco-set competition, will be shot here in Los Angeles. The sophomore season is set to premiere in October 2006.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I can't wait for a new season of "Top Chef" and I'm really looking forward to a new host. Particularly one that isn't a Cylon.
Anonymous said…
oooooooo, coool....i love this show...and the host needed replacing....very cool
Anonymous said…
Salmon Rushdie?!? Come on, can't we get a host(ess) who's a great chef and accomplished in her own right?
Anonymous said…
This one's as bad as the last one.
Anonymous said…
come on here...now we are talking
with Padma this show is cooking and smoking before it gets started.
Wait a sec...this is about chef's...yeah I guess they'll cook food like last year...but WOHOOOOOO at padma
Anonymous said…
I would like to know what happened to Padma and how she got her scars. Lori McLees
Anonymous said…
I would say that being the first Indian Supermodel and well known actor/cookbook author accounts for being accomplished of her own right.
Anonymous said…
Hmmm I agree that padma is pretty and all that, but is it just me or does she look painfully thin next to everyone else...especially since its a food show- she kinda looks starved!

Popular posts from this blog

Katie Lee Packs Her Knives: Breaking News from Bravo's "Top Chef"

The android has left the building. Or the test kitchen, anyway. Top Chef 's robotic host Katie Lee Joel, the veritable "Uptown Girl" herself (pictured at left), will NOT be sticking around for a second course of Bravo's hit culinary competition. According to a well-placed insider, Joel will "not be returning" to the show. No reason for her departure was cited. Unfortunately, the perfect replacement for Joel, Top Chef judge and professional chef Tom Colicchio, will not be taking over as the reality series' host (damn!). Instead, the show's producers are currently scouring to find a replacement for Joel. Top Chef 's second season was announced by Bravo last month, but no return date has been set for the series' ten-episode sophomore season. Stay tuned as this story develops. UPDATE (6/27): Bravo has now confirmed the above story .

BuzzFeed: Meet The TV Successor To "Serial"

HBO's stranger-than-fiction true crime documentary The Jinx   — about real estate heir Robert Durst — brings the chills and thrills missing since Serial   wrapped up its first season. Serial   obsessives: HBO's latest documentary series is exactly what you've been waiting for.   The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst , like Sarah Koenig's beloved podcast, sifts through old documents, finds new leads from fresh interviews, and seeks to determine just what happened on a fateful day in which the most foul murder was committed. And, also like  Serial  before it,  The Jinx may also hold no ultimate answer to innocence or guilt. But that seems almost beside the point; such investigations often remain murky and unclear, and guilt is not so easy a thing to be judged. Instead, this upcoming six-part tantalizing murder mystery, from director Andrew Jarecki ( Capturing the Friedmans ), is a gripping true crime story that unfolds with all of the speed of a page-turner; it

BuzzFeed: "The Good Wife Is The Best Show On Television Right Now"

The CBS legal drama, now in its sixth season, continually shakes up its narrative foundations and proves itself fearless in the process. Spoilers ahead, if you’re not up to date on the show. At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, " The Good Wife Is The Best Show On Television Right Now," in which I praise CBS' The Good Wife and, well, hail it as the best show currently on television. (Yes, you read that right.) There is no need to be delicate here: If you’re not watching The Good Wife, you are missing out on the best show on television. I won’t qualify that statement in the least — I’m not talking about the best show currently airing on broadcast television or outside of cable or on premium or however you want to sandbox this remarkable show. No, the legal drama is the best thing currently airing on any channel on television. That The Good Wife is this perfect in its sixth season is reason to truly celebrate. Few shows embrace complexity and risk-taking in t