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.