Padma Lakshmi Announces ‘Top Chef’ Exit After 17 Years

The top of an period! Padma Lakshmi introduced that she is leaving High Chef after 17 years as host of the beloved cooking competitors.

“After a lot soul looking, I’ve made the troublesome choice to depart High Chef,” the Bravo star, 52, started in an Instagram publish shared on Friday, June 2. “Having accomplished a wonderful twentieth season as host and government producer, I’m extraordinarily proud to have been a part of constructing such a profitable present and of the impression it has had within the worlds of tv and meals. After 17 years, lots of the solid and crew are like household to me and I’ll miss working alongside them dearly.”

The Easy Unique creator went on to notice that she plans to concentrate on her different tasks after leaving High Chef, which wraps up its World All-Stars season on Thursday, June 8. “I really feel it’s time to maneuver on and want to create space for Style the Nation, my books and different inventive pursuits,” she wrote. “I’m deeply grateful to all of you for therefore a few years of affection and assist. Sincerely, Padma.”

Padma Lakshmi Announces Top Chef Exit After 17 Years

Tom Brown, Padma Lakshmi on ‘High Chef’.
David Moir/Bravo

Lakshmi — who shares daughter Krishna, 13, with ex Adam Dell — has been the host of the competitors collection since 2006, following chef Katie Lee‘s departure from the present after its inaugural season. The cookbook creator has earned 4 Emmy nominations for her internet hosting work, most not too long ago in 2022. (She misplaced to RuPaul, who gained for his work on RuPaul’s Drag Race.)

After Lakshmi’s announcement, her colleagues and followers weighed in with their ideas within the feedback part of her publish. “Finish of an period and an unbelievable run,” wrote Andy Cohen. “You had been such an incredible associate and a BRILLIANT host. I’ve such nice recollections of our TC days.”

Buddha Lo, who gained High Chef season 19 and is at the moment competing on season 20, added, “I really feel honored to be part of your magical journey.”

Whereas Lakshmi is finest recognized for her work on the Bravo collection, she has loads of different irons within the hearth. Since 2020, she has hosted her personal Hulu docuseries titled Style the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, which wrapped up its second season in Might. She has additionally authored two cookbooks, a memoir (Love, Loss, and What We Ate) and a reference information (The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Important Information to the Flavors of the World). In 2021, she revealed a kids’s e-book titled Tomatoes for Neela, with illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal.

Final month, Lakshmi instructed Selection that she didn’t know the place High Chef season 21 can be set, which some followers at the moment are deciphering as a touch that she was already planning to depart. The previous New York Instances columnist added that she hopes Style the Nation continues for extra seasons as a result of there are extra communities she hopes to focus on.

“Each interview is a bit bit completely different and takes a bit little bit of time to heat up to one another,” Lakshmi stated of her docuseries. “However that’s what I really like about this present although — no two days are alike.”