It’s been about three weeks since Top Chef: World All-Stars ended. The show’s 20th season wrapped up by crowning Buddha Lo the champion over Sara Bradley and Gabri Rodriguez in the finale, and earlier this month it won a Critics Choice Real TV Award for Best Culinary Show.
Some of us are already going through withdrawal without Quick Fire challenges and the judge’s table in our lives. What’s next? When’s the next season? Where will it be?
A few folks closely associated with the show gave some interviews and sent out some tweets recently, giving fans a glimpse into what Season 21 will be like.
Here’s what we know, so far.
The show has to find a replacement for Padma
After 19 seasons, longtime host Padma Lakshmi is leaving Top Chef. She announced before the Season 20 finale that it would be her last, saying she was leaving the show to focus on other projects, like her Hulu show Taste The Nation.
So, the folks at Bravo will have to find someone else to host Quick Fire challenges, fill a seat at the judge’s table, and tell the weekly loser, “Please pack your knives and go.” We have our suspicions as to who they might pick, and perhaps a former Top Chef winner or two is in the mix.
Lakshmi told Vanity Fair recently that leaving Top Chef was “bittersweet” but it became difficult to juggle her hosting duties there and her Hulu show.
“We’re all burnt out. I know I am. I think this has been brewing for a long time. I have given everything I can humanly give, at all times, to this show, and I think that the results have paid off. Now I need to just focus on my own projects and getting some rest.”
She also added:
“It was frustrating also because obviously my brand is very different than Bravo’s brand, and our brands have been diverging for quite some time now.”
Lakshmi is staying busy in other ways too. She recently appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue, and she’s doing more voice acting, set to appear in the next season of Netflix’s Big Mouth.
Padma Lakshmi reflects on her time as host of 'Top Chef' pic.twitter.com/VRLZvns12f
— CNN (@CNN) June 12, 2023
But Tom and Gail aren’t going anywhere
Hear it from Colicchio himself.
— Tom Colicchio (@tomcolicchio) June 3, 2023
— Tom Colicchio (@tomcolicchio) June 10, 2023
The season will be set in an American city
In a recent Daily Beast story, Simmons said that production for Season 21 is “already deep into casting” and that filming will begin this summer in a to-be-named U.S. city. And there’s pressure to top Season 20’s World All-Stars set in London and Paris.
Simmons said:
“We’re coming back to America. So I don’t know how that will play out and I don’t know how we’ll top this season, because it really felt like a high point in our adventure.”
While it’s unclear where Season 21 in the U.S. will be, it might be a fair assumption that’ll it be on the east coast, considering Top Chef hasn’t set a season east of Kentucky since Season 14, which was set in Charleston, South Carolina. The U.S. locations since then have also included Colorado, Los Angeles, Portland and Houston.
Before Season 14, Top Chef had stopped in the following east coast cities: Miami, New York, D.C. and Boston. The show has also filmed seasons in Chicago and New Orleans.
Perhaps another east coast city – maybe Baltimore or Atlanta – is up next.
In Restaurant Wars, count on the chefs staying in the back of the house
Restaurant Wars is an episode that Top Chef fans look forward to every season. It typically occurs when there are about eight contestants left, and the group splits into two teams, each operating their own themed eatery for the judges. In past seasons, one chef was put in charge of front-of-house duties: seating, menus, serving and managing the dining room. While this aspect of it could be entertaining, it often took chefs away from what they did best, which is cooking.
But that changed in Season 20. Chefs stayed in the kitchen and front-of-house operations were managed by nameless staff.
Colicchio told the Daily Beast that “hopefully” that same structure – chefs staying in the back of the house – remains going forward.
He added:
“I’ve hated having them do front-of-house from day one. I just thought it was terrible. Why is someone going home for front-of-house? It never made sense to me.”
Buddha Lo (probably) won't be back
Lo is the first Top Chef contestant to win back-to-back seasons, winning Season 19 in Houston and Season 20’s World All-Stars.
He recently told Variety that he “100 percent” would come back to Top Chef, he just doesn’t think the showrunners will let him. However, he does have an idea for a future season:
“I’ve tried pushing Tom for ‘Top Chef 30: Galaxy,’ where I represent Earth.”
Buddha Lo of Earth versus Din Djarin of Mandalore in the finals.
