After many successful seasons, Top Chef is arguably one of the biggest, most enduring
shows to ever air on the Bravo channel, but prepare to be surprised and enlightened by
what you may not know about this Emmy-winning series.
This is the untold truth of Top Chef.
The second season of Top Chef can lay claim to what is arguably the weirdest incident
to ever take place on the show.
After a competition, some of the contestants got drunk and decided to shave the head of
a competitor, Marcel Vigneron, very much against his will.
What was apparently meant to be a tipsy prank, however, escalated to something far more egregious.
As one producer wrote, it was, quote, "a strange and uncomfortable situation for everybody."
"It was weird.
It was an uncomfortable situation for all parties involved."
As a result of the incident, one of the culprits, Cliff Crooks, became the first and only contestant
ever disqualified from Top Chef.
Judge and executive producer Tom Colicchio addressed the bizarre situation in a blog
post, writing:
"In a flash I understood how frat pranks can morph into ugly acts of hazing, or how a rowdy
bachelor party can become the scene of a crime...Bravo's Legal department advised us of the Top Chef
rules, which stated that harming or threatening to harm other contestants was potential grounds
for disqualification.
According to these guidelines, it was clear that Cliff needed to go."
Consider the plight of Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi.
While sampling the culinary creations of some of America's most talented chefs may be a
treat for the taste buds, eating all that food is not great for the waistline.
In a 2017 essay she wrote for The Hollywood Reporter, Lakshmi broke it down, explaining:
"When filming Top Chef, I consume about 5,000 to 8,000 calories a day.
We start with anywhere from 15 to 18 contestants, and I have to take a bite or two from each
of their plates to adequately judge each dish.
Every day.
It adds up."
She revealed,
"I typically gain anywhere from 10 to 17 pounds every season."
And, as she pointed out, the need to get, quote, "red carpet ready" after filming ends
just before awards season means she must embark on an intensive diet and exercise regime.
What she's come to learn, however, is that gaining that weight is a lot easier than shedding
it.
She admitted:
"Once I get home, what's taken me six weeks to gain takes me 12 weeks to take off."
You can't cook up Top Chef-level cuisine without fresh, quality ingredients, and those do not
come cheap.
That was one of many revelations made by Seattle chef Shannon Wilkinson, a former culinary
producer with the show who shared some Top Chef secrets with Seattle Met.
According to Wilkinson, the Top Chef pantry that viewers see has been completely stocked
to provide a wide array of food, from the mundane to the exotic.
He explained:
"We came up with the ingredient list, the stuff you see when they're in there grabbing
ingredients during a challenge...The culinary producers, we'd go to Whole Foods and spend
$5,000.
Imagine what it's like being able to go to Whole Foods and buy everything you could possibly
want."
Shopping for Top Chef, Wilkinson revealed, was an adventure
"We'd roll through there with four or five carts, just loading stuff in.
The person they always designated as our checker would just be tickled."
Having all that food available is essential for the Top Chef challenges, but only a fraction
of what's purchased for the show actually gets used.
As Top Chef culinary producer Shannon Wilkinson told Seattle Met, he and his fellow culinary
producers got to grab whatever goodies were left over.
Since, quote, "most of the best products" don't get utilized, and given the lengthy
period between challenges, sometimes weeks, Wilkinson revealed:
"We would take any leftover product that would have spoiled back to the hotel and have dinner
parties.
For me that was one of the best perks; we'd go back to our hotel and eat caviar and foie
gras and lobster."
"We're in this four-person jacuzzi, popping bottles of champagne, and all of us just being
baller."
And although some food simply couldn't be salvaged, Wilkinson did point out one exception:
"At the end of the day, we'd have to throw a lot of product away because it sat too long
during filming.
We always made sure the caviar was saved."
One of the secrets of Top Chef that viewers likely don't know is that whenever chefs prepare
a dish, they're required to make two of whatever it is they're cooking.
"Sorry, ladies."
"Oh no!"
"I got one done, but not two."
"Well.
She can't win."
Top Chef producer Shauna Minoprio told the New York Daily News:
"Before the judge gets to it, we sneak in and grab it for [photography purposes]."
Meanwhile, she also divulged that there's only one person on the production team who
actually tastes everything:
"He is a guy called T-Bone, and he is our technical coordinator.
But he is also the man that shoots all the [closeups of the dishes].
So he's sort of the inside mole, and if you want to get a sense of whose food tasted the
best and who he thinks might do well at the judges' table, go ask T-Bone."
When Top Chef debuted in 2006, the host was Katie Lee Joel, the then-wife of rocker Billy
Joel.
Padma Lakshmi was only brought in to replace her in the second season.
The blog Televisionary was the first to report the news, saying:
"Top Chef's robotic host Katie Lee Joel...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."
Andy Cohen, a top exec at the Bravo channel at the time, shared a strange anecdote about
Joel in his 2012 memoir.
During a taping, Cohen wrote, a, quote, "strange thumping noise" could be heard, its source
baffling the audio crew.
He explained:
"Finally the audio guy realized what he was hearing.
'That's Katie's heart!' he screamed.
I love a host with a big heart, and Katie Lee felt so bad about having to send anyone
home that hers was pounding hard enough to be heard in the sound mix."
While certain things tend to be fudged in the making of reality television, the Top
Chef competitions' time limits are 100 percent real.
Series producer Shauna Minoprio made that revelation in a 2007 interview with the New
York Daily News, explaining:
"Anytime you're watching the show and you're seeing that the chefs have been given four
hours or whatever it is, that is absolutely, very strictly the amount of time they get."
That was backed up by Tom Colicchio.
He told Food & Wine in 2017:
"If we say you have a half an hour to cook, you have a half an hour to cook.
There's no suspended time on our show."
"Twenty minutes for a quickfire.
They keep getting shorter and shorter and shorter.
One time, it's going to be just, 'Hey, you have a minute.'"
One part of the show that has no time limits, however, is the judging.
Gail Simmons told Food & Wine:
"There have been eight- to 10-hour judging tables."
The judge even recalled one session that went on for so long that she fell asleep at the
table.
Kwame Onwuachi competed in the 13th season of Top Chef in 2015.
Later, he wrote a memoir, Notes From a Young Black Chef, that included his observations
about appearing on the show.
One of the behind-the-scenes secrets he revealed is a rule meant to keep any spoilers from
leaking.
He wrote:
"Because there's such a long gap between filming and airing, eliminated contestants are kept
quarantined together in a house until the season finale is filmed."
For the already-eliminated chefs, this pseudo-imprisonment wasn't exactly a rollicking good time.
Onwuachi admitted:
"There was not much we could do but stew in a mixture of boredom and depression."
Interestingly enough, shortly after the 2019 release of Onwuachi's book, Variety reported
that Notes From a Young Black Chef was going to be adapted into a movie, with LaKeith Stanfield
cast to play Onwuachi in the film version.
Viewers of Top Chef have been able to pick up numerous cooking tips over the years, but
they can also receive culinary training thanks to Top Chef University.
Originally a now-defunct website, Top Chef University can now be accessed via an app,
promising to teach, quote, "professional cooking techniques and food preparation methods."
When first introduced in 2010, the online course cost $200, and offered more than 200
different lessons spread across 12 categories, ranging from "Kitchen Basics and Technique"
to "Principles of Sauteing."
The school's culinary director Anthony Hoy Fong worked with Top Chef judge Gail Simmons
on the project.
As noted in the press release, the pair:
"created an innovative and comprehensive curriculum, covering everything from basic knife skills
and preparation, to correct cooking techniques and insight into advanced culinary trends."
Following the announcement, Esquire writer Peter Martin decided to take the course and
share his experiences in a series of weekly columns, following his progress as he attempted
the online lessons.
Among the skills he acquired: the proper way to roast garlic, how to prepare steak with
chimichurri sauce, and the best way to roast tomatoes.
Not only could fans of Top Chef enhance their culinary abilities with Top Chef University,
they could also test their virtual cooking skills in a Top Chef-themed video game.
The synopsis for Top Chef: The Game declares:
"Sharpen your kitchen knives and dive into a frenzied culinary competition in this tantalizing
Time Management game!
Compete against a seasoned lineup of talented chefs in a blur of intense Quickfire and Elimination
cooking challenges!"
A review of the game for IGN described the visuals as, quote, "functional, yet basic,"
and outlined the ultimate goal of making it through 15 episodes, taking the player through
a variety of culinary challenges fitting various themes.
Ultimately, the review wasn't particularly glowing, as it pointed out:
"The pace is so frenetic at times that you feel like you're just throwing things into
a pot and hoping they'll stick.
Top Chef: The Game is an interesting diversion at best, but if you want to learn to cook,
you'd be far better off just buying a cookbook."
The producers, stars, and past contestants of Top Chef spilled some secrets about the
show during a 2018 panel at Los Angeles' Paley Center for Media, with The Hollywood Reporter
detailing some of their more fascinating revelations.
Chief among these was that contestants must undergo a, quote, "gruelling" psychiatric
test before being approved to compete on the show.
"I am having a really hard time focusing and feeling present."
The show's "cheftestants" are posed an array of seemingly bizarre questions (including,
"Did you ever want to light a cat on fire?") in order to identify any psychological issues
that might present problems during production of the show.
Season 14 winner Brooke Williamson recalled during the Q&A:
"They stick you in a room with a psychiatrist for two hours.
It's awful.
I cried because that's what I do, and I failed my first test!" he explain
Season two's Marcel Vigneron also shared his experience, saying:
"They ask you things like, 'Do you see things other people don't see?'
I said, 'Yeah, I have really good vision.'
They said, 'No!
We mean things that aren't there!'
'Well the question didn't say that!'"
Top Chef isn't just a culinary competition, it's also a gruelling endurance test that
becomes increasingly tougher for the finalists as they progress through a season.
Several Top Chef finalists spoke with Delish to share what they'd learned about the show
in the course of their experiences, including season 14 finalist Shirley Chung.
Chung's advice to any chef looking to compete in the show is to exit the kitchen and head
for the gym.
She said:
"It's very physical, because the hours are really long, and especially this season, oh
my god, it's unbelievable."
In order to prepare herself for the physical demands of Top Chef, she doubled up on her
workouts, from three per week to six, and mixed it up by alternating between lifting
weights, interval training and cardio workouts on an elliptical.
She also took spin classes in order to build up stamina, in addition to running.
The latter activity, she explained, helped to clear her head.
Appearing on Top Chef has given Chung huge respect for the show.
She said:
"It's one of the truest, real-time reality shows, and [that's why] so many professional
chefs really respect it."
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