Why Did Padma Lakshmi Leave ‘Top Chef’? Her Exit, Explained
Top Chef returns with a brand new season on Monday, March 9, but the cooking competition will still be without its longtime host, Padma Lakshmi, who left the series in 2023 after 17 years.
Lakshmi made her Top Chef hosting debut during Season 2 in 2006 and remained in the position until Season 20, which aired in 2023. As we gear up for another season, scroll down for a refresh about why Lakshmi, who was also an executive producer on the show, left, who took over as host, and more.
Why did Padma Lakshmi leave Top Chef?
Lakshmi announced her exit from Top Chef in June 2023 ahead of the Season 20 finale. At the time, the show had already been picked up for a 21st season, but Lakshmi confirmed she would not be returning.
“After 17 years, many of the cast and crew are like family to me, and I will miss working alongside them dearly,” Lakshmi said at the time. “I feel it’s time to move and need to make space for Taste The Nation, my books, and other creative pursuits.” Taste the Nation was Lakshmi’s documentary show that ran for two seasons in 2020 and 2023 (it did not return for a third season following her Top Chef exit).
The following month, Lakshmi appeared on Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast and explained just how busy her schedule was while working on two shows. “I was on location for eight months out of the year,” she pointed out. “I was in pre- and post-production for both of my shows. And I was looking at edits of one show while on the set of another show. It was just exhausting and untenable for me to continue that way.”
She also noted that the schedule left very little time for her personal life. “I haven’t had a relationship in a long time, either, because I’m always working,” Lakshmi continued. “I don’t know when I think I was going to meet anybody. I’m surrounded by people I either employ or employ me, and neither of those are appropriate [for a relationship].”
Additionally, Lakshmi said she wanted to spend more time with her teenage daughter, whom she shares with Adam Dell. “In five years, she’s going to go off and have her own life and hopefully go to college and stuff,” the chef explained. “It wasn’t an easy decision.”
In 2024, she expanded on her decision, telling Harper’s Bazaar that “it was really taking a toll on me physically to digest that much food in a day.”
Who is the host of Top Chef now?
Just over a month after Lakshmi’s departure, it was announced that Kristen Kish would be replacing her in Season 21. She has served as the host ever since and will be returning for Season 23.
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Kish won Season 10 of Top Chef in 2012 and went on to host shows including 36 Hours, Fast Foodies, Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, and Restaurants at the End of the World. She was also a contestant on Season 4 of The Traitors in 2026, finishing in eighth place.
What is Padma Lakshmi doing now?
Lakshmi is now serving as the host of a new cooking competition on CBS called America’s Culinary Cup, which premieres on March 4. The show features “sixteen of the country’s most elite chefs competing in the ultimate culinary arena” with chefs Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresne serving as judges. There is a $1 million prize.
In November 2025, Lakshmi also released her cookbook Padma’s All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond.
Top Chef, Season 23 Premiere, Monday, March 9, 9/8c, Bravo
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