Padma Lakshmi Guessed ‘Top Chef’ Winners, but Producers Are ‘Constantly Surprised’ [Exclusive]
During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Top Chef judge Padma Lakshmi admitted that she and the other judges have sometimes identified winners early in the competition.
“There are seasons,” Lakshmi said. “I’m not going to tell you which one, but I’m going to say it was a very recent season. But not this one!”
Casey Kriley and Jo Sharon, Co-CEOs of Magical Elves, the production company behind Top Chef, told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that while they don’t tend to guess who will win, they will often have a top four in mind – and usually end up surprised in the long run.
‘Top Chef’ producers leave the judging to the experts
“When we’re finalizing that cast, everyone has different opinions on who ultimately could take it,” Kriley said. “But we’re constantly surprised every season. Something that’s really important to both Bravo and Magical Elves on Top Chef.”
“But to be honest, in all of our competition shows is that we really leave it up to the judges,” she emphasized. “We do not have a say in it. We do not push an agenda. It really is a purist competition at its heart. And that’s really important to Tom [Colicchio], Gail [Simmons], and Padma as well.”
Judges take their role very seriously, sometimes debating for far longer than what’s seen on the show. “You might only see a two or three-minute deliberation in the actual episode that airs. But sometimes those deliberations can be an hour and a half of debate behind the scenes,” she revealed.
‘Top Chef’ crew have top 4 gut feeling
While they may not guess who will win, production can’t help but have a gut feeling about who is going to be on top.
“I love to think back to those casting sessions of everyone saying who they think is going to be in the top. And then realizing that most of us weren’t right,” Sharon said. “It is surprising. There’s this unspoken rule in unscripted TV when you’re casting that you always want to make sure you have four people that you think could win.”
“But then you’re always surprised that half of the people that get into the top four are not the people that you put on that list,” she said. “But that’s what’s so great about it is some people, they come to win. They’re just different in a competition. Or real things happen and mistakes happen that you can’t account for. But the unexpected is always what’s so exciting in this competition.”
The production crew is as passionate as Bravo fans about the show
The Top Chef production crew becomes just as passionate about the competition as the judges and the fans.
“I think the other thing that’s always fascinating to watch is our phenomenal crew on this show, which is spearheaded by our showrunner Doneen Arquines,” Kriley said.
“They become so invested in the chefs and their stories that as you’re getting down to those final episodes and the judges decide who they’re going to eliminate, behind the scenes, some of the crew are so upset in terms of who they had hoped would make it to the finals or the finale,” she shared.
“I have to remind them that you need to stand back and let the judges make the decision,” she said. “Because the crew who was just as passionate about their show and their craft in making this show, it really is in parallel to what the chefs go through, how hard they work and how committed they are to making Top Chef exceptional. And they’re very invested in the story and how the competition unfolds.”
Do ‘Top Chef’ producers taste the food?
The Top Chef judges sample the dishes, but does any of that tasty fare make it over to production? “When we first started producing Top Chef, I would say at least the first six seasons, we were so serious and hardcore about the boundaries of the production in relation to the competition that there was a rule that no one ever tastes the food,” Kriley said.
“Over time we’ve loosened that slightly,” she said. “For me, I still kind of adhere to that rule, because I’m a rule follower. But between our baking shows that Magical Elves produces and the cooking shows, I also keep the rules so I don’t end up putting on 10 or 15 pounds by the end of every season.”
But, “The smells are amazing. And then often when we’re watching the cuts and edit, if I haven’t eaten, half of my notes will be like, ‘This dish looks so good, I’m so hungry right now,'” Kriley joked.
Top Chef is on Thursday at 9 pm ET on Bravo.
Magical Elves is a leading producer of award-winning, non-fiction content for domestic and international television markets. Known for hits like Top Chef (Bravo), Nailed It!”(Netflix), Sugar Rush (Netflix), Cold Justice (Oxygen) and Brain Games reboot (Nat Geo), Magical Elves is a veteran production company with a long track record of consistently delivering the highest quality programming.
