Bravo's Top Chef has been on the air for 16 seasons, and over the years it's definitely
seen its fair share of drama.
From reported wage theft to alleged assault, here's what scandals have the network saying,
Please pack your knives, and go.
Marcel Vigneron first appeared on Top Chef season 2.
And though it was clear from the beginning that he was wildly talented, he's been called
the quote, "most-popular but least-liked contestant," per the Las Vegas Sun.
But things got out of hand one night when Vigneron and fellow chef'testants Ilan, Cliff,
and Elia were left alone in their house on the final night of filming, with just a handheld
camera to record footage.
"It was a stupid joke.
What's your ____ problem (punch)"
Everyone's story differs, but what the camera showed was Cliff pinning Marcel to the ground
in an attempt to forcibly shave Vigneron's head, while the others watched.
Cliff put Vigneron in a full nelson, at which point Vigneron was able to get away.
"I'm like is this for real?
Like what the ___ is going on right now.”
Judge Tom Colicchio was so enraged by the incident that he wanted to have all four of
the participants in Marcel's assault to be sent home, which would have made Vigneron
the winner by default.
"We're gonna have to ask you to leave.”
Instead, producers intervened, and only Cliff was sent home the next day.
Mike Isabella was a contestant on season 6 of Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars.
The Washington, D.C.-area chef found a huge amount of success after his appearance on
the shows, opening 11 restaurants and managing a staff of nearly 800 people.
It seemed he was going to be a major Top Chef success story — until he wasn't.
“It's yes chef, no chef, or I don't know chef.
There's no other things that you should be saying in a kitchen besides that.”
Isabella's new empire began to crumble in 2017, when a female manager claimed she was
harassed by both Isabella and his business partners, per The Atlantic.
She claimed Isabella's offences included inappropriate comments, showing up to work drunk, and goading
another chef into trying to sleep with her — an event that she says led to Isabella
firing her.
She also said that two of his business partners sent her illicit text messages, and that the
group as a whole called her names, insulted her, and touched her without permission.
The case eventually settled, Isabella filed for bankruptcy, and in December 2018, Isabella
closed all of his Mike Isabella Concept restaurants.
John Besh was a famous restaurateur in New Orleans and head of the John Besh restaurant
group when he appeared as a guest judge on Top Chef Colorado in the 15th season of the
show.
The James Beard Award-winner had appeared on several other cooking shows, wrote an award-winning
cookbook, and was considered to be one of the preeminent New Orleans chefs.
But in between his Top Chef appearance being filmed and the episode airing, scandal erupted.
“Explosive allegations of sexual harassment against celebrity chef John Besh and his restaurant
group are now making national headlines.”
Eater reported that 25 women came forward with allegations that Besh had created a work
environment in which harassment and assault flourished.
Former employee, Maggie Moore, who was fired by Besh's business partner, told Fox 8 News
that she said at the time,
"The reason that we're here goes back to when I wouldn't have sex with John.
And that is why I'm being fired right now.
And the response that I got was, I'm sorry.”
Soon after the news broke, Bravo made a statement saying that they were evaluating Besh's episode.
Then, days after the series premiere, Bravo announced that it would edit Besh out of the
episode entirely.
Chef Graham Elliot may have two Michelin stars under his belt, but the charismatic cook and
TV personality hasn't always operated his restaurant above board, according to a group
of employees who sued him.
"If it's not broken, break it.”
Elliot, who appeared on MasterChef and MasterChef Jr. for a decade before becoming a judge on
Top Chef in 2016, was sued in 2012 by 14 former servers at his Chicago restaurant, who alleged
that they were owed money due to unlawful tip pooling, adding that Elliot was operating
a quote "systemic scheme to deprive them of regular and overtime compensation," according
to Eater.
The employees were seeking back pay plus interest.
The case was settled in the fall of 2012 with Elliot paying an undisclosed sum to his former
employees.
“Alex the number one question we got for this reunion: did you really steal Ed's pea
puree.”
The infamous "Pea-gate" incident from Top Chef season 7 isn't just the most humorously
named scandal the show has ever seen, but also one of the most befuddling.
"I'm gonna be absolutely fair and only think about the food I'm not even gonna think about
who's cookin it.”
Here's what went down.
Chef'testant Ed Cotton made a pea puree to accompany a seafood dish.
Then, somewhere between the prep kitchen and the restaurant kitchen where they'd be preparing
their meals for the challenge, Cotton's puree went missing.
"Alex, did you see that pea puree?
I did not."
At the same time, chef Alex Reznik suddenly had a pea puree that he planned to feature
in his dish, even though he had already been shown on camera wondering what to serve with
his salmon.
The coincidence seemed almost too convenient, especially when Cotton was forced to change
his dish, and Reznik ended up winning that week's challenge.
Season 9 winner Paul Qui had a great reputation at one point.
He was one of the most famous chefs in Austin, Texas after nabbing a James Beard Award and
winning Top Chef Texas.
But Qui was not immune to scandal.
“A popular Austin chef reportedly assaulted his girlfriend"
In 2016, the Washington Post reported Qui was arrested for assault after his girlfriend
alleged that he had gone on a violent, drug-fueled rampage, during which he pushed her and her
infant son and blocked them from escaping the apartment, knocking over furniture, shelves,
and tables, and causing her bodily harm.
Qui made a statement saying that he was innocent of the assault charges, but that he would
be checking into rehab following the incident.
The charges against Qui were eventually dropped as the alleged victim stopped cooperating
with the investigation, according to Eater.
"That was a side of me I've never ever ever seen… that I would have gotten that out
of hand.”
In the fallout, three of Qui's restaurants closed.
These days, the chef is still getting work and opening new businesses, but his successes
are rarely noted without mention of this scandal.
"It's something that I own and that I have to live with.
You know, and it's something that I have to be responsible for.”
When production is deciding where to film a project, it's not uncommon for them to seek
out local film commissions and state governments to receive tax benefits in exchange for bringing
business to the state in question.
But, according to Eater, when Top Chef started filming in Texas, the production company's
techniques weren't all above board.
"It's Texas, they made it bigger, this season's raising the level of intensity pretty fast.”
There were rumors that production approached several different cities — including Houston,
Dallas, and Austin — and were trying to negotiate a pay-to-play deal where they would
shoot in a certain city in exchange for a cash payout, selecting those cities who were
willing to pay the most, rather than relying on the traditional tax breaks.
So, how much money, exactly, did Texas end up paying the show?
Officially, the state claimed it would cost taxpayers nothing to have the show filmed
in Texas, but, according to the Dallas Observer, Governor Rick Perry's office signed a statement
agreeing to subsidize the show to the tune of $400,000 in exchange for quote, "the integration
of [the state's] brand in Bravo's production of Top Chef cycle 9."
You expect the contestants on Top Chef to be given some very unique ingredients to work
with.
After all, these cooks are pros, and if the judges want to shake things up, they have
to think outside of the box.
"It's not easy.
And some of it's nasty.”
However, producers on Top Chef Canada may have taken things a little too far when they
had one chef use horse meat in a challenge that asked contestants to make a traditional
French dish.
Apparently horse meat isn't exactly popular in Canada, according to HuffPost, but in the
province of Quebec, you can find it at grocery stores and butchers.
More than 90,000 horses are slaughtered in Canada each year for consumption.
“Oh my God I'm going to vomit,”
When news broke that an upcoming episode would feature a chef cooking with horse meat, the
internet erupted in protest.
There was even a Facebook group that was joined by more than 5,000 people.
Top Chef Canada stood by their decision to include horse meat on the show, saying via
The Globe and Mail,
"The challenge in this episode involves having the competitors create a truly authentic,
traditional French menu.
One of the most traditional French foods is horse meat."
When Top Chef moved to Boston for season 12, they decided to use a non-union film crew.
And according to Inside Edition, there are two sides to what happened next.
"The production company did not hire teamsters drivers."
"Local union leaders tried to shut the show down.”
Having been passed over for the gig, a group of four Boston teamsters said that they were
on site that day simply picketing the Top Chef crew to quote "protest against the abuse
of the Massachusetts film tax credit" and the fact that they were operating a non-union
set.
However, witnesses including Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi herself said that they became
aggressive and violent.
"Least he knows I'm not a scab like you.”
Lakshmi claims that the men came up to her in her car and hissed at her, with one saying,
quote, "I'll smash your pretty little face," while others alleged that the teamsters yelled
profanities, slashed the tires of vehicles being used by the crew, and were chest bumping
crew members in a threatening way as they arrived to set.
The incident was just one of several being looked at to determine whether Mayor Marty
Walsh's office had inappropriate ties with organized labor in the city, with one city
employee claiming he pulled the permits for Top Chef in order to pressure them to use
members of a local union on their film crew.
Judge Tom Colicchio has long been an advocate for fair labor, an activist in the realm of
food insecurity, and is generally considered to be a "good guy" in the restaurant industry.
But even he isn't immune to scandal.
"Whether you're a chef, whether you're a porter, whether you're a server, you have to have
sort of a desire to really care for people.”
According to Take Part, in 2015, Colicchio's 'wichcraft sandwich chain was sued for allegedly
distributing tips unfairly, resulting in workers getting paid less than minimum wage, as well
as not paying employees adequately for working overtime.
Even delivery people for the chain claimed that they weren't fairly compensated for the
time it took them to change in and out of their uniform, and they were paid for fewer
hours than they reported working.
This wasn't the first time that Colicchio has come under fire for labor practices.
His restaurant Craftbar settled a lawsuit out of court with employees who alleged that
their tips were being garnished and that they weren't getting paid minimum wage.
Colicchio denied the allegations, though he did say that the situation should be investigated
fairly and that his employees should be taken seriously, noting that state minimum wage
regulations can make paying tipped employees more complicated than it seems.
Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth both competed on Top Chef, and eventually even opened a
restaurant together in New York called Root & Bone.
But unfortunately, scandal shadowed the entire enterprise.
"Working together and how to work together, and maybe how not to work together…we've
learned a lot.”
The Miami Herald reported McInnis's ex-wife claimed that McInnis and Booth had been having
an affair, and that he pressured her into a divorce so that he could move to New York
with Booth.
She also alleged that McInnis left his previous job because his business partner wanted to
run a family company, and McInnis's philandering didn't fit in.
Nevertheless, McInnis and Booth opened Root & Bone, which debuted with much fanfare and
positive reviews.
But according to Eater, things soured when the duo was sued by their business partner,
who alleged that they lied about the restaurant's profits and embezzled over $280,000 from the
restaurant, supposedly using it to renovate the apartment above the restaurant where they
lived, and to hold a pop-up restaurant in Puerto Rico.
The scandal eventually blew over, and McInnis and Booth got engaged on the set of The Chew
in 2018.
Both also still work at the successful Root & Bone.
Viewers of Top Chef might be shocked upon revisiting season 1 when they realize that
Katie Lee, not the now-iconic Padma, was the show's first host.
"Good evening everyone, I'm Katie Lee Joel.”
Lee wasn't exactly praised for her performance on the show, with viewers calling her robotic
and wooden.
After a single season, Andy Cohen announced that Lee was leaving the show to quote "pursue
other opportunities."
Later, in his 2012 memoir, Cohen would recount how Lee would get so nervous on set and feel
so guilty about having to send contestants home that her pounding heartbeat could be
heard through her mic.
"So go home, enjoy your first night in the house.
For one of you, it will be your last.”
Lee was replaced by Lakshmi, who hosted the next 15 seasons of the show.
But Lee didn't disappear completely.
"I'm Katie Lee and I eat meat in sweats.”
She's now a co-host of Food Network's The Kitchen, has appeared on Food Network shows
like the Halloween Baking Championship, Meat Sweats, Beat Bobby Flay, and Rachel Ray.
She also has her own show on the Cooking Channel show called Beach Bites with Katie Lee.
Lee is also a cookbook author and novelist.
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