Competitive cooking shows have long entertained viewers with their pressure-building tasks and challenges. And out of the lot, Top Chef would definitely be one of the most sought-after shows out there. Along with the show, host Padma Lakshmi also became a proud face of the series for 17 years. But she shocked everyone when she announced that Season 20 would be her last.
Her fans obviously didn’t like the news since watching it without her was not something they had imagined. After her, Kristen Kish took over the hosting duties, and while fans liked her, they feel she’ll need more to replace Lakshmi on the show.
Fans feel Kristen Kish will need to do more in Top Chef to match Padma Lakshmi’s legacy
As a big fan of Top Chef, I’ve always enjoyed just how thrilling the competition and creativity get between some of the most talented chefs out there. Along with it, Padma Lakshmi as the host was one of the best elements of watching the show. And now that she has left the project, it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking over her duties.
Apart from her perfect sense of style, she also brought elegance and a no-nonsense attitude that made her critiques even more impactful. So, for the show and her fans like me out there, her presence was a major factor that made Top Chef popular in the first place.
So when she announced her departure after 17 long years, it was quite disheartening. While she definitely had her reasons for it, when Kristen Kish was announced as her replacement, I had mixed feelings. There’s no doubt that she’d be a good fit for the role given that she has won Top Chef herself.
My doubts stemmed from the fact of whether she could do complete justice to the role just as Lakshmi did for the last 20 seasons. When the same question was posted on Reddit, a user had a perfect answer for what many of us felt.
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byu/haydenclaireheroes from discussion
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The new host took a very different approach than Padma Lakshmi and presented a more relaxed and relatable demeanor. This was also due to the fact that she very well understood what kind of pressure the chefs undergo because, in the past, she was in their shoes. This is great in some sense as it makes her more approachable, and the chefs might feel that they can connect with her.
But when it was Padma Lakshmi leading the way, she always made sure to keep a certain distance from the participants. This was solely for the reason that they took her critiques more seriously. This is the main reason that even I’m curious about how Kristen Kish will develop in this role. But as a true fan of the show, I hope she does complete justice to her role.
Kristen Kish herself felt the huge pressure of stepping into Padma Lakshmi’s shoes
Taking over a show that has been hosted by one person for 17 long years is not an easy task. Even Kristen Kish faced the same emotions when she took over the hosting duties for Season 21 of Top Chef after Padma Lakshmi stepped down. Kish is a former winner of the show herself and is definitely more qualified than anybody out there. But stepping into Lakshmi’s legacy was not easy, even for her.
In an interview with The Wrap, she detailed that the announcement of her new role came as a huge shock. She was actually in the gym, mid-workout, when her phone started buzzing with messages and phone calls confirming that she had indeed landed the role. Kish had won the 10th season of the show but admitted that hosting Top Chef was an entirely new challenge.
There was also doubt about whether she would be able to manage the show and bring the same presence that Padma Lakshmi did. However, her co-hosts reassured her, adding that she just needed to be herself and everything else would fall into place. She did just that, and the fans’ reaction has been quite supportive of her.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
