Meet Kristen Kish, the new out host of Top Chef

What’s a key ingredient to hosting Top Chef in Wisconsin? A love of dairy.

“I started thinking about all the cheese and I was like, ‘I think they’re all my favorite,’” Kristen Kish smiles. “I don’t love super stinky cheeses, but…there’s really a cheese for every application that you could possibly want. So I won’t turn down a cheese.”

Kish replaces Padma Lakshmi as the first new host of Top Chef in 19 seasons. This year, the beloved Bravo cooking show takes place in the unique (and curd-loving) culinary scene of Wisconsin.

But Kish is far from being new to the show. In 2012 the Korean-born chef became the second woman ever to take home the Top title, winning season 10 in Seattle. But hosting the reality competition is an entirely different feast.

“The first, I don’t know, 10 minutes on-screen, I felt like I was internally having this freak-out, but I settled into it,” Kish says. “You realize that at the end of the day, you’re really there to help tell the story of the other chefs. That is my job. I deliver information, I’m there to give feedback, and…along with obviously [judges] Tom [Colicchio] and Gail [Simmons] and all our guest judges, we’re there to help provide context to the viewers at home that aren’t tasting the food. So I love it.”

Top Chef host Kristen Kish with judges Tom Colicchio and Gail SimmonsBravo: David Moir

Kish’s role isn’t the only menu item that’s changed since Top Chef: Seattle; she hadn’t yet come out as a lesbian when she competed on the show. She first declared her Pride in 2014 on Instagram, and now she’s happily married to Bianca Dusic, whom she wed in 2021. The journey has been life-changing for her.

“Anyone who has been in the closet for any period of time knows what it feels like to be living a lie. It does not feel good,” she says. “In my case, I thought I was protecting something. But it is like going from black and white to color. Life opens up. My outlook on my future is different. It’s bigger, it’s brighter, it’s better. Being able to not think about who I am and what I’m presenting to the world and just me being me…it’s a relief.”

“Everyone’s got to do it in their own time. I can’t look back and be like, ‘I wish I would’ve done it sooner’ because it played out exactly how it was supposed to be in order for me to process everything,” she adds. “But I got to say, being married and, obviously, being married to who I am married to, Bianca, is a highlight of my entire life, and it will continue to be.”

Now Kish can add host of Top Chef as another milestone. But for Kish, the best part isn’t the hosting — it’s getting to see what the chefs are going to whip up this season.

“The way I look at it is that Top Chef is special in the way that it’s not about how I host. It’s not about how I do my job,” she says. “Of course, I want to do a good job and I need to have hit certain things, and I need to be able to deliver things and connect with people like that, yes. But it’s about the chefs. It is about them stepping away from their very real lives to come and display their skill, their story, their motivation, whatever the case may be.”

“Just like the viewer, I am incredibly excited to see it all as a whole picture. Because where we sit, we see them when we deliver challenges and when we’re judging at [the] judges’ table,” she adds. “We don’t know sometimes, unless they tell us, all the stuff that happened before they got in front of us, where they’re from, why they cook. All these different things that lend information, especially when you guys see it as a viewer, you get to know them as the show goes on. So I’m really looking forward to getting to know them more as this season plays out.”

Season 21 of Top Chef airs Wednesdays at 9pm on Bravo and streams the following day on Peacock.

This story is part of the Out March/April issue, which hits newsstands on April 2. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting March 18.