When the time came for beloved Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi to pack up her knives and leave the series after nearly 20 seasons, it seemed impossible to replace someone who had become so synonymous with the series. Enter Kristen Kish, who won Top Chef’s tenth season in 2012 and immediately felt like a no-brainer. Kish spent the 12 years following her victory practically training for the gig, putting in time as host of Restaurants at the End of the World, Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, and travel series 36 Hours as well as appearances on Fast Foodies, Last Chance Kitchen, and Selena + Chef (and many guest-judging stints on Chopped and Top Chef). Kish returned home in 2024 with her own unique flavor of hosting and a particular empathy for the contestants that stemmed from her own time in their position. This year, a whole new audience met Kish thanks to Faithful work on the The Traitors — though she admits she fares much better with kitchen blades than ones used for backstabbing.

When did you know you made it?
Technically, I would constitute my industry as “cooking” and less reality television — I’m a chef who somehow ended up on television. But I don’t necessarily feel like there should ever be a time where you feel like you made it. In the same way I think about my cooking career, there’s never a time in which I “made it.” I’m still learning, growing, and having a good time. Every opportunity that I have on-camera leads to another one.

What did you buy with your first paycheck?
With the Top Chef money, after you pay taxes — pay your taxes, people — I took the money and I put it into an initial down payment for my very first condo. I was in Boston. The jobs that I had in food were so fulfilling in the culinary space, but I never really thought that I would ever have enough savings to buy a place of my own. So when I got that money, I was like, This feels like the most responsible, adult thing to do. And I did that. And then three years later I turned around and sold my condo for a lot more than I bought it for. It worked out.

Reality Masterminds

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What is the moment that defines your career in reality TV so far?
Probably my win on Top Chef over a decade ago. In 2013, I was 28 years old. I’m 42 now. That was my very first time on television, which has then parlayed me into a career. The immediate aftermath of winning Top Chef was insane. My restaurant has never been busier. Because I never set out to have a career in television, trying to keep up with this idea that people know who I am based off television — less so about the food of mine that they tried — was a weird concept. Sometimes it still catches me off guard that I’m on television.

If you were to describe your onscreen persona in five words, what would they be?
I guess my onscreen persona is similar to my not-onscreen persona. My job in reality television is to be myself, pulling from my skill set that I’ve been trained in for over two decades in my life. Fully glammed, because that’s definitely not how I am off-camera. I’m very honest, very direct, I think I’m playful, and very goofy.

What was the moment you felt most misunderstood by viewer and why?
Interestingly enough, it has nothing to do with being on Top Chef. On The Traitors, people called me dumb, and I’m not dumb. Leave me alone!

I wasn’t good at The Traitors game because I’m a chef who has made a career on television being a chef and a food person. Playing a mind game, a manipulative murder mystery, was definitely not in my wheelhouse. And here’s the thing. On Traitors, the viewers know all of the answers. We don’t. Passionate fans screaming at the television being like, Why can’t you get this right?! But that’s okay. I put myself in that position.

Also, me buttering bread was a problem apparently.

If you could switch places with anyone in reality television right now, who would it be and why?
I would be interested in being a fly on the wall or an observer of all these other people on reality television. Some of their worlds absolutely fascinate me. Some people are on reality television where their sole job is to be filmed while on vacation drinking alcohol. What? It’s insane. I think the Housewives are multidimensional, and sometimes I feel like they don’t show all of those dimensions. I’d love to follow them on a day in the life. For instance, on Traitors, Porsha Williams — oh my God, I’m obsessed with her. I didn’t get to spend much time with her in the castle because she was banished too early. But a day in her life? I’m sure it would be fabulous.

Who is a reality star that’s exactly like who they say they are onscreen, and, in contrast, who’s the least like their television persona?
I don’t watch a lot of reality television. I know “reality-television people,” but it’s rare that I sit down and watch an entire series of certain shows. Probably because I’m watching baking shows. So I don’t have enough knowledge in that category to answer that honestly. But there are a couple people who have who ended up not being very nice. Oopsies.

Do you think every good reality show needs a villain?
No. Even when you think of Top Chef, it’s not that we have “villains”; it’s that people have their favorites. If you’re not their favorite, you’re just not their favorite. In my line of reality television, which is Top Chef and career-driven and skill-set based, I don’t think you need a villain at all.

Do you have a nemesis?
I don’t have a nemesis. I probably haven’t met enough of them. There are some people I’ve met who project something different on-camera, but I don’t really hang out with them, so I don’t consider them a nemesis at all. I don’t waste my time with them. People like drama, I guess.

What’s the one thing you miss about life before fame?
When I go out to dinner, my conversations are typically about the weather or what you had for breakfast. They’re very basic conversations. Whether you’re known or famous or not, you can’t help but overhear things. And my conversations need to be a little more private, so I save those for when I’m actually in private. You can’t talk shit in public, you know what I mean? What if I’m talking about this season of Top Chef? I can’t do that in public at all. I also don’t go out that much, so.

What’s your advice for an aspiring reality-TV star?
If you’re aspiring to be a reality-television star in the culinary world, don’t. If you are a chef or a cook and you want your food to be known, it can get a little clouded if you start chasing this idea of being famous for fame’s sake. Let your skill set speak for itself. Come apply for Top Chef. Let your skill and the thing you’re so passionate and good at speak for yourself.

Would you go back on The Traitors?
Never say never, but I can’t imagine going back. If I did go back, I would like to be a Traitor because you know all the information. I would like, from my season, Mark Ballas, because he and I are besties. We would do some damage. Beyoncé. Julia Roberts. Charlize Theron. And then the Jonas Brothers.

What would you say is the best feud in reality-TV history?
I feel like I need to phone a friend. I don’t know a lot of the story lines. Who’s fighting on reality television these days? Who are the hot feuds? I don’t know. We like to remain unproblematic. We are neutral queens.

Who would your guests be, dead or alive, at your dream dinner party?
I’m going to get a little sappy and heartfelt with you for a second. It would be the two people who made me, because I don’t know who my biological humans are. That would be a great conversation.

If you could go head-to-head with another celebrity chef, who would it be?
I would pick my friends, honestly. Then we would get to hang out. Mei Lin and Gregory Gourdet, although they would kick my ass. It would be so fun to be beat by them.

Which show had the best on-set catering?
When I filmed Restaurants at the End of the World, we had amazing snacks because we were in different countries. I got to try so many different snacks from so many other places. One of our guests in Paraty, Brazil, had a floating restaurant that catered lunch and handled craft services for the duration of our filming. We were eating some amazing … It’s hard to even say “Brazilian food” because it was so much more than that. God, her food was so good. To have catered food from an actual restaurant and not, like, a giant catering conglomerate, it’s pretty special. And it was on the water. One day at lunch, we were at her floating restaurant and during a break, we all ate because she brought packaged lunches from her restaurant. After that, we just jumped in the ocean and it was crystal-blue water. I was paddle-boarding on my lunch break. And then I changed back into my clothes and we continued filming.