Top Chef Season 10 winner Kristen Kish will be replacing Padma Lakshmi as host for the upcoming twenty-first season of the hit Bravo show. Almost as soon as the beloved Lakshmi announced her retirement from Top Chef on social media, fans began speculating that Kish would be a perfect successor. In addition to being a popular Top Chef winner, Kish is also, like Lakshmi, a well-traveled food show host, experienced chef, cookbook author, and former model. She was, to put it bluntly, the obvious choice.

“‘Top Chef’ is where I started my journey – first as a competing chef, then a guest judge and now as host I have the honor of helping to continue to build this brand,” Kish said in an official press release. “I’m thrilled to sit alongside Gail [Simmons] and Tom [Colicchio] as we get to know new incredible chefs and see what they cook up. It feels like coming home.”

As she mentioned, Kish will join returning judges and executive producers Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons at the judges’ table for Top Chef Season 21. The new season will be set in Wisconsin, where Bravo notes, “a new batch of talented chefs from across the country battle it out for the coveted title in the energetic and unique culinary scenes in Milwaukee and Madison.”
 
“Kristen Kish represents everything that makes Top Chef incredibly special,” said Ryan Flynn, Senior Vice President, Current Production, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming in the same press release. “She’s an acclaimed chef and her experience as a cheftestant, winner and judge, alongside her culinary curiosity, makes Kristen the perfect host for the next chapter of Top Chef as we take on a new region of the country we haven’t explored.”

Padma Lakshmi hosted Top Chef for nineteen consecutive seasons after replacing original Season 1 host Katie Lee. She announced her departure from the series via Twitter, writing, “After much soul searching, I have made the difficult decision to leave Top Chef.“

“Having completed a glorious 20th season as host and executive producer, I am extremely proud to have been part of building such a successful show and of the impact it has had in the worlds of television and food,” she wrote. “I feel it’s time to move on and need to make space for Taste the Nation, my books, and other creative pursuits.”

With Lakshmi leaving the program to follow her own passions, it gives Top Chef the chance to reinvent itself under the leadership of new host Kristen Kish, who is already receiving raves from fans, critics, and even Padma herself.

You can watch all 20 seasons of Top Chef on Peacock while waiting for the upcoming Kristen Kish-hosted one to premiere next year.