Fans of Bravo’s “Top Chef” received some reassuring news on Tuesday: Padma Lakshmi’s replacement as host is a fan favorite of the franchise.
Kristen Kish, who won the show’s 10th season in 2012, will replace the longtime host Lakshmi, who announced her departure from the show last month.
Lakshmi hosted 19 of the show’s first 20 seasons, as Katie Lee hosted the first season.
Lakshmi posted of photo of Kish and herself on social media once the selection was announced, adding that she’s “so proud of” Kish and “over the moon that you’ll be taking over for me.”
“I’ll be rooting for you and our whole crew next season,” she wrote. “Congratulations!!!”
Judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons posted praise of their own and shared their excitement.
“Really looking forward to working with Kristen. She is a world class chef and knows what it takes to win top chef,” Colicchio wrote on Twitter.
Simmons posted a photo of herself and “my girl” Kish.
“Psyched beyond words to have her pull up that seat at Judges’ Table and join our endless feast,” she added in her Instagram caption.
Kish was a popular suggestion for the long-serving Lakshmi, as the chef has been a prominent host and presenter on a variety of food-based television shows since her “Top Chef” victory more than a decade ago.
Her projects have included presenting “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend” on Netflix and cooking on TruTV’s “Fast Foodies” as one of the three chefs competing to earn the praise of a guest celebrity. She has also hosted National Geographic’s “Restaurants at the End of the World.”
Kish issued a video statement on social media Tuesday afternoon in which she said it will be “a full-circle moment for me” to come back as a host rather than a contestant or guest judge, as she has done in the past.
“I am most excited to get to know an incredible group of chefs, to sit alongside Tom and Gail and to be reunited with a lot of friends how are on and off camera in production,” she said.
Kish’s first season will take place in Wisconsin.