Over 13 years since she won “Top Chef”, Kristen Kish has reflected on her time on the Bravo series.
In a chat with Bravo, she opened up about her time on the cooking competition and her thoughts on reality TV.
Kristen was eliminated during episode 11 of “Top Chef” season 10, before winning “Last Chance Kitchen” and returning to the main show to take the whole season.
Since winning the show, Kristen has hosted multiple cooking series, written a successful cookbook, and is now the full-time host of “Top Chef.” She stepped outside of her comfort zone this year to appear on “The Traitors”,
How Kristen Kish Feels About Her Win
GettyKristen has called her win on “Top Chef” a defining moment of her career. In an interview with Vulture, she winning the show at 28 helped launch her career on television.
“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,” she said back in May.
Kristen Kish Reveals The Advice She’d Give Her Past Self
GettyKristen admitted she doesn’t have a whole lot of advice for her younger self because “I turned out just fine.”
“And had I probably been a little bit more in my head and taken all the advice and all the notes and different things and tried to apply them, I don’t know if it would have turned out the way it turned out,” the Michigan native added.
She may not have advice for herself, but she does have advice for youngsters looking to make a name for themselves on reality TV. “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,” the cooking competition judge bluntly told Vulture. Although she still encouraged budding chefs to apply for “Top Chef” and let their skill and passion speak for themselves.
How Kristen Kish Used Her Prize Money
When asked how Kristen spent her prize win, she admitted. “My Top Chef winnings, which was, by the way, half of what it is now. So you know, maybe I should come back and compete,” she laughed.
“I took a large chunk of that money, and I put it into a deposit for a condo. And then I paid taxes,” the chef admitted, “And then it was gone.”
In the profile with Vulture, Kristen expanded on how winning the prize was life-changing. “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.”
She told the outlet that she sold the condo three years later for “a lot more” than she had paid for it. So it worked out for the chef in many different ways!
The finale of “Top Chef” airs tonight at 9:45 p.m. ET on Bravo, with the episode available to stream tomorrow on Peacock.
