The biggest scandals to ever hit Top Chef

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Bravo's Top Chef has been on the air for 16 seasons, so it's no
surprise that over the years it's seen its fair share of scandal. More
than 225 chefs have competed on the show, and more than 200 people have
appeared on the show as guest judges, so from sheer volume alone you
would expect a scandal or two to pop up over time. Add in the fiery
personalities chosen to compete, the logistics of running a complicated
competition show for so many years in so many locations, and the
intense and often dramatic world of the restaurant industry, and you're
bound to get good television.

The show itself seems to operate mostly above board, with a few
exceptions... What was that pay-to-play scheme in Texas all about? And
what exactly happened with those teamsters in Boston?

It's the judges and contestants who most-often seem to find themselves
in trouble, whether in on-air incidents like Marcel's head shaving and
Pea-gate, or off-screen drama that's seen numerous chefs from the show
dragged into court.

Whether you watch the show religiously or have seen a few seasons here
and there, chances are you're familiar with some of the people involved
in the scandals we're about to discuss. The next time you watch Top
Chef, just remember — there's a lot more going on under the surface of
the show than you might think.

When Top Chef contestant Marcel Vigneron was allegedly assaulted on the
show
Vigneron
Marcel Vigneron first appeared on Top Chef season 2, and though it was
clear from the beginning that he was wildly talented, a lot of his
fellow cheftestants seemed not to like him — he's even been called "the
most-popular but least-liked contestant" on the show.

Tensions rose and things got out of hand one night when Vigneron and
fellow cheftestants Ilan Hall, Cliff Crooks, and Elia Eboumard were
left alone in their house on the final night of filming in Los Angeles
with just a handheld camera to record footage.

Everyone's story differs, but what the camera showed is Crooks pulling
a sleeping Marcel off the couch and pinning him to the ground in an
attempt to forcibly shave Vigneron's head as the other castmates look
on. Crooks puts Vigneron in a full nelson, at which point Vigneron was
able to get away.

Judge Tom Colicchio was so enraged about the event that he wanted to
have all four of the participants in Marcel's assault to be sent home,
which would have made Vigneron the winner by default. Instead,
producers intervened, and it was just Cliff Crooks who was sent home
the next day.

Top Chef contestant Mike Isabella was accused of sexual harassment
Mike Isabella Eatery
Mike Isabella was a contestant on season 6 of Top Chef and Top Chef
All-Stars. The Washington, D.C.-area chef found a huge amount of
success after his appearance on the shows, opening 11 restaurants and
managing a staff of nearly 800 people. It seemed he was going to be a
major Top Chef success story — until he became the opposite.

Isabella's new empire began to crumble in 2017, after a year of high-
profile growth that he didn't seem prepared to handle. That same year,
Manager Chloe Caras says that she was sexually harassed by both
Isabella and his business partners. Caras said that Isabella's offences
included making sexist comments, showing up to work drunk, and goading
another chef into trying to sleep with her, an event that she says led
to Isabella firing her. She also said that two of his business
partners, Taha Ismail and George Pagonis, sent her illicit text
messages, and that the group as a whole called her names, insulted her,
and touched her without permission.

The case eventually settled, Isabella filed for bankruptcy, and on
December 27, 2018, Isabella closed all of his Mike Isabella Concept
restaurants.

Accused sexual harasser John Besh was edited out of Top Chef
John Besh
John Besh was a famous restaurateur in New Orleans and head of the John
Besh restaurant group when he appeared as a guest judge on an episode
of Top Chef Colorado (the 15th season of the show). The James Beard
Award-Winning chef had appeared on several other cooking shows, wrote
an award-winning cookbook, and was considered to be one of the
preeminent New Orleans chefs.

However, in between his Top Chef appearance being filmed and the
episode airing, 25 women came forward with allegations that Besh had
created a work environment in which sexual harassment and assault
flourished. One woman even said that she was forced into a "long-term
unwelcome sexual relationship" with Besh himself.

Soon after the news came to light, Bravo made a statement that they
were evaluating Besh's episode to decide whether or not it should air.
Then, days after the series premiere, Bravo announced that it would
edit Besh out of the episode entirely (he was replaced with footage of
chef Chris Cosentino).

Apparently, judge Tom Colicchio may have set the wheels in motion to
edit Besh out of the episode, calling the production company as soon as
he heard the news, and later saying "Bravo to Bravo for making this
decision" after they announced Besh would not appear on the show.

Top Chef judge Graham Elliot was sued for withholding tips from his
employees
Graham Elliot
Chef Graham Elliot may have two Michelin stars under his belt, but the
charismatic cook and television personality hasn't always operated his
restaurant above board, according to a group of employees who sued the
chef.

Elliot, who appeared on MasterChef and MasterChef Jr. for a decade
before becoming a judge on Top Chef in 2016, was sued in 2012 by 14
former servers at his Chicago restaurant, the aptly named Graham
Elliot. The employees alleged that they were owed money due to unlawful
tip pooling and said that Elliot was operating a "systemic scheme to
deprive them of regular and overtime compensation."

The employees were seeking back pay plus interest; the case was settled
in the fall of 2012 with Elliot paying an undisclosed sum to his former
employees. The scandal doesn't seem to have hurt his reputation, and
now he's a judge on Top Chef who helps advise others on their own
careers managing restaurants.

Top Chef contestant Alex Reznik allegedly stole and used another
contestant's dish
The infamous "Pea-gate" incident from Top Chef season 7 isn't just the
most humorously named scandal the show has ever seen, but also one of
the most befuddling.

Basically what happened was this: Cheftestant Ed Cotton made a pea
puree to go along with the seafood dish he was cooking. Then, somewhere
between the prep kitchen and the restaurant kitchen where they'd be
preparing their meals for the challenge, Cotton's puree went missing.
At the same time, chef Alex Reznik suddenly had a pea puree that he was
going to feature in his dish, even though he had been shown on camera
pondering what he would serve with his salmon. The coincidence seemed
almost too convenient, especially when Cotton was forced to change his
dish (peas that were not received well), and Reznik ended up winning
the week's challenge.

However, no one is certain what really happened. It could have just
been poor editing (or great editing, if they were trying to make drama
out of nothing). Tom Colicchio summed up the incident thusly:

"There are three possibilities, right? 1) Alex may indeed knowingly
have stolen Ed's pea puree and used it; 2) Alex may have made his own
pea puree and been wrongly maligned by his co-contestants; or, 3) Alex
unwittingly may have mistaken Ed's pea puree for his own and taken
Ed's, but truly believing that he was using his own."

Top Chef winner Paul Qui was arrested for allegedly assaulting his
girlfriend
Paul Qui
Paul Qui had a great reputation at one point. He was one of the most
famous chefs in Austin, Texas after nabbing a James Beard Award and
winning Top Chef Texas. But Qui was not immune to scandal.

In 2016, Qui was arrested for assault after his girlfriend alleged that
he had gone on a violent, drug-fueled rampage, during which he pushed
her and her infant son and blocked them from escaping the apartment,
knocking over furniture, shelves, and tables, and causing her bodily
harm. The police report noted that the woman had a "fresh cut on her
right forearm and bruising on her upper arms" and a swollen jaw.

Qui made a statement saying that he was innocent of the assault
charges, but that he would be checking into rehab following the
incident.

The charges against Qui were eventually dropped as his alleged victim
stopped cooperating with the investigation. In the meantime, three of
Qui's restaurants closed. These days, the chef is still getting work
and opening new businesses, but his successes are rarely mentioned
without his scandalous reputation as an alleged domestic abuser coming
up as well.

Top Chef production allegedly asked local and state government
officials in Texas to help pay for the show
When a production crew is deciding where to film a show or movie, it's
not uncommon for them to work with local film commissions and state
governments to receive tax benefits in exchange for bringing business
to the state in question, but when Top Chef started filming in Texas,
apparently the production company's techniques weren't all above board.

There were rumors that the production company approached several
different cities in Texas, including Houston, Dallas, and Austin, and
were trying to negotiate a pay-to-play deal where they would shoot in a
certain city in exchange for a cash payout, selecting those cities who
were willing to pay the most, rather than relying on the traditional
tax breaks.

How much money, exactly, did Texas end up paying the show? Officially,
the state said that it would cost taxpayers nothing to have the show
filmed in Texas, but Governor Rick Perry's office signed a statement
agreeing to subsidize the show to the tune of $400,000 in exchange for
"the integration of [the state's] brand in Bravo's production of Top
Chef cycle 9."

There was a Top Chef Canada scandal involving horse meat
You expect the contestants on Top Chef to be given some unique
ingredients to work with. After all, these cooks are pros, and if the
judges want to shake things up, they have to think outside of the box.

However, producers on Top Chef Canada may have taken this too far when
they had one chef use horse meat in a challenge that asked contestants
to make a traditional French dish.

Apparently horse meat isn't exactly popular in Canada, but in the
province of Quebec it's called viande chevaline and you can find it at
grocery stores and butchers. That being said, more than 90,000 horses
are slaughtered in Canada each year for consumption.

Nevertheless, when news broke that an upcoming episode would feature a
chef cooking with horsemeat, the internet erupted in protest. There was
even a Facebook group created in protest that was joined by more than
5,000 people.

Top Chef Canada stood by their decision to include horse meat on the
show. "The challenge in this episode involves having the competitors
create a truly authentic, traditional French menu. One of the most
traditional French foods is horse meat," they said in defense of their
decision.

Boston teamsters allegedy harassed Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi
When Top Chef moved to Boston for season 12, they decided to use a
non-union film crew. There are two sides to what happened next.

A group of four Boston teamsters said that they were on site that day
simply picketing the Top Chef crew to "protest against the abuse of the
Massachusetts film tax credit" and the fact that they were operating a
non-union set. However, witnesses including Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi
herself said that they became aggressive and violent.

Lakshmi claims that the men came up to her while she sat in her car and
hissed at her, and said "I'll smash your pretty little face" through
the window, while other members of the crew alleged that the teamsters
yelled profanities, slashed the tires of vehicles being used by the
crew, and were chest bumping crew members in a threatening way as they
arrived to the restaurant where Top Chef was filming that day.

The incident was just one of several being looked at to determine
whether Mayor Marty Walsh's office had inappropriate ties with
organized labor in the city, with one city employee claiming he pulled
the permits for Top Chef in order to pressure them to use members of a
local union on their film crew. Sounds like a storyline fit for
Scorsese!

Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio was sued for alleged wage theft
Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio has long been an advocate for fair labor,
an activist in the realm of food insecurity, and is generally
considered to be a "good guy" in the restaurant industry, but even he
hasn't been immune to scandal.

In 2015, Colicchio's 'wichcraft sandwich chain was sued for allegedly
distributing tips unfairly, resulting in workers getting paid less than
minimum wage, as well as not paying employees adequately for working
overtime.

A couple of delivery people for the chain claimed that they weren't
fairly compensated for the time it took them each day to change in and
out of their uniform, and also that they were paid for less hours than
they actually reported working.

This wasn't the first time that Colicchio has come under fire for labor
practices. His restaurant Craftbar settled a lawsuit out of court with
employees who alleged that their tips were being garnished and that
they weren't getting paid minimum wage.

Colicchio denied the allegations, though he did state that the
situation should be investigated fairly and that his employees should
be taken seriously, noting that state minimum wage regulations can
sometimes make paying tipped employees more complicated than it first
seems.

Top Chef contestants Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth allegedly embezzled
from their restaurant
Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth both competed on Top Chef, and eventually
they even opened a restaurant together in New York called Root & Bone.
Unfortunately, scandal shadowed the entire enterprise.

For one, McInnis's ex-wife claimed that McInnis and Booth had been
having an affair, and that he pressured her into a divorce so that he
could move to New York with Booth because his ex-wife and son were "an
infringement" on his life and they were "standing in the way of his
dreams."

She also alleged that the reason why McInnis left his previous job was
because his business partner wanted to run a family company, and he
thought McInnis's philandering didn't fit in.

What happened next? McInnis and Booth opened Root & Bone, which debuted
with much fanfare and positive reviews. But things soured when the duo
was sued by their business partner, who alleged that they lied about
the restaurant's profits and embezzled $286,500 from the restaurant,
supposedly using it to renovate the apartment above the restaurant
where they lived, and to hold a pop-up restaurant in Puerto Rico.

The scandal eventually blew over, and McInnis and Booth got engaged on
the set of culinary talk show The Chew in 2018, and both still work at
the successful Root & Bone.

The original host of Top Chef was replaced after one season
Viewers of Top Chef might be shocked upon revisiting season 1 when they
realize that Katie Lee, not the now-iconic Padma Lakshmi, was the
show's first host.

Lee (who, fun fact, was married to Billy Joel at the time) wasn't
exactly praised for her performance on the show, with viewers calling
her robotic and wooden. After a single season, Andy Cohen announced
that Lee was leaving the show to "pursue other opportunities." Later,
in his 2012 memoir, Cohen would recount how Lee would get so nervous on
set and feel so guilty about having to send contestants home that her
pounding heartbeat could be heart through her microphone.

Lee was replaced with Padma Lakshmi, who hosted the next 15 seasons of
the show. But Lee didn't disappear. She is now a co-host of Food
Network's The Kitchen, has appeared on Food Network shows like the
Halloween Baking Championship, Meat Sweats, Beat Bobby Flay, and Rachel
Ray. She also has her own show on the Cooking Channel show called Beach
Bites with Katie Lee. Lee is also a cookbook author and novelist. Proof
that just because one job doesn't work out doesn't mean that you won't
still find success in the same industry down the road!

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