Not everyone celebrates the newest Top Chef winner.
On Thursday, July 1st, Bravo’s hit streak ended when Gift Erales knock out competitors Dawn Burrell and Shota Nakajima and won the US $ 250,000 cash prize in the season 18 finale.
However, after the episode aired, some viewers brought up a December 2020 report claiming that Gabe was no longer working in a restaurant for “repeated violation” of company policies. Top boss host and judge Padma Lakshmi appeared to address the controversy in two social media posts.
“As someone who has been sexually harassed, this issue is serious and deserves openness,” she wrote on Twitter. “We filmed Top Chef last October and didn’t know the allegations about Gabe were surfacing now. This should be investigated and the network should consider its best actions. “
Padma added, “To be clear, no one made Bravo / Top Chef allegations of sexual harassment on record or otherwise, and we judges had no evidence of inappropriate behavior by Gabe during his time on the set.”
