Eye Contact With ‘Top Chef’ Diva Padma Lakshmi Is a No-No

on January 31, 2012 at 5:07 PM

Top Chef fans, this may or may not come as a surprise to you, but Padma Lakshmi is a diva, yo. A diner at one of the tapings for the show in Texas said that they were given some pretty strict guidelines when it came to dealing, or not dealing, with Padma. Apparently, they were told that they couldn't look her in the eye and they couldn't talk to her, either. Guess everyone's favorite food show host has eaten one too many fancy-pants western omelets because it seems like the girl is really eggotistical. (Nailed it.)

The diner went on to dish that during breaks in filming, Padma would be all frowny and assistants would put cold washcloths on the back of her neck to help her deal with the hot Texas heat. Poor Padma! She gets so hot.

Listen, she's a big time TV star/host/whatever, she's super gorgeous, and she's more than pleasant to watch on the small screen. She's so pretty! And she says "please pack your knives and go" with a gentle and kind assertiveness. Not just anyone can do that.

So while it's hard yet not hard to believe these rumors about Padma's diva behavior, I'm left wondering about how much she really likes food. If she's fooled us into thinking she's this nice lady who seems approachable and down to earth when all the while she's demanding that none of the peons make eye contact with her, then maybe she's tricked us about her love of food, too. Maybe between takes she's spitting out those delicious little bites from the Quick Fire Challenges into silk napkins, disgusted by their flavor and fat content and the fact that she has to exert herself to swallow.

Now that she's been "exposed" as a diva, I just can't go on believing that she enjoys eating whatsoever. A diva would be worried about her weight, a diva would be paranoid about getting salt bloat, a diva would be nervous about getting greens stuck in her teeth. And it was important to me to think that she loved devouring all those amazing meals because I lived vicariously through her with each bite. Now, my bubble, and my bites, are burst.

Do these rumors about Padma's behavior change how you feel about watching Top Chef?

Photo via david shankbone/Flickr

About the author Lindsay Mannering

is a blogger, a pub quiz connoisseur, and a spicy food athlete.

Filed Under: reality tv

Comments (6)

Nonmember comment from Liz

on Jan 31, 2012 at 5:51 PM

I generally like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was having an off day? Maybe she genuinely didn't feel well but was still trying to do her job. I wouldn't enjoy people staring at me if I felt like my head was going to explode or if I was nauseous. That being said, if other people have said similar things about her, or if other rumors like this continue to come out, it might affect how I view her and how much I would enjoy the show. But then again I only watch it occasionally when others have it on, so who knows.

Report this comment

starlight1968

on Jan 31, 2012 at 7:52 PM

Hey it was hotter than hell here in Texas this past year (during the taping too). I can imagine patience was at a minimum too with that said.... I don't watch it for Padma anyways lol...

tiny_mama

on Jan 31, 2012 at 10:13 PM

Oh this makes me all kinds of butthurt! Dammit! lol

Nonmember comment from mammajammalamma

on Feb 1, 2012 at 11:14 PM

I just want to float the idea that maybe the no eye contact direction wasn't Padma's request, and was the idea of one of the show's many producers or coordinators who was trying to ensure a good performance out of their star. If that's the case, it's possible Padma had no knowledge of the directions at all. Or maybe she's a turbo-diva, could be.