Call me old fashioned, but I have always been a strong believer that you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you, especially the one that makes you a pseudo-celeb and a household name, something few chefs are able to attain these days. But that didn’t stop Ilan Hall, Cliff Crooks and Sam Talbot from making not-so-nice remarks about Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi.

Asked if he trusted Lakshmi’s culinary taste, Ilan Hall, a line cook at Casa Mono, asked a Bravo flack, “Um, are we allowed to say disparaging things about Padma?” No. “She’s beautiful,” Hall offered. “Mostly, she just explained things, and she did a good job at that.” Cliff Crooks, executive chef at Salute!, said, “Nothing she said really made a difference in my cooking.”

Sam Talbot refused to even answer the question.

And then there’s the matter of her stomach-baring, kitchen-unfriendly attire. “Some of the things she wore, I wouldn’t suggest anyone wear around a working kitchen,” said Crooks. “Either she’d be a fire hazard or she’d get hurt.”

Except, hello, this is television. Since Top Chef wants to nab some male audience members, covering up Padma with a chef’s jacket would kinda defeat the purpose when guys would much rather see her in something sexy. And so what if she isn’t a trained chef herself? Most reality show hosts these days are not trained in whatever the show is about, so give her a freaking break. I hope Top Chef drops those three chefs from any future endorsements.

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This spoiler posted on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 2:04 pm.

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