‘Top Chef’ Winner Gabe Erales Apologizes for Inappropriate Behavior Which Led to His Firing

By Liz Kocan @lizburrito
Published July 26, 2021, 9:51 a.m. ET

Where to Stream:

Top Chef

Powered by Reelgood

More On:

Top Chef

The 18th season of Top Chef was the feel-good comfort show we all needed this year. That is, until the final episode, when Padma Lakshmi announced the winner, Gabe Erales. Immediately following Erales’ win, the Austin American-Statesman released an article in which Erales admitted to being fired from his restaurant job at Austin’s Comedor as a result of inappropriate behavior. As head chef there, Erales had an affair with a female employee; and after the affair ended, Erales cut the woman’s hours at the restaurant. Erales’ boss at the restaurant, Philip Speer, said that Erales was let go from his job as head chef for “repeated violations of the company’s ethics policy as it relates to harassment of women.”

Erales has been relatively silent since this news was made public on July 2, but he has just released a statement acknowledging his wrongdoing and the effects it has had on him. Writing on Instagram, he says, “I am eternally grateful to be a part of Top Chef; however, I must continue to acknowledge my mistakes, including the termination from my former job. To clarify, unbeknownst to my wife, I had a consensual relationship with a co-worker, and later reduced her work hours.” Erales offers numerous apologies throughout the post, adding, “I am deeply and sincerely sorry for the impact that my poor decisions had on those involved.”

 

Immediately after the news of Erales’ misconduct broke, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi called for an investigation by Bravo into Erales’ behavior, though she acknowledged that there was no impropriety on set of the show, which filmed in October, two months before Erales lost his job.

While most contestants and others affiliated with the show have stayed quiet about the matter, former contestant Gregory Gourdet, who was a fixture on the show this past season, released a lengthy statement on the restaurant industry without naming Erales directly, calling out the way the industry enables “power hungry, abusive, egomaniac [chefs].”

As of now, Bravo has not officially commented on the situation, or Lakshmi’s call for an investigation.

Where to stream Top Chef