Padma Lakshmi to Executive Produce, Host Culinary Series on CBS
- The Indian American will be joined by former NBCUniversal content chief Susan Rovner, who’s worked with her on Bravo’s “Top Chef.”
Seems like Padma Lakshmi cannot stay away from hosting a cooking show for long. The Indian American host, actor, actress and model will host a new cooking competition series for CBS. The news network has “struck a development deal” with Lakshmi and former NBCU content chief Susan Rovner, Deadline reported.
There’s not much information about the unnamed series’ format and premiere date as the project is still in its beginning stages. CBS said it hopes its “first foray into food entertainment” will “rival several big-name cooking shows, including ‘Top Chef’ and ‘MasterChef.’”
Both Lakshmi and Rovner will serve as executive producers, with Lakshmi hosting the series. It comes from Lakshmi’s Delicious Entertainment and Rovner’s Aha Studios, the Deadline said. The duo worked together when the former was the host and executive producer of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Rovner was chairman of Entertainment Content across NBCUniversal’s Television and Streaming division.
After serving as host and executive producer on Bravo’s “Top Chef” for 19 seasons, Lakshmi announced last June that she will be leaving the popular and highly successful reality show. “Having completed a glorious 20th season as host and executive producer, I am extremely proud to have been part of building such a successful show and of the impact it has had in the worlds of television and food,” she wrote on Twitter and Instagram. “After 17 years, many of the cast and crew are like family to me and I will miss working alongside them dearly. I feel it’s time to move on and need to make space for ‘Taste the Nation’, my books and other creative pursuits,” she added, referring to her new show on Hulu, which has run for two seasons.
Lakshmi drew five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Host for A Reality-Competition Program for her role on Top Chef,” which was nominated for 47 Emmys during her tenure. She is also the author of cook books “Easy Exotic and Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet” as well as kids books “Tomatoes for Neela” and memoir “Love, Loss and What We Ate.”
She is an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Artist Ambassador for immigrants’ rights and women’s rights, and the co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America. “Her efforts have been recognized on the floor of the New York State Senate, where she succeeded in passing a bill related to expanding education on endometriosis in adolescents in 2014,” Deadline said. She was also honored by Planned Parenthood of Greater New York with its Champion of Change Award in 2023. Lakshmi was also appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Development Program, and, in 2021, received the Advocate of the Year Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association.