For Immediate Release, March 2016
Award-Winning Culinary Television Show "Top Chef" Selects Charleston
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA (March 18, 2016) – Bravo Media’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning “Top Chef” culinary competition television series is packing its knives and heading to Charleston, South Carolina, for its upcoming season. Set to premiere later this year, production begins this spring with host Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio, as well as fellow judges Gail Simmons and Richard Blais.It’s no secret that dining out is a form of nightly entertainment in Charleston. The city’s pulse has been connected to its kitchens since the late 1600s with the birth of today’s prized hyper-local Lowcountry cuisine. Charleston joins a list of distinguished cities that have previously hosted the show, including San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Seattle, among others.
“Charleston is the perfect location to inject our next batch of chefs,” says Shari Levine, Bravo Media’s Executive Vice President of Current Production. “We know Charleston and are excited by the food, people and possibility it brings with its rich cultural and historical background which has played an important role in shaping South Carolina’s unique cuisine.”
Helen T. Hill, Chief Executive Officer of Explore Charleston adds, “We are thrilled that ‘Top Chef’ has chosen Charleston, South Carolina, as the site for season fourteen. As the southeast’s premier dining destination, we look forward to sharing our 300-year culinary heritage with the passionate and devoted ‘Top Chef’ viewers.”
"Top Chef" is produced by the Emmy Award-winning Magical Elves with Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz serving as executive producers. The popular series made its debut in 2006 and has attracted millions of viewers during its ten years on television.
About Explore Charleston
The mission of Explore Charleston is to unify and lead the local travel industry in marketing the Charleston, South Carolina, area as an individual, meeting, incentive, and group destination to both the domestic and international markets. For more information, visit ExploreCharleston.com.
About Bravo Media
Bravo Media is the premier lifestyle and entertainment brand that drives the cultural conversation around its high-quality, interactive original content that focuses on the network’s passion points of food, fashion, beauty, design, digital and pop culture. Available in 92 million homes, Bravo is a program service of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBCUniversal cable network since December 2002 and first launched in December 1980.
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