Kirsten Kish says Top Chef could just as easily land in Tokyo as in Cincinnati, Ohio. The host said she would love to do at least a finale in Tokyo, but added that she would be fine taking the show anywhere if producers handed her a plane ticket.
“We would love to do at least a finale. I’m looking right at you, a finale in Tokyo. I mean, the food is just something to explore and to celebrate,” Kish said at Deadline’s Reality TV Summit. “That being said, I will go anywhere you give me a plane ticket and I am there. Australia. I would love to do that. My wife is Australian, so I would like to go explore all of that. But again, you could send us to the middle of nowhere in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I’d be completely fine too, because at the end of the day, we’re still getting great chefs, good story and amazing food.”
The comments come as Top Chef airs Season 23, which is largely set in North Carolina. The series has spent years moving from place to place, cooking up seasons across nearly a dozen U.S. cities as well as London and Canada. Kish said that mobility is baked into the show’s identity, and that the production is far bigger than viewers may realize.
“We go to a different city, and then within that city and state, we are traveling everywhere. It is a huge production, we are moving 300-person crews, and then on top of that, you’re building kitchens in fields, you’re hooking up gas lines where gas doesn’t exist. You’re making sure everything is still workable for a chef to perform at their highest, highest ability,” she said.
Season 23 has already shown how far the format can stretch. Kish said one challenge had the chefs cooking on a racetrack, and she admitted, “That was a little hot. I kind of wish I got a little roof, but, yeah, I mean, it is amazing where you can set up places to cook.”
That freewheeling setup is a long way from where Kish started. She competed on Season 10 more than a decade ago, when she was cooking for 10 people a night and, by her own account, wanted no part of television. “My boss was like, hey, national television sounds exciting, doesn’t it? I said it absolutely does not,” she said. What changed her mind was the argument that more women needed visible space in the cooking world on national TV.
“I was like, well, when you put it like that, I feel like I have a duty,” Kish said. “So, I did it, and I am so, so grateful that I said yes.” Later, when she got the call to host while flying from Thailand to New York, she said she had to start booking therapy sessions before stepping into the role. She called the adjustment emotional, because hosting had never been part of how she saw herself.
That shift matters because Top Chef is now a launchpad that chefs trust, and one that can bring major opportunities to the people who appear on it. Kish has also been credited with bringing a more compassionate style to the job. Asked about that tone, she said the show should reflect the industry and that kindness does not need to be complicated. She also pointed to the Emmy recognition that followed, with nominations for Outstanding Host for Reality or Reality Competition Program in 2024 and 2025.
For Kish, the answer to where Top Chef should go next is simple: somewhere good, somewhere workable, and somewhere the food is worth the trip. Tokyo may be her first choice. But if the plane ticket says Cincinnati, she says she will still show up.