'Top Chef' Season 22 host Gail Simmons on showcasing Canada to U.S., global audience: 'It's not the same as America'

Yahoo

13-03-2025

Top Chef Season 22 (premiering March 13, streaming on Hayu in Canada at 10:15 p.m. ET) has set its sights on Canada, bringing the ultimate culinary competition across the U.S. border. Host Kristen Kish, head judge Tom Colicchio, and perennial judge Gail Simmons (who is Canadian) will crown the next winner of the show, with the new season featuring Canadian destinations Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Prince Edward Island.
The winner will take home the $250,000 grand prize, provided by Saratoga Spring Water, the official water of Top Chef; Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion Status, and a $125,000 flight credit to spend on travel with Delta Air Lines. They will also get a feature in Food & Wine magazine and an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Additionally, for the first time in the show's history, the Season 22 winner will headline their own dinner at the James Beard House in New York and will have the opportunity to present at The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago. There is also $150,000 up for grabs throughout the competition through Quickfire Challenges and Elimination Challenges.
Among the 15 contestants, one chef is Canadian, Massimo Piedimonte from Montreal, chef and owner of Cabaret l'Enfer.
Simmons, who's from Toronto and went to university in Montreal, highlighted that bringing Top Chef to Canada is a way to expose the show's American audience to the Canadian culture that they don't tend to think about.
"I think everything [about Canada they don't] think about," Simmons told Yahoo Canada on the set of the show in Toronto last year. "But that happens every season, to some extent. I don't think that most people knew about Milwaukee when we went there, and they questioned it, but once they watched the show they came to understand how fun and interesting and layered and deliciousness it is, and we discovered that too."
I hope that this is no different. It's a big country. We're not able to show them everything, of course, .. but I think we can definitely paint a broader picture for most Americans who actually know nothing about Canada, and it's not their fault.Gail Simmons, Top Chef: Destination Canada judge
"(Americans) had no reason to ever look up, so to speak. ... But I do think that there's a lot to Canada that people don't realize, and it's not the same as America. It is nuanced and different. It has different population, it has different politics, it has different beliefs and a different constitution, and it certainly has different ingredients, different Indigenous people, and a different story to tell. And I think hopefully we'll be able to tell a little bit of that story."
But much of the magic of Top Chef, aside from the food and the thrill of the competition, is the banter and energy between the judges. For Simmons and Colicchio, in particular, they have a long history of working on the show together.
"Truthfully, I think of him as like an older brother," Simmons said. "It's rare in life that you get to, number one, make a show for this long to begin with, 19 years of my life. ... So to be able to have grown up with him in my adult life has been amazing."
"He's been such a guiding force in my life, such a solid mentor and advocate for me, and also just a great friend in general, and we've explored the world together. At this point, I can't even count how many cities and countries we've been to together. And he's always up for adventure. And I think that what people who've watched the show for a long time understand about Tom is that he really is this amazing teddy bear. He's very smart and a very gifted chef, and he takes his job seriously because he has a lot of respect for it, and I think that's how he treats the contestants."
Before hosting the show, Kish was a competitor on Top Chef, winning Season 10 after being eliminated and making a comeback in Last Chance Kitchen. Kish brings a particularly unique perspective to the judging panel.
"She's fantastic. ... She knows what they're going through and it's interesting, because in some instances I think she's actually tougher on them, because she's like, 'No, if I did that, you would not have been so easy on me,'" executive producer and showrunner, Doneen Arquines, said.
"To be able to empathize with them and what they're going through, and the stress and being tired and all the things that kind of weigh on you once you get closer, and she also was eliminated, ... so she's kind of gone through it all and seen it all. And having that perspective was really great. And then she's also just fun."
"I've had a relationship with Tom and Gail since I won, so it's not like I was coming and being flopped with two people that I've never worked with before. We're all friends already," Kish added in a separate interview. "Tom reminded me last season that this is how we talk anyways, we're judging, sure, and we're slightly more critical, because you have to be, but in my restaurant I give feedback to my chefs all the time. It's the same thing."
But while Top Chef continues to be incredibly beloved, with fans still seeking out restaurants of current or former Top Chef contestants to this day, it has made some think that they're culinary judges in their personal lives.
Kish thinks that maybe the audience should take a note from the show when they're trying food at restaurants, and feel compelled to judge.
"You have to weed your way through some things. Some things are commenting to be commenting, and some are thoughtful critique, and you've got to, as a chef or as a restaurant owner, ... know when you're doing something right and when something's not working," Kish said. "I have a love-hate relationship with everyone having a public review, if they want."
"But I just encourage people to actually, if something's not good, that's not a good review, right? Or if I expected more, that's not a good review. You have to say why. And on Top Chef you'll hear it. We don't just say this was a bad dish. What kind of show would that be? We would be assholes. So it's the same way out in the real world."
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