Texas ‘Top Chef’ winner’s victory marred by disturbing allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation
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A Texas-based chef won the title and $ 250,000 in the final season of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” but controversy from his own former restaurant spoiled his win.
Austin chef Gabriel Erales won Season 18 of Top Chef. But after his win aired, allegations of harassment and discrimination came to light from his time as head chef at Austin restaurant Comedor.
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Two months after shooting the 18th season of “Top Chef” in Portland, Erales was fired by comedor in December 2020 for “violating the restaurant’s harassment and discrimination policy,” says Austin American-Statesman’s Matthew Odam .
Details of these violations were only revealed when Erales announced to the Austin American-Statesman that he had a consensual sexual relationship with one of his employees in the summer of 2020 prior to the shooting of “Top Chef”. Their relationship ended when he returned from filming, but Erales “continued to communicate with her in an unprofessional manner” and cut the woman’s hours at Comedor citing poor performance, the statesman reports.
However, Philip Speer, cook and co-owner of Comedor, said he doesn’t believe there is a performance-based reason to cut the employee’s hours. Speer also told the statesman in June that Erales had been fired for “repeated violations of the company’s ethics policy regarding the harassment of women,” Odam reports.
“After returning from ‘Top Chef’ as a manager, I made some business decisions that affected this employee that were found to be discriminatory, and I realized they were bad decisions,” Erales told the statesman in an interview last week. “I’ve spent the last six months really thinking about these mistakes and taking the steps necessary to become a better husband, father, cook, and guide through therapy and spirituality.”
A Top Chef source told Odam that the show knew of Erales’ sacking for violating the restaurant’s harassment policy, but was not given specific details. The company reportedly investigated Erales’ behavior on the set and decided to keep the show going when no concerns were identified.
“Top Chef” presenter Padma Lakshmi called for a re-investigation.
“As someone who has been sexually harassed, this issue is serious and deserves openness,” wrote Lakshmi on Twitter. “We filmed Top Chef last October and didn’t know the allegations were now being made against Gabe. This should be investigated and the network should consider its best actions.”
She noted that no one alleged harassment from Erales during his time on the show.
To be clear, no one has accused Bravo / Top Chef of sexual harassment, and we judges had no evidence of inappropriate behavior by Gabe during his time on the set.
– Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) July 2, 2021
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Erales is opening a new restaurant in Austin next year, Odam reports.
“Going forward, my position in a restaurant as an authority figure is important, and I know that in order to improve our industry, creating a positive, non-toxic work environment begins with a check-and-balance plan that must be followed before the space Open doors, “said Erales to Odam.
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