Kristen Kish

Kristen Kish was born in Seoul, South Korea, and adopted by a family in Kentwood, Michigan, at the age of four months.^[4] She worked as a model while attending East Kentwood High School, graduating in 2002.^[4][5] She briefly studied international business and economics at Grand Valley State University for a year before attending Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, earning an AA in Culinary Arts.^[1][4]

After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in 2005, Kish worked in Chicago for two years before moving to Boston.^[1][4] She was a line cook at the Top of the Hub restaurant and chef de partie at Guy Martin's restaurant Sensing.^[1][4] In 2011, she landed a job as sous-chef at Stir, a culinary demonstration kitchen.^[6] She was promoted to Stir's chef de cuisine by the owner, Barbara Lynch, in 2012. After her appearance on Top Chef, Kish was the chef de cuisine at Lynch's restaurant Menton until 2014.^[5] In 2017, she released her first cookbook, co-authored with Meredith Erickson, titled Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques.^[7] In 2018, Kish became the chef and partner at her new restaurant Arlo Grey in Austin, Texas.^[8] Her culinary style is described as contemporary French cuisine with Italian influence.^[9]

In 2012, Kish competed in the tenth season of Bravo's Top Chef.^[10] She initially had no interest in appearing on television but eventually agreed at Barbara Lynch's insistence.^[5] She was invited to participate in the qualifying rounds and was tasked with creating a signature soup for judge Emeril Lagasse. Kish passed the challenge and moved on into the competition proper. From there, Kish won four Elimination Challenges before being eliminated in the "Restaurant Wars" challenge (Episode 11).^[10] She was able to win her way back into the main competition with five consecutive victories in Last Chance Kitchen, making it to the finale with Brooke Williamson.^[10] Kish defeated Williamson and was crowned the Top Chef, becoming the second female winner in the series.^[6][10] In 2023, Kish was named the next host of Top Chef after Padma Lakshmi's decision to step away from the franchise.^[11] She has since received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program.^[12]

In 2015, Kish co-hosted 36 Hours, a six-episode series on the Travel Channel, with Kyle Martino, a television soccer analyst and former professional soccer player.^[13] The show, an adaptation of the New York Times travel column of the same name, followed Kish and Martino as they spent 36 hours eating, drinking, and exploring a given city.^[13] From 2021–2022, Kish starred in TruTV's cooking competition show Fast Foodies, alongside fellow chefs and Top Chef alumni Jeremy Ford and Justin Sutherland.^[14] In each episode, a celebrity presented their favorite fast food item. The chefs then competed in two rounds. In the first round, they tried to duplicate the dish as precisely as possible. In the second round, they re-imagined the item into a haute cuisine interpretation.^[15]

Kish served as a co-presenter, alongside Alton Brown and Mark Dacascos, on Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, the 2022 Netflix revival of the Iron Chef franchise.^[16] Kish provided running commentary with Brown on the competition and often served as the show's floor reporter, coming down to the kitchen area to check on the chefs' progress.^[16] In 2023, Kish hosted the National Geographic series Restaurants at the End of the World, where she visited restaurants in remote locations and showcased the talents of local chefs, farmers, fishers, herders, and foragers.^[17] In 2025, Kish was announced as a contestant on the fourth season of The Traitors.^[18]

In 2014, Kish publicly came out after announcing the first anniversary of the relationship with her girlfriend at the time, Jacqueline Westbrook, over Instagram.^[19] In 2019, Kish announced her engagement to Bianca Dusic in an Instagram post.^[20] They married in 2021.^[20] In 2025, Kish's memoir Accidentally on Purpose was published, becoming a New York Times Best Seller.^[21][22]