Let's Hear It for the Boys?

In five seasons, only one woman has ever won Top Chef, Bravo’s competitive cooking show. Padma Lakshmi, the show’s hostess, maintains it's all about the food, not the chromosomes. “Everyone who was eliminated deserved to be eliminated at the time they were, regardless of their gender. In some cases we don't really know who made what until after we taste it.” But gender doesn't go unnoticed by anyone, even the judges. “It’s a shame,” she added, “especially when one of the challenges was breaking them up by gender. It was very apparent.” Of the five people eliminated so far this season, the first four were women.