Top Chef Las Vegas: The Lesbians Du Jour

For those of you who are foodies like myself, you're probably big fans of Top Chef and have been watching it for years. I mean, one look at Padma Lakshmi, the Top Chef host, and you'll be wiping the corners of your mouth like a diabetic at a candy store.



One of the other great things about Top Chef is their open inclusion of members of hte LGBT community. There has been some sort of gay or lesbian contestant almost every season since the show aired 6 seasons ago. We like that. We like it a lot. This season, Season 6, is no exception to the rule.


Season six of the number 1 food show on cable returned on Wednesday, August 19th at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Top Chef: Las Vegas will pit 17 hopeful chefs from across the country battling it out in the kitchen for $100,000 to invest in their culinary career. Delectable host Padma Lakshmi is back once again alongside the no-holds-barred head judge Tom Colicchio. Food & Wine magazine's Gail Simmons and food critic Toby Young will once again round out the panel of judges this year.

This year, two lesbians will be gracing the screen.

Out lesbian contestant Preeti Mistry, 33, hails from San Francisco, where she works as the Executive Chef for Bon Appétit Management Company at Google headquarters. Google has a reputation for serving insanely amazing food to their employees, so hopes are high Mistry will concoct some culinary masterpieces. Mistry was also educated at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in London. Now don't get too excited and start swooning over this one, – she’s been with her partner for thirteen years.



Ashley Merriman, 32, may not lay claim to the same kind of international culinary background as Mistry, but she's worked on both coasts at classy restaurants and learned her craft at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. Ironically enough, Merriman originates from Center Sandwich, New Hampshire – no really, that’s an actual place. Merriman loves to cook “robust” food and thinks a meal isn’t complete unless you’ve been “beat in the face by a stick of butter.” Plus, she is friggin adorable. How could not love that charmingly warm smile of hers?



Stay tuned for more updates on the fates of the "Lesbian's Du Jour" of Top Chef: Las Vegas.