One memorable highlight of the Food and Wine Classic was the Top Chef demonstration. Instead of featuring the winners or cheftestants, fans watched Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi cook together. He made an asparagus, mushroom butter fondue and she made flautas. The dynamic duo was incredibly entertaining as they flirted, fought, and got a little drunk. It was so wonderfully amusing that we took an exclusive video to share with you!
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- Filming for Tom lasts five weeks. Filming for Padma lasts six weeks. Each episode is shot in two days: one day for the quickfire, the following day for the elimination challenge.
- They judge each chef based on their last dish.
- The judges have no interaction whatsoever with the cheftestants. If the chefs talk to Padma while shooting the quickfire challenge a producer will ask them to step away from the judge. The judges only know the chefs by their first names and only find out who they really are after elimination.
- The cheftestants are put in a house and are forced to interact with each other. They have no phones, money, credit cards, books, televisions, radios, or any other contact to the outside world.
- The guest judges who were invited on the show are friends of Tom.
- When Tom first met Padma, he was skeptical and assumed she was no more than a pretty face. However, she impressed him with her food knowledge and eating abilities.
- Padma says Tom spent more time in the makeup chair than she did because of his shiny head.
Matthew Williamson
Julia Cocco'
Kookai
Something about Padma is very annoying IMO, still love the show though
Who would
have thought Tom was a flirt 
1I totally agree gab! There is something about her...I find obnoxious. I feel like all her comments are pretty standard and do not display an above average knowledge of food.
2I like Padma. She's better than the usual fluff host, anyway. And I love that homegirl can put away some food even though she's tiny.
3When she was first on season two I wasn't so sure about Padma - especially during the finale when I felt she was very suggestible about a traditional Hawaiian ingredient (can't remember what it is now) making you have a reaction if it's cooked improperly. She heard that and when eating Ilan's dish for judging started to feel it even though no one else seemed to and the guest judge who had taught them how to make it said it was cooked correctly. I thought that's something I would do, but then again I don't claim to be an expert foodie and capable of judging a cooking show, so I thought that made her look a bit silly. But she really grew on me! She was great in season three in particular, mostly because CJ was crushing on her and that was hysterical. Also hearing she was married to (and now divorced from, I think) Salman Rushdie (sic) impressed me. Her waking up the chefs in bed for the breakfast quickfire was one of the funniest and cutest moments on that show. Plus she is waaaaaay more animated and easy to watch than Katie Joel was.
4Tom is so sexy! Him and Bourdain.
5Great video! Initially, I didn't like Padma either but now, she has grown on me immensely!
And Tom and Anthony are pretty hot chefs, cocochic!
6annebreal, those were taro leaves, and while she may have seemed overly suggestible, they do contain a chemical that can make your mouth really itchy if it's not cooked out.
Padma is hilarious, and I think she's a great addition to the show. I do think that her diction has gotten better since season 2. Particularly the odd inflections and syllable stresses in the intro to season 2, which was really weird.
7Is it just me or is the audio for this really heard to understand/hear? It looked fun though
8I love padma, but her words always sound so slurred
Funny tidbit she was on an episode of Star Trek Enterprise as this princess who was cryogenically frozen, and they rescue her and she seduces on of the crew....she...cannot.....act...
9I love Padma and Tom and I especially love the dynamic between the two of them. It's always cool to see Tom in the kitchen, and to see him cooking with Padma is especially neat. Love this video!
10I love Padma...she comes off as a normal person with none of that fake "hostess" stuff. Tom is great as well and when Anthony Bourdain is on it's a triple threat.
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