"padmalakshmi" news and stories

Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

A "Top Chef" host has a little something in the oven -- and it's not a Quickfire dish.

Reps for Padma Lakshmi confirmed to Usmagazine.com that the former model, burger spokeswoman and Emmy winner is pregnant with her first child after a multi-year struggle with endometriosis.

The 39-year-old co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America earlier this year in an attempt to raise awareness about the condition in which uterine lining accumulates in other parts of the body, sometimes leading to chronic pain and infertility.

Lakshmi's three-year marriage to novelist Salman Rushdie ended in divorce in 2007 and the identity of the father has not been publicly revealed.

Laurine, the calm amid the 'Top Chef' chaos. Photo: Bravo.

Break out the chaps. Dust off your spurs. Get ready for Padma to ring the dinner bell as only she knows how -- that is, gingerly and timidly.

That's right, with "Top Chef" stationed in the middle of the Southwest this season, we knew there'd have to be some sort of roughing-it challenge to go along with all the gaudy glitz of the Vegas strip. The only question would be just how much roughness our cheftestants would have to endure.

Surprisingly, quite a bit. With only the most mysterious hint of their destination, the dozen remaining chefs were shipped off -- after countless shots of them enjoying the plush luxury of their product-placement Toyotas -- and left to fend for themselves in a remote desert ranch, in teepees, no less. "Is Padma sleeping in a teepee? I'd just like to know," asked Kevin.

That would be an emphatic "no." And while some chefs used the opportunity to wax nostalgic on their outdoorsy upbringings -- some (Ashley) more convincingly than others (Robin) -- some just weren't having it. Cue the urbanite whining of Atlantan Eli, or the voodoo-spellcasting of Haitian Ron, whose elaborate warding off of snakes was appreciated, if not understood, by bunkmate Ash.

Padma, Gail, Tom, Mark Peel and the troops. Photo: Bravo

Note to "Top Chef" editors: You fooled us. As with any reality show with a dozen-plus contestants, the ones who get the most face time in the early episodes are usually the superstars, or the ones who'll be packing their knives and going home.

By that logic, perma-cryer Jesse -- who managed the ignominious feat of having the lowest scores in the previous two episodes -- was marked for doom this week. But at least she owned her status -- or lack of it -- as the loser of last night's quickfire challenge: "I'm on the bottom again -- balls!"

Do you have what it takes to master this Top Chef quiz? Or will you be asked to pack your knives and go? Find out below.

"Top Chef" may be in full swing, but its cohost, Padma Lakshmi, continues to diversify.

The model-actress-cook stars in a new video for the Eels' "That Look You Give That Guy." Band member Mark Oliver Everett told Slashfood's sister site, Spinner, that "I always dreamt of dating someone as beautiful as Padma Lakshmi. I should probably just go back to dreaming."

The video shows a date between the two with the sometimes burger eater feeding Everett's dog, Bobby Jr., and hawking her cookbook. Product placement brought to you by the Glad family of Padma.

[Via Spinner]