‘Top Chef ’ winner admits he cut employee’s hours after relationship
Gabe Erales, a former executive chef at Austin restaurant Comedor, won the 18th season of Bravo’s “Top Chef ” on Thursday night, a crowning honor from television’s preeminent cooking-competition show.
As Erales’ star ascended, details emerged that the star chef was fired in 2020 from the modern Mexican restaurant for violation of the restaurant’s policies on harassment and discrimination. Although members of the “Top Chef ” production team knew details about the firing, both from conversations with restaurant management and Erales, Bravo continued to air the season featuring a winner who was terminated just weeks after the show finished filming.
In December, Erales did not respond to an inquiry from the American-Statesman regarding the dismissal, but the El Paso native, who helped land the sophisticated, downtown restaurant a spot in the Austin360 Dining Guide Top 10 in 2019, as well as honors from Texas Monthly and Esquire magazine, confirmed details of his firing with the American-Statesman last week.
Erales admitted to having a consensual sexual relationship with a female member of his kitchen staff in the summer of 2020 — and then cutting her hours in November after he returned from taping the culinary kingmaking show in Portland, Ore., in September and October. Erales said he cut the hours of the woman based on her performance, though Comedor chefpartner Philip Speer told the American-Statesman he did not deem the woman’s work as sufficient reason for hours being cut.
At the time of the chef ’s departure, Comedor’s owners said Erales was let go “due to violation of our policies and for behavior in conflict with our values.” In June, Speer clarified to the Statesman that Erales was fired for repeated violations of the company’s ethics policy as it relates to harassment of women.
“After I returned from ‘Top Chef,’ I made some business decisions as a manager that affected this employee and were found to be discriminatory and I realized that those were bad decisions,” Erales told the newspaper. “I’ve spent the last six months really reflecting on these mistakes and taking the necessary steps to be a better husband, a father, a chef and a leader, through therapy, through spirituality.”
Erales said that though his physical relationship ended with the employee when he returned from Portland, he continued communicating with her in an unprofessional manner.
A spokeswoman for “Top Chef ” declined to comment for this story. However, a source close to “Top Chef,” who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told the nespaper that the show learned from Comedor in December that Erales was fired for violations of the restaurant’s harassment policy but said the restaurant did not provide further details.
There was no consideration given to recutting the season, according to the source, who added that scrapping it would not be fair to the other 14 contestants and a production team that endured the challenges of the pandemic to produce the show.