Bravo has essentially erased last season's Top Chef winner Gabe Erales following his sexual harassment controversy

Eater

This week's announcement that Top Chef will be filming Season 19 in Houston is a sign that Bravo has already moved on from the controversy involving Erales, says Amy McCarthy. As soon as the Austin American-Statesman revealed Erales' sexual misconduct, "Bravo went into damage control mode," says McCarthy. "The chef did not appear in the line-up for the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, which is part of the Top Chef prize, All mentions of Erales have been scrubbed from the Top Chef website, and he hasn’t done the round of post-win interviews that typically follows after a victor is chosen. He has not appeared on Top Chef’s Instagram account, which is full of photos of the show’s contestants and winners, since the story broke. Following the allegations, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi publicly called for an investigation into the show’s failure to fully vet the claims of harassment. Bravo, of course, never acknowledged whether or not there would be any investigation. To date, the company has still not issued a statement on the allegations. The press release announcing its plans to film the 19th season in Houston never mentions Erales. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter following the season, executives from Magical Elves acknowledged that they 'did not condone' Erales’s behavior, but said that they felt that re-shooting the season would be 'unfair' to other contestants."