Top Chef Season 18 winner Gabe Erales was fired from his restaurant job over "harassment" of female employee after filming was completed

Eater

As Eater points out, "Erales was fired from his position as the opening executive chef of Comedor in December 2020, two months after shooting for Top Chef wrapped. The restaurant’s partner and chef Philip Speer first announced his departure in vague yet serious terms, saying Erales was terminated for 'repeated violations of our policies and for behavior in conflict with our values.'" But Speer told the Austin American-Statesman that Erales was specifically fired for harassment of a female employee. The Austin American-Statesman reports that Bravo "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." Erales admitted to having 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 Statesman reported. Erales, meanwhile, told the Statesman: “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. 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.” Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi addressed social media comments about Erales in a series of tweets last night, writing: "As someone who has been sexually harassed, this topic is a serious one and merits openness. We filmed Top Chef in October of last year & were not aware of the allegations now coming out about Gabe. This should be investigated & the network should consider its best action. To be clear, no one has alleged sexual harassment on the record or otherwise to Bravo/Top Chef and we judges didn't have any indication of inappropriate behavior from Gabe during his time on set."