"Top Chef" Contestants No Fans of Padma Lakshmi

Looks like we're not the only ones who aren't fans of Padma Lakshmi.

New York Magazine recently spoke to some of the remaining contestants on Bravo's cutthroat culinary series Top Chef about their opinions of the denim vest-clad Padma, a.k.a. Mrs. Salman Rushdie, who acts as the show's main host/product placement shill:

Asked if he trusted Lakshmi’s culinary taste, Ilan Hall, a line cook at Casa Mono, asked a Bravo flack, “Um, are we allowed to say disparaging things about Padma?” No. “She’s beautiful,” Hall offered. “Mostly, she just explained things, and she did a good job at that.”

As for Padma's, um, ensembles of leather or denim vests and midriff-baring shirts, the fiery tempered Cliff Crooks had the following to say: “Some of the things she wore, I wouldn’t suggest anyone wear around a working kitchen. Either she’d be a fire hazard or she’d get hurt.”

While no one could be worse than former Top Chef host/automaton Katie Lee Joel, I'm surprised that the chefs would be as candid as they were in this piece. Will the third time be the charm for Top Chef? Or will Bravo finally realize that they've always had the epitome of poised and polished foodie host in Tom Colicchio?

Personally, I'm hoping that Top Chef fans will finally get the culinary equivalent of Tim Gunn that we deserve. But Padma certainly isn't it.