Padma Lakshmi

As Padma Lakshmi enters Craft, the Century City outpost of Tom Colicchio's Manhattan-based restaurant, the waitstaff momentarily stop prepping for dinner service to stare. Her long black hair is in a ponytail and she's wearing an oversized navy blue fleece sweater, jeans and gray sneakers. The 37-year-old host of Bravo's celebrated cooking competition "Top Chef” doesn't notice the gawking as she settles into a booth and orders a pot of hot green tea.

PADMA LAKSHMI had a confession to make. "I hate reality TV, I have to tell you," said the new host of "Top Chef," Bravo's reality cooking competition, leaning over the table at a busy Manhattan restaurant on a recent afternoon. "I think a lot of it brings out the worst common denominator of the human spirit." But the Indian-born model and actress, perhaps best known for being married to Salman Rushdie, is satisfied that Season 2 of "Top Chef" won't contribute to the decline of modern culture.