Tom Colicchio has been a mainstay of reality television ever since Top boss premiered in 2006 – but the Emmy-winning chef almost quit TV altogether after his first on-screen experience went awry.
“When I first did television, I swore I would never do television again,” Colicchio, 61, revealed Us weekly exclusively during the promotion of his new Spirits Network series, Tom Colicchio’s The Pantry.
“It was like this [Live With] Regis and Kathie Lee and I had just won Food and wine Best New Chef magazine. This is 1991,” he recalled. “They called me and said, ‘Can you bring a dish?’ “We’ll go through the steps.” And so I brought this dish, it was braised red snapper, and then there was eggplant caviar sandwiched between layers of fried eggplant [with] a sauce with roasted red peppers, lemon, lemon zest [and] Olive oil.”
Colicchio continued, “I had my stairs set up and I was walking over the steps and the producer was like, ‘Great.'” So I go and [I ask] these two stagehands: “Hey, what time should I come here on Monday?” [They said] “Just come here at 8 o’clock.” I’ll come at 8 o’clock. The producer shouts at me: “Where were you?” You missed the rehearsal. You’re going to screw this up.’”
Unfortunately for Colicchio, missing rehearsal wasn’t the only thing that went wrong that day.
“So they do the show and I’m over there setting everything up, being really quiet and he comes over every 10 minutes [saying]”You’re going to screw this up.” “I should pull this segment,” he said. “I’m getting nervous now, more than just sweaty, I’m freaking out.”
Tom Colicchio
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty ImagesWhen they started the segment, Colicchio said it was late Regis Philbin “Fiddled with the oven,” so he went over to check on the eggplant. As Philbin took the eggplant out of the oven, he joked to Colicchio, “This is what happens when you miss the rehearsal.”
“I’m like, ‘I can’t believe this guy just threw me under the bus,'” Colicchio said Us. “So I get through the segment and it’s perfect. We can do it. We absolutely nailed it. And so a producer comes along and says, “Oh, that was great!” And I thought, ‘Why?’ [Regis] Throw me under the bus like that?’ He says, “No, he missed the rehearsal.”
Luckily for Top boss Fans didn’t let the incident stop Colicchio from pursuing a career in television.
Charly Pierre, Carla Hall and Tom Colicchio on “Top Chef”.
David Moir/Bravo“It was such a bad experience,” he said. “I walked off the set and said, ‘I’m never going to do TV again.’ And here I am, 21 seasons later Top bossand I guess I’ll do TV.”
Colicchio expands his repertoire of reality cooking shows with his new interactive cooking show. The pantry. Hosted by Colicchio and featuring a star-studded cast of celebrity chefs like… Marcus Samuelsson And Kristen KishThe Spirits Network series features a “buy bar” that allows viewers to purchase select ingredients and tools with a simple click. While viewers are watching the show, they can easily cook the dishes themselves at home.
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“I had this idea about 20 years ago, [but] The technology wasn’t there yet,” says Colicchio Us the cutting-edge new show. “Many chefs who cook at home, myself included, look for shortcuts, and many of those shortcuts are actually in the pantry.”
For more at-home cooking tips and on-screen mishaps from Colicchio, watch the exclusive video above.
Tom Colicchio’s The Pantry is now streaming on Spirits Network.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi