With the Top Chef finale (and Kevin’s uneventful third place finish) still fresh on everyone’s mind, the Southerner concedes that his beard has become an even bigger personality than him, unfortunately or otherwise.

“It’s become an entity that is larger than the sum of its parts,” he tells TV Guide. “People were like, “We’re pulling for Kevin’s beard. We like Kevin, he’s great, but we would like his beard to win.” It has more than 5,000 fans on Facebook!”

Don’t forget to catch: ‘Top Chef’ Winner: Does He Deserve It?

As of press time, Kevin Gillespie’s beard has more than 7,000 fans on Facebook.

Gillespie, who finished third after an awesome season on Top Chef, said he grew his beard the first chance he got. Upon joining the Bravo cooking show, it became part of his strategy, to be perceived as “this mountain man” and someone who wasn’t a threat. “It totally worked,” he said.

Michael Voltaggio won this season of Top Chef after a finale that featured a brother versus brother showdown for the first time. Asked if his fellow Top Chef contestant Preeti acting as one of his sous chefs may have caused him the win, Gillespie was circumspect, explaining that she only did because he let her.

“I want to make it clear that she didn’t deserve the things I said about her. I was frustrated at myself and projected it on her. It’s very unprofessional and not like me to do that.”

And while we saw that the 27-year-old was a doting son to his mother, the same can’t be said about his wife. The two are separating, and Top Chef, said Kevin, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” because his wife had time to think during his time away from home. No clear reason was given for the separation.

Source: TV Guide
(Image courtesy of Bravo)

Glenn Diaz

Staff Writer, BuddyTV