Top Chef: Just Desserts judge
Johnny Iuzzini is okay with naked photos from his gay fans.
Iuzzini, who has been named one of the
10 best pastry chefs in America by Pastry Art and Design
magazine and is a James Beard Foundation Outstanding Pastry Chef of
the Year nominee, appears alongside judges Gail Simmons, Dannielle
Kyrillos and Hubert Keller on cabler Bravo's all-dessert spinoff of
Top Chef.
Gay
male entertainment website AfterElton.com spoke with Iuzzini and
Simmons to find out how they felt about their gay fan base.
When the site asked how the judges had
been made aware of their gay fans, Simmons answered: “We're on
Bravo for God's sakes!”
“That's a good indication,” Iuzzini
said. “Another good indication was I opened my emails and there
were a lot of gay males who started sending me naked pictures on a
regular basis.”
“I got one recently of a 60-year-old
Italian man standing in his doorway fully naked,” he added.
“I don't know what to say most of the
time. I'm like 'thanks for being a fan' and I try to respond to
everyone that contacts me ...”
Iuzzini added that he's quite
comfortable around gay people.
“I'm not embarrassed by it. I've been
called metrosexual since I was in my teens. Even the boys from Most
Eligible Dallas, they all thought I was gay. I also grew up
working in the clubs, so I've been around drag queens. Most of my
friends were gay for a long period of my life, so for me I embrace
the culture.”
And he added another example: “I got
an email yesterday … a guy sent me a picture and said, 'I'd love to
suck the cream out of your cannoli.'”
Top Chef: Just Desserts season 2
premiered on Wednesday, August 24.