What Ever Happened to Ted Allen?

Looking back at our shows, we often wonder about the people who've left. Where did they go when their moment in the Bravo spotlight was over? What are they up to now? Each week, we'll be looking into the lives of one of these familiar faces. Today, it's Ted Allen from Queer Eye For the Straight Guy and Top Chef.

From 2003 to 2007, he was the food and wine expert on Bravo's bold, groundbreaking reality show Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, and Ted Allen is proud of what he and the other members of the "Fab Five" accomplished more than a decade ago. "We were the first big success on Bravo, and they were brave to pick us up and to put so much promotional muscle behind us," he told Kitchen Daily. "We did some really high-quality makeovers—and we won an Emmy!"

After Queer Eye wound down, Ted—a journalist long before he became a reality TV star—forged ahead with his career in the culinary realm and has found even greater success. He was a judge on Bravo's Top Chef for seasons three and four and in 2009, he began his long-running gig as the host of Chopped on the Food Network. He also appears on many of the network's other shows including his brand-new competition show that kicked off in March 2015, All-Star Academy.

Ted has kept his journalist skills sharp by continuing to write features for Esquire from time to time, and in 2012, he followed up his 2005 cookbook with a second one, the well-received In My Kitchen: 100 Recipes and Discoveries for Passionate Cooks. The following year, he marked a huge personal milestone: After more than two decades together, Ted married his longtime love Barry Rice, an interior designer. They now live in Brooklyn where Ted likes to cook low 'n' slow.

"Ironically, considering where I work—where I force people to cook very quickly—I’m a slow food person. I like to cook food that take a long time to develop flavor, low and slow, like barbecue," he told the New York Post last year. "I don’t do a lot of delicate fancy fussy stuff. I do a little bit of Asian, Thai-inflected, for most part."

Ted's also still in touch with his Queer Eye colleagues. In fact, Ted and Kyan Douglas (a.k.a the grooming expert) both did segments on The Rachael Ray Show on the same day in late March 2015. And the whole gang reunited for Bravo's special in 2014. "We are all still great friends, always will be," Ted told Kitchen Daily of his old costars. "And the rowdy humor flows instantly whenever we get together."

[Sources: Kitchen Daily, New York Post, Ted's Twitter]