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[09/21/06 - 12:00 AM]
Bravo Announces Top Sponsors for Second Season of Hit Reality Competition Series 'Top Chef'

[via press release from Bravo]

BRAVO ANNOUNCES TOP SPONSORS FOR SECOND SEASON OF HIT REALITY COMPETITION SERIES 'TOP CHEF'

SEARS, TOYOTA, AND GLAD SERVE UP ADVERTISING SPONSORSHIPS FOR THE NEW SEASON OF THE CULINARY ARTS SERIES PREMIERING WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18

BRAVO RENEWS ITS OVERALL SERIES PARTNERSHIP WITH FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE FOR THE SECOND SEASON OF 'TOP CHEF'

NEW YORK, NY � September 21, 2006 � Bravo announced today that it has inked partnerships with Sears, Toyota, and Glad for full advertising sponsors for the second season of Bravo's hit one-hour reality competition series "Top Chef," which returns Wednesday, October 18 at 11:00 p.m. "Top Chef" moves to its regular 10:00 p.m. weekly timeslot on Wednesday, October 25.

Bravo also continues its overall series partnership with Food & Wine magazine to include the expertise of the publication's Gail Simmons as a regular on-air judge, and prizing for the winner of "Top Chef" to be featured in an upcoming issue of Food & Wine and appear at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

"We continue to develop exciting multi-platform opportunities for our promotional partners to bring consumer awareness and exposure to their brands, while also further delivering ways for viewers to engage and interact with 'Top Chef,' said Shari Post, Vice President, Ad Sales, Bravo.

Integrated product sponsorships for the new season also include TGI Friday's, Nestle, Kraft, Bailey's, Korbel, Calphalon, and Pepsi.

The partnerships with Sears, Toyota, and Glad include prizing and significant in-show integration, providing both valuable exposure for the brands and effective creative content and products for "Top Chef."

Sears and Glad will also sponsor the "Top Chef" Foodie Flyaway sweepstakes, which will award one winner with a trip to the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen next June 2007. The winner will also be awarded a Kenmore Pro kitchen and a generous supply of Glad products. Viewers can go to BravoTV.com between December 18, 2006 and January 15, 2007 to enter.

Bravo's newest hit reality competition series "Top Chef" offers a fascinating window into the competitive, pressure-filled environment of world-class cookery and the restaurant business at the highest level. The series features fifteen aspiring chefs who compete for their shot at culinary stardom and the chance to earn the prestigious title of "Top Chef." Each episode holds two challenges for the chefs. The first is a quickfire test of their basic abilities and the second is a more involved elimination challenge designed to test the versatility and invention of the chefs as they take on unique culinary trials such as working with unusual and exotic foods or catering for a range of demanding clients. The competing chefs live and breathe the high-pressure lifestyle that comes with being a master chef, and each week someone is asked to "pack up their knives" and go home.

Best-selling author Padma Lakshmi will host the new season. Tom Colicchio, one of the culinary world's most celebrated figures and co-founder of New York City's Gramercy Tavern and Craft Restaurants, serves as lead judge and head chef to the competing chefs. Food expert Gail Simmons of Food & Wine magazine is as a judge for the series.

Elements of the advertiser sponsorships surrounding "Top Chef" include:

SEARS

The winner of "Top Chef" will be awarded with a state-of-the-art Kenmore PRO Kitchen provided by Sears.

"Top Chef" will feature the Kenmore Kitchen, a top-of-the-line main kitchen set outfitted with Kenmore appliances including Kenmore PRO cooktops, warming drawers, double wall ovens, twin refrigerators and Kenmore Elite microwaves. Built for the set located in downtown Los Angeles, the Kenmore Kitchen serves as the anchor location for the second season.

Sears will feature "Top Chef" tune-in in their national circular.

Sears will feature "Top Chef" in a direct mail piece distributed to their customer mailing list.

Sears.com will feature an exclusive "Top Chef" photo gallery and link back to BravoTV.com.

Will create "Top Chef" themed commercials to air exclusively during "Top Chef."

Official co-sponsors of the "Top Chef" Foodie Flyaway sweepstakes.

Sears Kenmore will sponsor various "Top Chef" features on BravoTV.com.

TOYOTA

Five Toyota RAV 4 vehicles served as the primary means of transportation on "Top Chef," with the competing chefs using the vehicles to make their way around Southern California for challenges and shopping.

GLAD

Glad will sponsor the $100,000 cash prize for the "Top Chef" winner to use to help seed their culinary career.

Glad products were used by the competing chefs throughout the series, including GladWare� containers, Glad Force-Flex� trash bags and Glad Press 'n Seal� Wrap.

Official co-sponsors of the "Top Chef" Foodie Flyaway sweepstakes.

"Top Chef" is executive produced by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves, who also produced "Project Runway" for Bravo. Shauna Minoprio serves as co-executive producer.

Bravo is the cable network that plugs people into arts, entertainment and pop culture with original programming, acclaimed drama series, movies, comedy and music specials, and by showing a whole different side of celebrities. Currently available in more than 80 million homes, Bravo is known for breaking exciting new personalities, shaking up the way we look at style, media, fame and Hollywood, pulling back the curtain on the creative process, and making influential and inventive original programming. Its critically acclaimed original programming includes the Emmy-nominated "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," 12-time Emmy-nominated "Inside the Actors Studio," "The Real Housewives of Orange County," "Top Chef," "Celebrity Poker Showdown," as well as the 2004 Emmy winner for Outstanding Reality Program, "Queer Eye," and the four-time Emmy-nominated hit competition series, "Project Runway."

Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBC cable network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information visit www.bravotv.com.





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· PROJECT RUNWAY (FREEFORM)
· TOP CHEF (BRAVO)





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