Kevin Gillespie joins ‘Top Chef All Stars’ in 2020

He was a runner up during season six, which aired exactly a decade ago. Two of other final four from his season will join him: Brian Voltaggio and Jennifer Carroll. Voltaggio's brother Michael won season six. 
Carroll should be a familiar face because she also participated in the first all-star season in 2011, the one that former Atlantan Richard Blais won.

Gillespie suffered from renal cancer last year and had a cancerous kidney removed. He has now recovered. This story line will surely be brought up during season 17, which is set to debut March 19.

"I feel like I dodged not a bullet, but an atom bomb," Gillespie told the AJC in an interview a month later while recovering from the medical procedure. "The kind of cancer that I had is so fatal because it's not detected. It doesn't have symptoms. You don't feel sick. You wake up one morning and you're peeing blood, then you die a few months later."

In an interview Friday, Gillespie said he resisted annual entreaties by the “Top Chef” producers to return to the show. Year in and year out, he said he gave them the same reason: “I felt that chapter of my life was over and it didn’t make sense to amend it.”

But his near-death experience changed his attitude.

“I don’t get to decide how the chapters work out,” he said. “You have to be willing to accept the story might change at any given moment.”

While he was sick and at his lowest point, he said he’d receive messages from people who had gone through similar experiences and told Gillespie to remain hopeful. “It made a huge difference to my well being,” he said. “It helped me get well faster.”

So he wanted to tell his story now to a wider audience, to his “Top Chef” fans.

“This is an enormous platform for me to share my story and tell people it can be okay, don’t lose hope and just keep fighting,” Gillespie said.

He said he remained in touch with many “Top Chef” alums including Bryan Voltaggio, who had a tough time with Gillespie’s illness.

“When ‘All Stars’ came up,” Gillespie said, “Bryan called me. ‘If one of us goes, both of us goes.’ We decided to do it together.”

The host and primary judges for season 17 remain the same: Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio and judge Gail Simmons. 

The new all-star season will be based out of Los Angeles.

"Top Chef" is also hosting its first Bravo's Top Chef Food & Wine Festival March 19 and 20 at Universal Studios Hollywood.