'Top Chef' finalist Kevin pulls out of Bocuse d'Or competition

Top Chef season six finalist Kevin Gillespie has pulled out of the Bocuse d’Or — the international culinary competition in which he was entered after winning a Top Chef challenge last season. According to his rep, Melissa Libby, Gillespie felt he didn’t have adequate time to prepare. “He just realized with everything he had going on business wise and busy-ness wise, he couldn’t devote the time and energy he needed to really represent the United States well and he just didn’t want to let anyone down,” Libby told EW. “He’s very, very serious and a perfectionist.” Gillespie wrote a letter to the Bocuse D’or committee, asking to be removed from the list of semi-finalists, and when the committee granted him permission, they also offered him a deferral for the next Bocuse d’Or, which takes place in 2013. While Gillespie still runs his Woodfire Grill restaurant in Atlanta, the rest of his time is spent on obligations to Bravo. Though Libby wouldn’t specify, she said his work with the show since wrapping has been more behind-the-scenes. To her knowledge, the network was never consulted regarding Gillespie’s decision to withdraw. “Certainly some of his obligations with Bravo were some of the things making him so busy, but they certainly didn’t do anything to make him pull out nor did they try to make him stay in,” Libby said. Bravo declined to comment.

Photo: Trae Patton/Bravo