Chef Compton was the fan favourite in the Top Chef competition.
Government has appointed ‘Top Chef’ finalist Nina Compton a “culinary ambassador” for the island.
This announcement was made by Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Creative Industries Lorne Theophilus during Thursday’s media launch of the 2014 Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival.
Theophilus said Compton’s recent feat on the popular American reality show demonstrates just one of the niches that the Jazz & Arts Festival seeks to capitalise on.
Compton, the favourite win, lost to American Nicholas Elmi of Philadelphia in what host of the show Padma Lakshmi said was “the closest” finale she has ever experienced.
Despite losing the ‘Top Chef’ title, Compton, the chief chef at Miami Beach’s Scarpetta, won USD$10,000 for winning the fan favourite competition. She also won that evening’s poll, which asked viewers to vote on who they wanted to win. She won by a landslide 80 percent.
Following the show, the Saint Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) announced plans to explore ways of using Compton’s success to market the territory.
The SLTB said as a marketing agency, they have already reached out to Compton and have already “begun seriously exploring tangible ways of leveraging her international stardom”.
“The rationale is not only to further recognise her tremendous culinary expertise, but also to focus even more attention on our island as a truly award-winning destination, one that produces extraordinary talents in various endeavors, be it academia, sports, or the much acclaimed culinary arts,” the SLTB said.