Carla Hall Compares The Chew's Ending to a "Living Funeral"
"People are mourning," Carla Hall explained.
The final episode of The Chew aired on June 15, with the hosts (Bravo's Top Chef alum Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and Michael Symon) bidding the beloved show a bittersweet farewell after seven seasons on the air. The show was canceled in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct that have been leveled against former host Mario Batali, who is currently under criminal investigation by the NYPD.
The hosts are still processing the news.
"I think it’s mixed emotions because, normally, this would be the last couple of days before the summer, and you get that senioritis," Carla told People. "There’s a part of me that’s like, oh my God, I’m ready for the summer, and, then it’s also like, wait, this is like the end of camp—I actually won’t come back to see us in this space."
Being the end of camp would be one thing, but Carla said that viewers are treating the end of The Chew like a death of a friend.
"Not to be morbid, but I kind of feel like this is a living funeral. You get to see how people feel about you while you’re still alive. People are mourning the ending of this show, and they get to tell us how they feel about us while we’re still here.
Carla also took to Twitter to describe the all-around sadness on the set when they taped that final episode — tissues as far as the eye could (and couldn't) see. Awww.
The hosts didn't seem to have anger toward Batali.
"It's fine," Carla said.
"It's fine," echoed Clinton. "It's really not weird. It just is what it is."
We'll all have to stay tuned to see what these now former hosts do next, but we do know that Carla will release her highly anticipated new cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, on October 23, so there's a treat from her to look forward to this fall.
