Marcela Valladolid Leaving Food Network's 'The Kitchen'

Photo - Food Network

Today at 11am ET is the season 14 finale of The Kitchen on Food Network.  Marcela Valladolid announced on Instagram that this will be her final episode on the show.  It seems like traveling from the west coast to the east coast for the show and being away from her family were deciding factors.  Marcela posted the following message on Instagram about her leaving the show:

"Friends and followers, after 14 seasons and 182 episodes, this Saturday is my last episode of #TheKitchen. I’m a west coast gurl with a West coast family and it’s time for me to be here and share with you the stories and recipes that I truly share with my family and friends. Thank you for watching and following. It truly was a blast and I am so grateful to the cast and crew for this incredible journey! 4 years of monthly trips east. I birthed and nursed two babies. I made the best of friends. I learned so much and, half the time, I sort of felt like I was cheating life because I was having too much fun and getting paid for it. Katie, Sunny, GZ and Mauro... I’ll miss you guys. Besos familia, it brought me great pride to be the Latina face on one of the most popular shows on the @foodnetwork! Diversity and inclusion should always be a priority. Thank you.❤️"

The 15th season of the show begins next week and it appears from the episode descriptions that there is no replacement for Marcela and Food Network will continue doing the show with just Jeff Mauro, Katie Lee, Sunny Anderson, and Geoffrey Zakarian.

Fun fact about Marcela - She appeared on The Price is Right in 2004 and won a car (Link).

Marcela also addressed leaving the show on her blog in this post.