Fabio Viviani is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 chef

Chef

A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

, and naturalized

Naturalization

Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

 U.S. citizen

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Viviani appeared on reality TV show Top Chef

Top Chef

Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...

on Bravo during its fifth season

Top Chef (season 5)

Top Chef: New York is the fifth season of American reality television series Top Chef and was filmed first in New York City, New York, and concluded in New Orleans, Louisiana...

. He was one of the final four contestants when he was eliminated from the competition and was voted "Top Chef Fan Favorite" by viewers. Currently Viviani was just eliminated as a contestant on Top Chef: All-Stars. Viviani also works as the private chef of William Shatner

William Shatner

William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...

, and holds endorsement

Testimonial

In promotion and of advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a written or spoken statement, sometimes from a person figure, sometimes from a private citizen, extolling the virtue of some product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary...

 contracts with Italian mineral water producer San Pellegrino

San Pellegrino

San Pellegrino is a brand of mineral water with naturally occurring carbonation and additional carbonation added by the bottler, produced and bottled at San Pellegrino Terme, in the Province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy...

 and German frozen pizza producer Dr. Oetker

Dr. Oetker

Dr. Oetker is a German company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, yogurts, frozen pizza and pudding.Also included in the portfolio are a maritime freight business, a bank, a publishing company, an insurance outfit, a brewery and a number of high class hotels all over...

. He currently appears in Domino's Pizza commercials advertising artisan pizzas.

TV Series and Cancellation

In September 2009 it was announced that Viviani would star in a docuseries to be titled Fabio: A Catered Affair, however, the show was canceled prior to production. Bravo TV executives felt it could confuse viewers as to whether the show was another part of the Top Chef series or stood on its own as a reality series. Further, they said the audience wasn't familiar enough with Viviani because he is European. Both of these explanations were questioned as Viviani was a fan favorite and it would be easy to distinguish the show of a breakout star from their original show, which Bravo successfully achieved with former Real Housewives of New York City

The Real Housewives of New York City

The Real Housewives of New York City is an American reality television program on the Bravo cable TV network, a spin-off of the Bravo series The Real Housewives of Orange County. New York is the second city featured in The Real Housewives of... franchise...

 star Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel is an American reality show personality, author, entrepreneur and natural foods chef. She was a contestant in the 2005 series The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and one of the original five housewives featured on the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of New York City...

. The more likely explanation was that Bravo TV's show Chef Academy

Chef Academy

Chef Academy was a reality show that premiered on Bravo TV on November 16, 2009 and aired on Mondays at 11 p.m. ET/PT. It followed Jean Christophe Novelli, a world-renowned Michelin star- and 5 AA Rosette-award-winning chef with restaurants in London, France and South Africa...

, which starred a French chef, had flopped, and it feared another failure of a series with a European chef at the helm.

At the 2011 SoBe Wine & Food Fest, Viviani told reporters that he has a web show coming out, as well as two cookbooks.

On October 3, 2011, Fabio Viviani debuted his new 'back to basics' cooking program, Chow Ciao!, exclusively on Yahoo!. New episodes debut every Monday morning at http://screen.yahoo.com/women/chow-ciao/.