Philadelphia chef Paulie Giganti, who previously competed on Fox’s reality competition “Hell’s Kitchen,” died of a drug overdose, TheWrap has learned.
Giganti was 36 and his body was received Thursday by the Philadelphia Media Examiner’s office.
The chef’s cause of death has been ruled “accidental death by drug intoxication,” according to James Garrow, spokesman at the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office.
The Brooklyn-born Giganti was executive chef of the Philadelphia restaurant Birra, but left his position in November.
“He brought a consistency to our product which is why we are still around,” Birra owner Gordon Dinerman told Philly.com. “We did a little bit better than a lot of people because of him.”
Giganti competed on Season 16, the most recent season of Fox’s reality series “Hell’s Kitchen” with Gordon Ramsey. He made it to the top five finalists before being eliminated.