Who is chef Antonia Lofaso and why is she on The Bachelorette?

CHEF Antonia Lofaso is a chef, reality star and restaurant owner.

She will appear on The Bachelorette's Hometown Date episode tonight at 8 pm ET on ABC.

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Who is chef Antonia Lofaso?

Antonia Lofaso is an American chef who has appeared on the reality TV shows Top Chef, Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, and Restaurant Startup, among others.

She owns her own Los Angeles-based restaurants including Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots, and DAMA.

Antonia is also an author and has written the cookbook The Busy Mom’s Cookbook: 100 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, Home-cooked Meals.

Why is she on The Bachelorette?

Chef Antonia makes an appearance in a clip ahead of December 15's Hometown Dates episode.

The clip, which sees Tayshia Adams crying, cuts to contestant Ben Smith having an intimate conversation with chef Antonia.

“You love her,” Antonia says to Ben. “I don’t know,” Ben replies.

Reportedly, Antonia will substitute in for Ben's parents.

“The two people who show up for Ben’s hometown are Antonia and his sister Madalyn,” Reality Steve wrote on Twitter.

Why Ben’s parents didn’t go on the show is unclear.

The frontrunner has been diving deep into his past with Tayshia recently.

In a candid moment on an earlier Bachelorette episode, Ben revealed to Tayshia that he tried to commit suicide "multiple times" after his career in the military came to an end.

How do Ben and Chef Antonia know eachother?

Reportedly, Ben and Antonia go to the same gym, Deuce Gym, in California.

She has used her Instagram to give Ben a shoutout.

“Where is my Delta Bravo confessional @benveesmith apparently I can do T2B now too,” she wrote alongside a video of herself working out.

In April, Antonia and a few others helped deliver food to ICU doctors and nurses amid the peak of the global pandemic.

“What a day. This is what we do. We feed people. End of story. 200 meals to the ICU drs and nurses at USC LAC tonight. @helpfeedthefrontline_la it was our honor to serve you tonight,” Antonia wrote in the caption.

“Thank you for all your hard work and care for our Los Angeles community. We love you. Xo Scopa team.”

Ben shows a similar amount of love to Antonia on social media.

"Happy Birthday Antonia, I love you very much. Thank you for being you," he wrote with a purple emoji in November.

What did people say about Chef Antonia's Bachelorette appearance?

Bachelor Nation fans have had plenty to say about the top chef's cameo on the show.

"CHEF ANTONIA AND THE BACHELORETTE MY FAVORITE CROSSOVER EVER #TheBachelorette #foodnetwork," one fan excitedly wrote on Twitter.

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"WAIT CHEF ANTONIA LOFASO APPEARS ON THE BACHELORETTE????" another wrote in disbelief.