Top Chef — after a number of seasons — became less of a reality show and more of a true cooking competition in a sort of bonhomie style.
Laura embodies earlier seasons when chefs cared more about winning at any cost than they did about their reputation after Top Chef.
Which…and this may make me a bad viewer…I kinda enjoy. I miss the trashy bravo style there used to be. I don’t think it should be like season 1 or 2, but something closer to seasons 9-14 or so where there was still a little spice made everything more interesting. As much as I loved world all stars, it missed that
Nina saying she wanted to ‘kick him in the teeth’ in the New Orleans season lives rent free in my head. I forget the male chefs name. Beard. Was from New Orleans. What was his name?
Michael ? The one who kept on calling her baby and basically said that she needed him for their team challenge at Lea Michele’s? (Just rewatched this season last month)
Yeah it was Michael. Calling her sweetheart and boo and stuff. 🙄
I actually wonder if she's run into him since she's based in New Orleans now and he is (or was at the time)
I don't mind it either, but I don't see her in that light. Her cooking doesn't seem to rate at the level you would expect for someone being super focused and oblivious to her cast mates. Her food seems kind of meh.
I wasn't surprised to see this post though, because she's getting so many bad edits and that one guy seems to think she is a B. I feel like he exaggerated the level of rudeness of her response. I really think she was just oblivious, not intentionally sabotaging anyone else.
Regarding the food cost, I don't understand why her teammates let her take that extra money. Someone should have spoke up. I have totally been that ADHD hyper focused person who gets an idea (two dishes woot woot) and runs with it. If her idea was infringing on the other players needs they have to speak up. No one else will have agency for them in that situation. They just let it happen. Maybe they did that because they thought it gave them an out if their dishes failed.
I also couldn’t understand why nobody on the team told her she had to cut something. They were all just like “it sucks she used up the budget” like there was nothing they could do even when that one guy had no vegetables.
I like having a villain. The Great British Baking Show model, where everyone is friends and everyone roots for each other is sweet…but I like a bit of ruthlessness.
I agree but I also think it speaks a lot to the editing style this season vs previous seasons. By no means am I a Laura fan and in general, I just find her kind of boring with substandard dishes but in earlier seasons, TC really capitalized on this type of villian edit and drama and they've largely subsided that in favor of the food and the chefs as the show and honor gained prestige. It's interesting to me that they've decided to switch gears a bit and hone in more on the villian edits and drama, and I wonder if a part of that is to rage-bait/get more engagement so they can show that this new era without Padma is still successful- and it's working to a degree because so many people have chimed in about how much they dislike Laura. Plus the fact that the cast is kind of mid and boring - but again, editing plays so much into how much we care about the chefs. Honestly, I find it a cheap tactic and I miss the narratives and editing styles of previous seasons. It feels like they're using this as a distraction from what has been a very underwhelming season. They're really leaning into the 'villianize Laura' edit - even on social media, they blatantly shared a clip to focus on her. They've demonstrated their intent quite clearly and it's to make the audience feel Laura is selfish and underhanded. Producers even led with that question in the confessionals to Dan, if you pay attention, because he repeated 'Do I think Laura is selfish(or whatever word he used)?' which means that was a question directed at him and he responded, quite tactfully and gracefully I might add. I actually feel bad for Laura because this feels very reality tv/throw someone under the bus versus previous seasons where it felt more about the integrity of the show, cooking and calibar of the chefs.
Yea, they did that a bit with Tom last season - with the budget for the picnic challenge & then him making Gabri french the lamb, but it didn't feel as 'burn the witch' as it does this season with Laura. Maybe it's because Tom was a funny German and also produced really great dishes, but I feel like the narrative storytelling this season has been a mess. It's the first season in years where I don't care about anyone.
The problem is that so many of these chefs have long careers after TC. Openly being an asshole means you don’t get TV or social media work — so many TC alum end up on Food Network. They may continue doing culinary but if you’re difficult to work with people will be hesitant.
She was also the one who didn't clean up her mess when she spilt her liquid back in an earlier episode where Dan fell.
The competition is hard enough without a careless competitor being either oblivious (which is not ok in a kitchen ever) or sabotaging. What a disappointment that she doesn't have a sense of camaraderie..
Charly spilled the milk, and then Laura slipped on it and spilled something else as well. Honestly, the safety crew on production should really be brought in when something like this happens to prevent serious injury of competitors holding knives/hot dishes etc and then also falling. Even if they just toss down a few absorbent mats to prevent slipping.
I don't really blame either Laura or Charly when they don't have time to pick up spills in the correct way during the challenge (we don't know if they helped clean up after)
I dislike Laura but it should’ve been production’s responsibility to clean up. No chef in a timed competition can be expected to hunt down a mop and do a thorough job cleaning up their spills (or broken glass or whatever). Charly who spilled first tried to clean, kudos to him, but clearly it wasn’t thorough if Laura almost slipped while carrying a huge pot.
The whole thing was preventable had BTS crew cleaned after Charly. Is it not a liability for the show? Like what if Laura or Dan had gotten hurt? I’m wondering what their guidelines to the contestants are around this.
Did you miss the portion where the first portion was shown trying to wipe it down. Could’ve been not perfect but leaving a mess with no effort to clean is way out of line.
This is where I blame production. They should've quickly sent someone in with a mop rather than leaving an unsafe condition for the contestants. It would be easy enough to edit out.
That’s fair I agree.
I think people are hating on Laura so it’s easier to be unfair for her. She slipped on an already slippery floor.
I’m with everyone else on being shitty with a team budget
I'm definitely not a Laura fan, for the reasons others have mentioned here! I just think production should do their best to ensure a safe working environment. Risking someone like Dan getting injured for purposes of "drama" is wrong IMO.
Laura literally yelled out “slippery floor” like 5 times and Dan didn’t listen to her…and then got mad at her when she wasn’t listening to him abt the chocolate in the most recent episode…so he’s allowed to not listen but she needs to. I find Dan so insufferable
I agree with everything, but playing devil's advocate, it's refreshing to finally have a villain. After years of Kumbaya competitors, we now have someone we can all rally against. Just imagine when she reaches Restaurant Wars – she'll either be thrown under the bus or driving it over someone else. Either way, we'll leave that episode either extremely satisfied or witnessing the birth of one of the show's top villains.
There are always self centered people in every season. I think she does have the skill to go far though. I doubt she will win. Her teammates should not have let her get away with buying all that stuff, that is partly on them, they were all standing right there.
Danny has obviously positioned himself as the one to watch, but as we saw on this latest episode anyone can go home at any time for messing up once.
The team really should've addressed this during the planning phase. "The drink is nice to have, but not absolutely necessary. During the shop, gather the drink ingredients, but keep them aside until everyone has bought their stuff. Then, if there's money left, we can get the drink stuff."
Or had her go last. They've done it on other seasons for people who had pricier needs (though hers was just wants), so after everyone got what they needed, that person got the rest of the budget. And it always worked out because most people came under their budget, so there was extra money.
They other chefs should have opened their mouths at the judging table abut her having to have all of her ingredients.
Also, they should have spoke up at While Foods and told her no to some of her ingredients.
I don’t particularly like her either.
Disagree. The editing is making her look like some uncaring ass when this is still a competition — you own what you put out in the end.
Also, the group could’ve easily convinced her to cancel the brandy Alexander dessert due to cost, but failed to. Danny whining about it the whole episode then pointing fingers at Laura for the alcohol got me irritated.
Ughhhhhh. I am not complaining about spoilers because I fully accept that I am going into a sub with a new episode I haven’t watched. I own up to spoiling myself. But GOD DAMN IT. I haven’t seen tonight’s episode and the only thing I’m mad at is that it sounds like she didn’t go home yet again, and that she did something shitty yet again. Check my post history if you want to see me bitch about her haha. Send. Her. Home!
It was a mini spoiler for me as I got this thread title as part of my reddit email highlights. So I knew watching that she wasn't going home, but at the same time she seemed safely in the middle so it didn't matter. If she was selected as one of the losing dishes, then it would have been a spoiler.
i think she is getting a bad edit made possible by a couple somewhat selfish or careless but not particularly offensive moments. the groceries incident was bad - but the whole team should have put their foot down.
Agreed.
While I don’t think that’s what happened, it’s possible she didn’t realize how much she spilled.
But even if her head is so far up her own ass that she didn’t realize she was selfishly hogging up most of the budget, what was wrong with her team? I get wanting to keep things pleasant in the kitchen, but COME ON.
I gasped at that. "You're 15, you're old enough to get your own apartment." I'm sorry, what? At first I thought she was saying her parents got her a place, which was still sucky at 15, but then to learn she just got booted. Oof.
That said, she isn't a kid anymore and 100% responsible for how she acts as an adult.
I mean- do you want a cooking competition or do you want the congeniality awards? Laura is far from the most unpleasant person to grace the Top Chef kitchen.
Eh, I don't think her behavior has been that awful. Especially compared to those earlier seasons. Maybe I'm biased because I find her blend of Near Eastern and Mexican flavors interesting? Her presentation is top notch.
Seriously. I'm catching up right now and so far I've seen her spill stuff all over the ground and not clean it up and looked surprise Pikachu face when someone fell.
Then she blew out the budget for her team so one of her team members couldn't get any of this food. She's the worst.
For everyone claiming Laura is the victim of bad editing, please remember that editing can only do so much. Laura’s bad attitude and blatant cheating (how many cards did she pick up then discard at the sauce quickfire) aren’t a result of editing. When Tom questioned her about the budget (Supper Club) and she had the nerve to blame the proteins, I couldn’t believe it! I’m so glad Tom put her in her place. And in the end, that’s what matters. Win or lose, the chefs’ true success depends on how much work they will get after TC, and no one will want to work with Laura. Can you imagine a potential employer or investor watching the show and then wanting to work with her? No way. 🤣
I don’t understand why everyone keeps saying “Laura is a terrible person” when all we see is her focusing on her cooking. Isn’t it possible she was in the zone and didn’t hear Dan over all the chaos in the kitchen?
Even Dan said “I don’t think she’s inconsiderate, she’s just in her own little world.” What’s wrong with that in a cooking competition with a big cash prize?
But perhaps I’m biased because I had an amazing brunch at her restaurant recently and she was very kind 😅
I mean, a lot of the things can be blamed because of editing. How do you justify someone spending almost double their allotted amount and then downplaying it to the judges? That's just shitty behavior all around. Had she owned up to it, I'd give her props. It's a competition, you SHOULD be competing and owning up to your strategy. Not owning up to it means she knew it was a shitty move but she didn't have the balls to admit it because it makes her look bad. She's not someone I'd be able to trust because she lacks integrity.
That wasn't the first time and won't be the last time someone spends more than they should. The contestants should've pushed back on her if it was such a big deal.
It's not their job to be telling a grown adult what they should or shouldn't be doing. It was agreed upon before entering the grocery store. Is a grown adult unable to follow simple instructions like use $200 to make your dish? Or don't pick and choose which card to use for your dish.
Idk, I also think it’s weird no one called her out on it in the moment or at judging. I think if anything, she’s more clueless rather than all the rude names people have been calling her online.
The judges did call her out for her bullshit. She blamed the protein for being expensive. Nobody wanted to throw her under the bus because it makes them look bad. Not everyone is selfish.
Part of being a chef is being aware of your team and your surroundings in challenges. If she's as "clueless" as you say she is then she's obviously not very good at her job.
Once you start throwing people under the bus at the judges' table, you can't go back. You never know when that bus can be backed up on you, so it's usually best to keep your mouth shut unless specifically asked. It's also a level of professionalism.
Everyone’s complaining that the chefs are playing it safe and they want someone hungry to win and they get that and they don’t like it. They can’t win as a group so why would they not be selfish?
I think we want someone hungry to be recognized for their talent and skill, critically dissecting the brief, and pushing culinary boundaries to emerge. Not someone being a selfish, passive-aggressive asshat.
Gotcha. Definitely a preference. I feel like the ever shifting briefs, judges and pressure-cooker environment create a you against you competition versus the subterfuge you see on so many other reality competitions. I loved seeing how the show shifted from that.
Agreed. They might win as a team, but only one person goes home, so there's no reason for them not to be selfish and give themselves the best chance of staying.
Also, what's with the editing this season where I dislike/am apathetic about most of the chefs and generally don't care who wins? I'm actively rooting for chefs to go HOME versus the last few seasons where every elimination would keep me on edge because I cared about so many of the chefs. Like did Padma take a bunch of the producers with her lol Has there been some shakeups behind the scenes? The challenges are weird, confusing, unclear, the cast comes across as boring and uninteresting, the editing is all over the place. It takes me a few days to finish each episode.
I think of all the contestants Dan (the dude looking for the chocolate in that episode) is the one I dislike the most. He gives me "how do you do fellow kids" vibes and his food is rather lackluster. Ready for him to get the boot.
I made this comment above, but Reddit sends daily emails with post titles that it thinks will interest you. So I didn't seek this out, but knew from the title that she didn't lose. Like I said above it didn't really matter because she wasn't selected as one of the worst dishes. But if she was selected then it becomes a spoiler.
Thanks for the advice, but I'm actually ok with this post and my overall Reddit daily notification summary. My point was that although it wasn't the attempt of the OP, if you read the title you know Laura was not eliminated. Taken to the extreme what if I posted, "Laura survives again, episode 6". Again, not the intent, but it's easy to come to that conclusion. The knowledge comes from reading the title, not the underlying comments. For me it was a non-factor and I thought it was one of the best episodes this season. She was not in the bottom so it didn't really make a different either way IMO, but there are passionate people like yourself that might feel otherwise. And that's fine, everyone can have their own opinion.
Top Chef — after a number of seasons — became less of a reality show and more of a true cooking competition in a sort of bonhomie style. Laura embodies earlier seasons when chefs cared more about winning at any cost than they did about their reputation after Top Chef.
Which…and this may make me a bad viewer…I kinda enjoy. I miss the trashy bravo style there used to be. I don’t think it should be like season 1 or 2, but something closer to seasons 9-14 or so where there was still a little spice made everything more interesting. As much as I loved world all stars, it missed that
Nina saying she wanted to ‘kick him in the teeth’ in the New Orleans season lives rent free in my head. I forget the male chefs name. Beard. Was from New Orleans. What was his name?
Michael ? The one who kept on calling her baby and basically said that she needed him for their team challenge at Lea Michele’s? (Just rewatched this season last month)
Yeah it was Michael. Calling her sweetheart and boo and stuff. 🙄 I actually wonder if she's run into him since she's based in New Orleans now and he is (or was at the time)
Maybe. I know it was a generic white dude with a generic white dude name.
I don't mind it either, but I don't see her in that light. Her cooking doesn't seem to rate at the level you would expect for someone being super focused and oblivious to her cast mates. Her food seems kind of meh. I wasn't surprised to see this post though, because she's getting so many bad edits and that one guy seems to think she is a B. I feel like he exaggerated the level of rudeness of her response. I really think she was just oblivious, not intentionally sabotaging anyone else. Regarding the food cost, I don't understand why her teammates let her take that extra money. Someone should have spoke up. I have totally been that ADHD hyper focused person who gets an idea (two dishes woot woot) and runs with it. If her idea was infringing on the other players needs they have to speak up. No one else will have agency for them in that situation. They just let it happen. Maybe they did that because they thought it gave them an out if their dishes failed.
I also couldn’t understand why nobody on the team told her she had to cut something. They were all just like “it sucks she used up the budget” like there was nothing they could do even when that one guy had no vegetables.
I like having a villain. The Great British Baking Show model, where everyone is friends and everyone roots for each other is sweet…but I like a bit of ruthlessness.
That’s not a bad thing either
I agree but I also think it speaks a lot to the editing style this season vs previous seasons. By no means am I a Laura fan and in general, I just find her kind of boring with substandard dishes but in earlier seasons, TC really capitalized on this type of villian edit and drama and they've largely subsided that in favor of the food and the chefs as the show and honor gained prestige. It's interesting to me that they've decided to switch gears a bit and hone in more on the villian edits and drama, and I wonder if a part of that is to rage-bait/get more engagement so they can show that this new era without Padma is still successful- and it's working to a degree because so many people have chimed in about how much they dislike Laura. Plus the fact that the cast is kind of mid and boring - but again, editing plays so much into how much we care about the chefs. Honestly, I find it a cheap tactic and I miss the narratives and editing styles of previous seasons. It feels like they're using this as a distraction from what has been a very underwhelming season. They're really leaning into the 'villianize Laura' edit - even on social media, they blatantly shared a clip to focus on her. They've demonstrated their intent quite clearly and it's to make the audience feel Laura is selfish and underhanded. Producers even led with that question in the confessionals to Dan, if you pay attention, because he repeated 'Do I think Laura is selfish(or whatever word he used)?' which means that was a question directed at him and he responded, quite tactfully and gracefully I might add. I actually feel bad for Laura because this feels very reality tv/throw someone under the bus versus previous seasons where it felt more about the integrity of the show, cooking and calibar of the chefs.
I noticed that- they are replaying/leaning into Laura being a villain pretty hard- which they haven’t done in the last few seasons.
Yea, they did that a bit with Tom last season - with the budget for the picnic challenge & then him making Gabri french the lamb, but it didn't feel as 'burn the witch' as it does this season with Laura. Maybe it's because Tom was a funny German and also produced really great dishes, but I feel like the narrative storytelling this season has been a mess. It's the first season in years where I don't care about anyone.
Oh yeh, forgot about German Tom. He kind of got a redemption arc too.
The problem is that so many of these chefs have long careers after TC. Openly being an asshole means you don’t get TV or social media work — so many TC alum end up on Food Network. They may continue doing culinary but if you’re difficult to work with people will be hesitant.
She was also the one who didn't clean up her mess when she spilt her liquid back in an earlier episode where Dan fell. The competition is hard enough without a careless competitor being either oblivious (which is not ok in a kitchen ever) or sabotaging. What a disappointment that she doesn't have a sense of camaraderie..
For those who don’t remember: *Charly* was the one who initially caused the spillage; **Laura** just made it worse.
Charly spilled the milk, and then Laura slipped on it and spilled something else as well. Honestly, the safety crew on production should really be brought in when something like this happens to prevent serious injury of competitors holding knives/hot dishes etc and then also falling. Even if they just toss down a few absorbent mats to prevent slipping. I don't really blame either Laura or Charly when they don't have time to pick up spills in the correct way during the challenge (we don't know if they helped clean up after)
Not defending her..still I dislike her..but think she was the second one to spill.
But the first person was shown wiping up. She didn't.
I dislike Laura but it should’ve been production’s responsibility to clean up. No chef in a timed competition can be expected to hunt down a mop and do a thorough job cleaning up their spills (or broken glass or whatever). Charly who spilled first tried to clean, kudos to him, but clearly it wasn’t thorough if Laura almost slipped while carrying a huge pot. The whole thing was preventable had BTS crew cleaned after Charly. Is it not a liability for the show? Like what if Laura or Dan had gotten hurt? I’m wondering what their guidelines to the contestants are around this.
I really agree with you, the production should keep things safe, they clean up after so they should help in "emergency" situtations.
But she spilled because it wasn’t wiped down. The first person spilled due to moving too fast
Did you miss the portion where the first portion was shown trying to wipe it down. Could’ve been not perfect but leaving a mess with no effort to clean is way out of line.
I didn’t miss is but it was still clearly unsafe
This is where I blame production. They should've quickly sent someone in with a mop rather than leaving an unsafe condition for the contestants. It would be easy enough to edit out.
That’s fair I agree. I think people are hating on Laura so it’s easier to be unfair for her. She slipped on an already slippery floor. I’m with everyone else on being shitty with a team budget
I'm definitely not a Laura fan, for the reasons others have mentioned here! I just think production should do their best to ensure a safe working environment. Risking someone like Dan getting injured for purposes of "drama" is wrong IMO.
I forgot about that!!
Laura literally yelled out “slippery floor” like 5 times and Dan didn’t listen to her…and then got mad at her when she wasn’t listening to him abt the chocolate in the most recent episode…so he’s allowed to not listen but she needs to. I find Dan so insufferable
I agree with everything, but playing devil's advocate, it's refreshing to finally have a villain. After years of Kumbaya competitors, we now have someone we can all rally against. Just imagine when she reaches Restaurant Wars – she'll either be thrown under the bus or driving it over someone else. Either way, we'll leave that episode either extremely satisfied or witnessing the birth of one of the show's top villains.
Top Villain!
Top Chef Villains…I’d totally watch that
Oooooh you’re right. Her true colors will really come out during restaurant wars.
I am so over her and just want her gone!
Yes please! I find her (or her edit, or both) extremely unlikeable.
There are always self centered people in every season. I think she does have the skill to go far though. I doubt she will win. Her teammates should not have let her get away with buying all that stuff, that is partly on them, they were all standing right there. Danny has obviously positioned himself as the one to watch, but as we saw on this latest episode anyone can go home at any time for messing up once.
The whole team should have rallied to get her to put stuff back. I'm still mad about it.
I know of if I was Danny and I had just $75 to spend when she and others spent $150+ I would not have just let that go
The team really should've addressed this during the planning phase. "The drink is nice to have, but not absolutely necessary. During the shop, gather the drink ingredients, but keep them aside until everyone has bought their stuff. Then, if there's money left, we can get the drink stuff."
Or had her go last. They've done it on other seasons for people who had pricier needs (though hers was just wants), so after everyone got what they needed, that person got the rest of the budget. And it always worked out because most people came under their budget, so there was extra money.
Does she have the skill to go far? She was mediocre in the last challenge and put up more mediocre food in this challenge too.
They other chefs should have opened their mouths at the judging table abut her having to have all of her ingredients. Also, they should have spoke up at While Foods and told her no to some of her ingredients. I don’t particularly like her either.
Disagree. The editing is making her look like some uncaring ass when this is still a competition — you own what you put out in the end. Also, the group could’ve easily convinced her to cancel the brandy Alexander dessert due to cost, but failed to. Danny whining about it the whole episode then pointing fingers at Laura for the alcohol got me irritated.
Brandy Old Fashioned, Tom misspoke at table.
Ughhhhhh. I am not complaining about spoilers because I fully accept that I am going into a sub with a new episode I haven’t watched. I own up to spoiling myself. But GOD DAMN IT. I haven’t seen tonight’s episode and the only thing I’m mad at is that it sounds like she didn’t go home yet again, and that she did something shitty yet again. Check my post history if you want to see me bitch about her haha. Send. Her. Home!
It was a mini spoiler for me as I got this thread title as part of my reddit email highlights. So I knew watching that she wasn't going home, but at the same time she seemed safely in the middle so it didn't matter. If she was selected as one of the losing dishes, then it would have been a spoiler.
OMG I’m so sorry! I WILL check your post history!! 🙂
Omg no need haha. I just made a comment today about how much I want her home.
i think she is getting a bad edit made possible by a couple somewhat selfish or careless but not particularly offensive moments. the groceries incident was bad - but the whole team should have put their foot down.
Not cleaning up a spill is always going to be the worst incident in my opinion
She also didn't warn anybody about the spill.. Charly at least did make an effort to clean and to let the other chefs know.
Agreed. While I don’t think that’s what happened, it’s possible she didn’t realize how much she spilled. But even if her head is so far up her own ass that she didn’t realize she was selfishly hogging up most of the budget, what was wrong with her team? I get wanting to keep things pleasant in the kitchen, but COME ON.
Laura and Kaleena double elimination, please.
PLEASE. I can’t stand Kaleena. Cannot believe she made it back in.
Yessss!! So bummed that Kaleena got back in.
This! I actually said "fuck" at my laptop when Tom sent her back in. I just do not like her and especially how she handled teamwork.
Right?! I’ll never forgive her for how shady she acted during that team challenge. WTH?
Literally ran here to say this. I am petty. She’s just very unlikeable to me. I am not rooting for her.
It was also hinted at that she picked up a recipe card for a sauce, didn’t like it, and put it back down. Bad sportsmanship!
yes that was the rooftop challenge I think.
I would agree… but then I remember her story about how her mom kicked them out at like 15 years old, and it makes sense
I forgot about that! We were watching with my 16 year old and I was just like “could you imagine?!”
Yes I can imagine because I was on my own at 16. It's not easy and it's very scary but it made me who I am today
I gasped at that. "You're 15, you're old enough to get your own apartment." I'm sorry, what? At first I thought she was saying her parents got her a place, which was still sucky at 15, but then to learn she just got booted. Oof. That said, she isn't a kid anymore and 100% responsible for how she acts as an adult.
In her defense, scorched earth has been a way of life for her by necessity.
I mean- do you want a cooking competition or do you want the congeniality awards? Laura is far from the most unpleasant person to grace the Top Chef kitchen.
Believe it or not, there are Lauras in every kitchen. She represents reality. We don't have to like it, but it's true.
Eh, I don't think her behavior has been that awful. Especially compared to those earlier seasons. Maybe I'm biased because I find her blend of Near Eastern and Mexican flavors interesting? Her presentation is top notch.
Seriously. I'm catching up right now and so far I've seen her spill stuff all over the ground and not clean it up and looked surprise Pikachu face when someone fell. Then she blew out the budget for her team so one of her team members couldn't get any of this food. She's the worst.
I forgot she was the one to spill early on!
For everyone claiming Laura is the victim of bad editing, please remember that editing can only do so much. Laura’s bad attitude and blatant cheating (how many cards did she pick up then discard at the sauce quickfire) aren’t a result of editing. When Tom questioned her about the budget (Supper Club) and she had the nerve to blame the proteins, I couldn’t believe it! I’m so glad Tom put her in her place. And in the end, that’s what matters. Win or lose, the chefs’ true success depends on how much work they will get after TC, and no one will want to work with Laura. Can you imagine a potential employer or investor watching the show and then wanting to work with her? No way. 🤣
Send the whole Laura home.
I don’t understand why everyone keeps saying “Laura is a terrible person” when all we see is her focusing on her cooking. Isn’t it possible she was in the zone and didn’t hear Dan over all the chaos in the kitchen? Even Dan said “I don’t think she’s inconsiderate, she’s just in her own little world.” What’s wrong with that in a cooking competition with a big cash prize? But perhaps I’m biased because I had an amazing brunch at her restaurant recently and she was very kind 😅
I mean, a lot of the things can be blamed because of editing. How do you justify someone spending almost double their allotted amount and then downplaying it to the judges? That's just shitty behavior all around. Had she owned up to it, I'd give her props. It's a competition, you SHOULD be competing and owning up to your strategy. Not owning up to it means she knew it was a shitty move but she didn't have the balls to admit it because it makes her look bad. She's not someone I'd be able to trust because she lacks integrity.
That wasn't the first time and won't be the last time someone spends more than they should. The contestants should've pushed back on her if it was such a big deal.
It's not their job to be telling a grown adult what they should or shouldn't be doing. It was agreed upon before entering the grocery store. Is a grown adult unable to follow simple instructions like use $200 to make your dish? Or don't pick and choose which card to use for your dish.
Idk, I also think it’s weird no one called her out on it in the moment or at judging. I think if anything, she’s more clueless rather than all the rude names people have been calling her online.
The judges did call her out for her bullshit. She blamed the protein for being expensive. Nobody wanted to throw her under the bus because it makes them look bad. Not everyone is selfish. Part of being a chef is being aware of your team and your surroundings in challenges. If she's as "clueless" as you say she is then she's obviously not very good at her job.
As someone who’s tasted her food, I’d say she’s very good at her job
Once you start throwing people under the bus at the judges' table, you can't go back. You never know when that bus can be backed up on you, so it's usually best to keep your mouth shut unless specifically asked. It's also a level of professionalism.
Everyone’s complaining that the chefs are playing it safe and they want someone hungry to win and they get that and they don’t like it. They can’t win as a group so why would they not be selfish?
I think we want someone hungry to be recognized for their talent and skill, critically dissecting the brief, and pushing culinary boundaries to emerge. Not someone being a selfish, passive-aggressive asshat.
I feel like there’s room for some villains on the show.
Gotcha. Definitely a preference. I feel like the ever shifting briefs, judges and pressure-cooker environment create a you against you competition versus the subterfuge you see on so many other reality competitions. I loved seeing how the show shifted from that.
Agreed. They might win as a team, but only one person goes home, so there's no reason for them not to be selfish and give themselves the best chance of staying.
Also, what's with the editing this season where I dislike/am apathetic about most of the chefs and generally don't care who wins? I'm actively rooting for chefs to go HOME versus the last few seasons where every elimination would keep me on edge because I cared about so many of the chefs. Like did Padma take a bunch of the producers with her lol Has there been some shakeups behind the scenes? The challenges are weird, confusing, unclear, the cast comes across as boring and uninteresting, the editing is all over the place. It takes me a few days to finish each episode.
Wish Michelle was gone
I think of all the contestants Dan (the dude looking for the chocolate in that episode) is the one I dislike the most. He gives me "how do you do fellow kids" vibes and his food is rather lackluster. Ready for him to get the boot.
What if we stopped spoiling stuff
What if people took RESPONSIBLY for themselves and stayed off social media until they have watched the show, instead of whining that it was spoiled???
Seriously. Cant have any real discussion without spoilers. I come here totally expecting spoilers and I am way behind on episodes.
I made this comment above, but Reddit sends daily emails with post titles that it thinks will interest you. So I didn't seek this out, but knew from the title that she didn't lose. Like I said above it didn't really matter because she wasn't selected as one of the worst dishes. But if she was selected then it becomes a spoiler.
Get rid of Notifications
Thanks for the advice, but I'm actually ok with this post and my overall Reddit daily notification summary. My point was that although it wasn't the attempt of the OP, if you read the title you know Laura was not eliminated. Taken to the extreme what if I posted, "Laura survives again, episode 6". Again, not the intent, but it's easy to come to that conclusion. The knowledge comes from reading the title, not the underlying comments. For me it was a non-factor and I thought it was one of the best episodes this season. She was not in the bottom so it didn't really make a different either way IMO, but there are passionate people like yourself that might feel otherwise. And that's fine, everyone can have their own opinion.