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Top Chef's Jamie Lauren Blasts All-Stars: Unfair! Disappointing!

Find out why the Los Angeles-based cheftestant stopped watching the reality show after episode two

By Marc Malkin Jan 13, 2011 6:45 PMTags
Jamie Lauren,Top ChefRene Cervantes/Bravo

If the folks over at Bravo are thinking of inviting Jamie Lauren back for another round of Top Chef, they probably shouldn't waste their time.

Jamie is not a happy camper. Sure, she was one of the two cheftestants sent home on All-Stars last night (Tiffani Faison was the other), but that's not what bothers her most.

What's Jamie's beef? Read on to find out what she just told me...

Did you watch last night's episode?
I did not. I was busy working on a web series and by the time I got home I was too tired.

But are you happy you can talk about the season now?
I haven't really watched much of it. It sort of went downhill for me after episode two so I tried not to watch. So I don't have much to talk about, I guess.

Was it tough seeing it go downhill for you? It got a little brutal.
I think it went downhill in the editing. I know everything that happened because I was there. I didn't want to watch. It's sort of like watching a trainwreck, watching them edit me to pieces. It's really disappointing. That's why I stopped watching, because I didn't want to see what they did next...It seemed a little unfair.

Obviously when you sign up for a show like this, you know there is going to be some tricky editing. Did you ever think they'd go as far as you say they did?
No, especially since I did the show the first season. Everything was fine. I'm the exact same person. They managed to make me look like I didn't want to be there, I didn't know how to cook and all of these things. Why would they ask me back if they didn't think I could do it?

Would you ever do it again?
At this point, probably not. No.

What do you want people to know about you that you feel wasn't shown or not shown correctly?
I was there except for that one episode when I had to go to the hospital. I did cook in every episode...I do know how to cook. That's what I do for a living. I've been doing it for 13 years. I wouldn't be where I am right now if I didn't have the talent.

Looking back and knowing what you know now, would you have not gone to the hospital when you cut your finger?
You know, the medic saying to me, "You need stitches," and hearing that after maybe getting 45 minutes of sleep the night before? My eyes were barely open at that point. I'd never had stitches in my life. To hear those words at 5:00 in the morning when you haven't slept and you're exhausted, the first thing I thought was, 'Oh my god! I need stitches.' It truly freaked me out. I didn't even think about the competition. I have tiny little hands. Two stitches on my tiny little thumb, it's like I use my thumb every day for work. I didn't want to damage it any further. I didn't even think about it. The medic said I needed stitches. She didn't give me another option. She didn't go, "We can do X, Y and Z now and you could get stitches later."...Do I have regrets about that? No. No, I don't.