Lauren Smith was eliminated on Next Level Chef Season 3 Episode 8, and explained her thought process while competing in her last challenge on the show.
The remaining chefs participated in a steak competition on Next Level Chef Season 3 Episode 8, and it didn’t end in Team Blais contestant Lauren Smith’s favor.
After the cook-off, Team Blais and Team Arlington were tied to face off in the elimination challenge, and Richard Blais nominated Lauren to compete in the final round.
Lauren and Mada Abdelhamid from Team Arlington went head-to-head to determine who was sent home.
When Lauren’s lobster dish didn’t please the judges, she was officially eliminated from Next Level Chef.
Lauren claims unfamiliar workspace contributed to elimination
In an interview with Gold Derby, Lauren shared what was going through her mind before being eliminated from the show.
“It was just a bad grab. I grabbed that bell pepper and I just didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t grab enough,” she said.
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Lauren also admitted that working in another kitchen may have been the reason why she struggled in this week’s episode.
“Also, just the pressure of being in the top kitchen. We were used to the ‘Blaisment.’ I was comfortable down there,” the chef added.
Since Lauren was under pressure on Next Level Chef and had to grab ingredients quickly, she didn’t have as much time to think about what she wanted to make.
She also faced hurdles in the kitchen when she cut into her lobster and realized it was raw, with only four minutes left to cook it.
When Mada’s stir fry tasted more appealing to the judges than Lauren’s lobster, they had no choice but to eliminate her from the competition. However, she seems to have owned up to her mistakes.
Next Level Chef airs Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on FOX.