Former MKR villains Kelly Ramsay and Chloe James have found themselves in the centre of a culinary clusterfuck, being fired from their gig at the Sunday Times after submitting what has been called a “fabricated” restaurant review.
It all started when the Times published a scathing review of West Perth eatery West End Deli, under Chloe and Kelly’s byline, advising readers that it would be best to go for “takeaway pizza” over the food there.
West End Deli quickly hit back on Facebook, saying that the pair had never eaten dinner together at the restaurant, as they explicitly claimed, but that Kelly once ate there solo with her fiancé, and then failed to settle up the bill.
Ramsay’s card was reportedly declined when she attempted to pay for the meal, and the restaurant say it took around seven weeks to sort out the matter of the $260 tab. In their FB post on the subsequent review, they wrote:
“We can’t help but feel that Kelly was looking for a free meal to enjoy with her fiancé when she dined with us in October. Call us crazy but being reviewed by someone who deliberately avoided payment and had to be tracked down almost 2 months after the event, led us to believe that their review may be loaded with negative bias. At the very least a conflict of interest.”
Ramsay’s case was not helped by the below, pretty-unfortunate-in-retrospect Instagram post:
In response to the furore, the Sunday Times announced that Ramsay and James would not continue as food reviewers, saying:
“The Sunday Times has clear editorial standards which demand accuracy and transparency. Regrettably a recent food review by Chloe James and Kelly Ramsay did not meet those standards, so we will no longer be using them as contributors to our publications,’
In a piece published overnight by WAToday, Ramsay defended her actions, saying “you have to laugh, it seems once cast as the bad guys you are stuck with it,”, which seems a tad disingenuous, but sure.
She said that they have had “bucket loads” of emails from restaurants grateful for their “innovative” reviews, thank you very much, and accused the West End Deli of “playing the social media game.”
She also claimed that she and James had been back to the restaurant together on at least one occasion, and so on this basis, the review – even though it’s based around an entirely fictitious night out – is still legit.
Ramsay ended off by saying that her sacking is a blow to “up-and-coming, younger generations of people in WA who aren’t trained journalists but who have strong opinions about our food culture.”
After coming second in MKR‘s fifth season, Chloe and Kelly opened their own catering business, but the nation still has not fully forgiven them for their villainous tenure on the show.
Source: News Corp.
Photo: MKR.
