GoneTrending

Avid Top Chef viewers are sure to remember when Kwame Onwuachi burst on the scene in season 13. At 26, his technique was already on point, he knew how to cook and share “his food,” and he had a fascinating backstory that unfolded gradually — making him ever the more compelling to viewers. Uproxx’s Vince Mancini was fascinated by both the dishes he presented and his tales of financing a catering company by selling candy on the subway, nicknaming the chef “The Prodigy.”

Over the past-half decade, that nickname has proven true tenfold. After Top Chef, Onwuachi opened Shaw Bijou — a 13-course tasting menu concept which faltered so quickly that the chef jokingly calls it a pop-up. But he bounced back from that setback with Kith/Kin, which won him rave reviews, a Beard award for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2019, and 2019’s Chef of the Year from Esquire. It was a hell of a run, putting the food world on notice in a major way.

Onwuachi hasn’t slowed down since and doesn’t look likely to anytime soon. His widely acclaimed memoir, Notes from a Young Black Chef, is being turned into a movie starring LaKeith Stanfield, which the chef himself will have a cameo in. Meanwhile, he’s taken on an Executive Producer role at Food & Wine and is returning to Top Chef this season as a judge. He’s also worked with José Andrés at World Central Kitchen, gotten increasingly involved in food policy, and is throwing a food festival in partnership with Food & Wine and Salamander Hotels and Resorts called “Family Reunion: A Celebration of Diversity in the Hospitality Community.”

Even Kith/Kin’s permanent closure during the pandemic has turned into a positive — with Onwuachi being vocal about the fact that he will expect ownership stake in all future restaurant projects. Plus there are brand deals, like his extended partnership with Guinness beer and a possible mix-tape on the way thanks to encouragement from Dave Chappelle. Clearly, the “prodigy” has become a master.

And he’s making huge moves in a hurry.

On the eve of Top Chef‘s return, we spoke with Onwuachi about the show, restaurants in the post-Covid era, diversity and representation in food, storytelling on the plate, and cooking with beer. Check the full interview below.

We’ve been big Kwame fans since you first did Top Chef. Vince Mancini interviewed you right away and we’ve all been following your career.

I still remember those weekly updates he did on Top Chef. They’re really, really funny.

You’re coming back this year in some capacity, right?

I’m a judge. What did you guys call me? “The prodigal son” or something like that? The prodigy!

That’s it! Well, you’re going to get some love coming up this season. What did you think of judging the show? Was it a fun process to judge this thing when you’d been on the other side?

It was the best. It was so much better than running around trying to get a dish done in 15 minutes. And I was able to be more empathetic to them, because I’ve been in their seat. So I wasn’t judging on the standpoint of “holier than thou.” It was more like, “How much time do you have to do this?” Oh, that’s plenty of time. Or, “Aw man, I know that time flies, so good job for what you got done.” There was more of an understanding from the judges panel this time around.

With chefs at that caliber, Vince and I are always wondering, “Does anyone really, truly mess up that bad?” Are there times where people really miss?

I got to say no comment on that one. [Laughs.] You’ll just have to watch the show.

It’s interesting to talk to you now, in a time of complete restaurant upheaval. You know that world and you know how to navigate the upheaval bit — because your first big shot was a tasting menu concept and maybe it didn’t work out the way that you’d hoped. And then you came back with something that was really working and obviously that was affected by the pandemic.

Well, the first restaurant was just a pop-up. So it was exactly how I wanted.

Oh, was —

No, it wasn’t, it wasn’t. [Laughs] I called it that because it only lasted nine weeks.

To your credit, you’ve carved such a fascinating career with so much risk-taking in such a short time. So you feel like the right person to speak on what you see post-pandemic cooking looking like. How do you see restaurants evolving coming out of this pandemic?

You know, I think it’s going to be interesting. We’re going to have to wait and see, you know. I wish I had the answer to that. I think, honestly, a lot of restaurants closed, but there’s going to be a resurgence — a lot of restaurants opening because they’re getting deals on rent.

So I think there’s going to be an influx of new restaurants opening and we have to see how it fares — if people are willing to go out and be around people, be amongst people. I think they will be. I think people are tired of doing dishes, mainly. They’re also tired of staying at home. Human beings are social creatures, so we want to interact with each other. Restaurants will be back. It’s going to take some time and the landscape will look a little bit differently.

One of the things I’ve always admired about your food is the storytelling aspect. I think it actually lends itself really well to the new moment that we’re heading into. People learned how to cook a little bit in quarantine. I think they’re going to come out of this saying, “Look, I don’t want to have someone cook for me something that I can do just as well, if not better, for my particular palate at home.” So I think the pairing of storytelling with technique that you have is going to really stand out in the post-quarantine era.

If a dish has a story, it has a soul. People don’t go out just to eat, they go to escape. People go to pasta restaurants because of the way that the restaurant made them feel — not just what they were served. So I think chefs are safe in that regard.

Even if you’re ordering a grilled cheese sandwich, it comes with service, it comes with music, it comes with the energy of other people eating around you. And I think that the restaurants offer a vibe. We’re selling a vibe, at the end of the day. And we just so happen to serve a plate of food with that vibe.

There’s also a conversation right now about representation in cooking. And how people have been failed. What are your hopes for the future of the restaurant industry?

I think representation matters so much, not just in the forward-facing positions. It’s also in investments and investors and editors and critics. There needs to be a diverse group of people in the food industry at all levels. I wrote an article a few years ago, “A Jury of My Peers.” It talked about a Dave Chappelle skit where a person was arrested. It was kind of like a play on Law and Order. And at the end there was a white guy getting arrested for something silly. And the judge was like, “You’re being judged by a jury of your peers. So this is a fair trial.” And the jury was all Black dudes with stereotypical… you know, Tims, do-rags, all this stuff.

But that’s a reality for us when we’re being judged in the courtroom and out of the courtroom by people that have no emotional connection to our culture at all. So then how can we, how can that food be reported on fairly and effectively? How can awards be given out fairly and effectively if there’s no connection to a culture that is unlike theirs [the critic’s] or something that seems a little bit foreign?

I think that’s what really needs to change for this industry to really change. We need somebody diversifying the boards of these awards and the boardrooms where people are planning out magazines. We need to be diversifying the people that are going out and sourcing the talent and putting people on the radar.

I also feel like there are conversations about how food is produced happening more these days. Are you excited about where like the future of American agriculture and the products that you’re able to serve when you’re cooking are headed?

People are more conscious about it now, but I also think it is a gimmick and that’s where it’s a little bit frustrating. “Farm to table” or “buy local” — if you’re responsible, you should be doing that anyway. It doesn’t need to be something that’s broadcasted. Cause then when you don’t have it, it’s a false narrative, right? Because we do have to run out and get something every now and then. We do run out of things and need to just get whatever’s close by to make service happen.

But if you’re thinking consciously, you should be doing these things anyway. And I’m excited for diners to really have the knowledge of what it takes to procure ingredients. Then they’ll think about that in terms of food waste and how much they’re wasting food. Cause we throw out 30% of all food that’s produced, which is a disgusting number when one in five children are hungry every single day.

So we’ve got a ways to go, but I’m always excited about it. I’m always optimistic.

Do you, do you know what your next big cooking project will be coming out of the quarantine? Or is that still kind of in flux?

It’s in flux. I talk to someone who wants to open a restaurant every single week. It’s just about waiting for the right time.

When you take those meetings, how do you describe your own cooking philosophy? Like what stuff excites you and what stories you want to tell on the plate coming out of the pandemic?

Stories excite me, always. That’s what most of my restaurants have been built around, down to the name. True narratives excite me. That’s where the learning begins. You get to learn about someone’s culture. You get to learn about them as a person. You get to learn about the vibe that they’re trying to create.

I think that’s the beautiful thing about opening a restaurant — creating this piece of art that can be enjoyed and interpreted through different lenses based on the person who had the glasses on.So I’m taking my time, you know? It has to be the right person to do the restaurant with the right place, the right time, the right location… everything.

Do you see yourself continuing to cook for a long time? I mean, there are so many people who have made their name as chefs and then want to get into other parts of the industry or want to be camera facing. But do you see yourself cooking for a long time?

In some capacity. I may not be physically in a place cooking every day, but I’ll have an influence on the menu and create a space for people to enjoy my cuisine. I think that’s important in this industry, but I also think it’s not necessary.

People are becoming “more than a chef” because being a chef doesn’t just mean operating a restaurant. It means being a leader and knowing about food, obviously, and how to operate. But there are so many different ways you can take this beautiful craft and craft it into something that you want to do, that makes you happy, that excites you.

I’m excited to find out what those things are for you as things open up. Talk to me about this beer partnership you’re doing. How did that all come about?

I’ve been working with Guinness for about three years now — doing events in person, creating recipes, I even went out to Ireland and cooked for this huge, huge meat-centric event utilizing Guinness. So it’s something that I’ve always been drawn to. I lived in Africa and it’s extremely popular there. I think it’s like the second-largest importer of Guinness. And it’s a part of the culture in Nigeria. It’s the first beer I tasted. It’s something that my family drinks.

I just thought it just made sense for me. There’s so much depth of flavor within Guinness. It’s not like your average beer. It’s more than that. It’s a true, true beverage that can lend itself to cooking and drinking because of its complex flavor profile.

When you think of cooking with beer, what dishes do you think it really lends itself to?

You know, it’s really good in Shepherd’s Pie, obviously. As it reduces, all those caramel notes come out, those multi flavors and the sugars are more pronounced. So it gets really, really glaze-y. And then speaking of glaze-y, I’ve made glazed short ribs with Guinness — adding that to the braising liquid. And then reducing that braising liquid.

I also make… I call them guonions. It’s Guinness caramelized onions to put on top of a burger.

We’ve talked about kind of where the food world is heading. You’re talking about fusions and bringing ingredients from one part of the world into foods from another part of the world, et cetera. There’s been a lot of conversation around kind of appropriation in food, which is a serious conversation, but many chefs seem to balance those concerns with saying, “Look, this is what food does. This is it, you know, it mixes and matches and melds with each other.” What’s your thought process on that? Is that something that you hope to celebrate and see more of? More of those fusions, more people drawing inspiration from all over the place?

Yeah. That’s the beauty of food. I have a saying with my cooks, when they create something or when I create something — “Nothing is new under the sun. It’s been done before.” Maybe it wasn’t done by a famous person. Maybe it wasn’t in a magazine, but it’s been done before. So we shouldn’t think of ourselves as grand wizards. You know what I mean?

So, yeah, I think people should have fun. And I think people should be playful because it’s, it’s an art form that we get to ingest. At the end of the day, it’s sustenance. There’s a lot of history involved with cuisine, which needs to be respected and honored, but at the end of the day, we’re creating edible art. You know, we’re creating art, you can ingest. And with that, it’s left to interpretation.

As the 2021 NFL Draft nears, the conversation is chiefly about the quarterbacks who sit at the top of this Draft. There are five who could get taken in the top-10 in late April, with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence a lock to go first to the Jaguars followed by BYU’s Zach Wilson, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, and Alabama’s Mac Jones all getting buzz.

Reporting has indicated that Wilson will be the Jets preference at No. 2, and so who goes third after the 49ers traded up to nab the No. 3 pick has become quite a debate. The Niners seem to have their eyes on Jones, with numerous reports indicating they were leaning that way and Kyle Shanahan even going to Alabama’s pro day to watch Jones through instead of heading to Columbus to watch Fields on the exact same day, making it clear that he wasn’t interested in hiding his cards anymore. The chief reason the Niners seem to have Jones over Fields is the belief he has a higher floor than Fields and will fit comfortably into Shanahan’s system that is predicated on short-to-intermediate accuracy — although it must be said, Fields was incredibly efficient last year at Ohio State.

The Fields critiques have begun pouring in, with one regularly parroted being that he has trouble reading defenses and moving through his reads. If this sounds familiar, it’s because that has quite often been the criticism attached to Black quarterbacks coming into the Draft. As Dominique Foxworth explained on Get Up! on Thursday, anyone levying those kinds of comments needed to be able to offer specifics and examples, otherwise they risk falling into racist tropes.

Questioning the intelligence of Black quarterbacks entering the Draft has a long and ugly history. Black QBs tend to be discussed as athletes only, whereas leadership traits and intelligence get discussed more with their white counterparts. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky recently brought up that teams had told him there were questions of Fields’ work ethic that were causing him to drop without offering any sort of rebuttal, learning the hard way what happens when you parrot what teams may tell you without a filter or pushback from yourself, particularly when teams use those longstanding racist tropes to ding the stock of a Black QB.

Orlovsky, who has said in the past that it’s not worth paying attention to people who question Fields’ ability to move through reads, felt the immediate backlash and used Thursday to clarify what happened, taking to Twitter to say he spoke to people who have worked with Fields about his work ethic.

There are rarely quarterbacks that enter the NFL Draft as sure things, so there are always valid critiques that can and should be pointed out. But the whispers of character issues, work ethic problems, or a lack of intelligence are far too often thrown around under the guise of anonymous sourcing and more in the media need to be understanding of how reporting those, when not able to provide the specifics, can be dangerous.

Before Netflix’s Making a Murderer set the true crime genre on fire, there was The Staircase from French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, which focused on the bizarre death of Kathleen Peterson. Her husband, author Michael Peterson, was accused of the crime, but the docuseries raised significant questions about his guilt. Now, those events are being turned into a limited series starring Colin Firth as Peterson that will adapt the original work by de Lestrade along with “various books and reports on the case,” at least one of which, hopefully, involves killer owls. Harrison Ford was originally attached to the Peterson role, which is a joint venture between Annapurna Television and HBO Max, but maybe one man can only star in so many projects about husbands suspected of killing their wives.

Uproxx‘s Brett Michael Dykes raved about the original The Staircase docuseries back in 2016 when SundanceTV brought it back for a limited run on its website and mobile app. Declaring the series to be “as riveting as — if not more than — Making a Murderer,” Dykes provided background for new viewers looking to dive into the Peterson mystery:

Originally aired by Sundance in 2004, The Staircase follows the legal saga of Michael Peterson, a Durham, North Carolina-based writer whose wife, Kathleen, died mysteriously in 2001. (She appeared to have fallen or been pushed down a flight of stairs in the couple’s home; thus the name, The Staircase.) Local prosecutors — among them the notorious Mike Nifong of the Duke lacrosse team rape case infamy — charged Michael Peterson for her murder. French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade was provided extraordinary behind-the-scenes access throughout the months that followed Kathleen’s death, the result being the eight-part docuseries.

Dykes ended his praise for the original The Staircase series with the following recommendation: “Watch it, dangit.”

When it came to what song to perform for her UPROXX Sessions debut, Erica Banks’s choice was a no-brainer. Her biggest hit to date — and the song that introduced her to the world via a fan-approved TikTok challenge — remains “Buss It,” the Nelly-sampling, bass-heavy, twerk-ready anthem that had fans dropping it low at the Dallas native’s behest. Stopping by Uproxx Studios, Banks brought her signature bold energy to a buoyant performance that proves her personality comes through live even better than it does on the record.

Being signed to 1501 Certified Entertainment — the same label that helped introduce the world to Megan Thee Stallion — brings a fair share of expectations for Banks. As a fellow Texan, her accent, flow, and taste in production have all been compared to the Grammys’ 2021 Best New Artist winner, yet Banks also has to stand out and prove that she’s a completely different artist.

Fortunately, the success of “Buss It” has given her a running start at reaching that goal, while its remix with Travis Scott and her subsequent guest appearance on Yella Beezy’s “Star” took massive strides toward becoming a breakout artist in her own right. With her UPROXX Sessions performance, she takes another step on that journey, strutting with her head held high and showing she’s got the tools to carve out her own lane.

Watch Erica Banks’ buoyant “Buss It” performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Erica Banks is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

TikTok is no longer just an emerging platform, as it’s already been making stars for a while now. Gradually, people who had stayed away from the app are making their way to it, and today, Radiohead decided to get in on the fun. They introduced themselves on the platform today with a new video that stars recurring Radiohead character Chieftan Mews.

The brief black-and-white clip shows Mews sitting at a television news desk emblazoned with his name. A voice from off-camera instructs, “Say something.” Mews responds, “Well, what do you want me to say? TikTok. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. This is your wake-up call. Have a good day.” He then displays some facial tics before the video ends with unsettling electronic sounds. So far, this is the only video on the Radiohead account.

For those unfamiliar, Mews is a character that has popped up in various Radiohead endeavors over the years. He’s a digital composite created by producer Nigel Godrich and he first appeared in The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time, a collection of 24 short films released by Radiohead in 2004. More recently, he starred in a 2017 unboxing video of the OKNOTOK box set, an anniversary rerelease of OK Computer.

It’s possible the band joining TikTok could preface some new music. Jonny Greenwood expressed hope for new activity for Radiohead in a letter to end 2020, in which he wrote, “Right now, I just feel this: I hope you are safe and well and not too scared, or too bored. I also hope that somehow we can be part of making music for you soon, and that the pleasure of making music, and hearing music, whether in a gig, concert hall, church, or at home with friends – is not forgotten in this desolate year.”

Watch the TikTok video above.

The pandemic has had a big effect on the country’s fashion habits. It’s drastically reduced the number of people going out at night and 42% now work full-time from home. The change has been so drastic that one in six dry cleaners has gone out of business during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 era proves that if people don’t have to dress up, they don’t.

That’s why La Verne Ford Wimberly of Tulsa, Oklahoma is such an inspiration.

---

She’s a parishioner at Metropolitan Baptist Church and when Sunday services went online last March, it didn’t stop her from dressing to the nines. For 53 Sundays in a row she has dressed in a color-coordinated outfit and, after service, posted a photo of it on Facebook.

“She never skips a beat with the hats, the clothes, and all that beautiful jewelry,” Robin Watkins, 54, the church’s executive office assistant, told The Washington Post.

Wimberly was always known for her head-turning outfits at Sunday service.

“In the 20 years I’ve been going to church there, I’ve always had my little routine that I learned from my mother as a girl,” she said. “I’d pick out a nice outfit and hat and lay it out the night before, so that I could be prepared and look presentable.”

When COVID hit, she decided wasn’t going to let it change how she presents herself to the world.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I can’t sit here looking slouchy in my robe,’ ” she said. “I didn’t want to sit around alone and feel sorry for myself, so I decided, ‘You know what? I’m going to dress up anyway.’ “

On her first day of virtual church, she got up early to style her hair and put on some lipstick. She then put on her favorite white dress and a sheer ruffled hat. She even put on matching shoes, a detail no one would notice over Zoom.

After she posted a photo on Facebook she was flooded with compliments.

Wimblery has written down her outfits on a calendar so she never repeats the same one twice. The most dramatic piece of her wardrobe has to be her hats and she has plenty of them. “It’s safe to say that 50 is a good number for the hats,” she confessed.

Her love of fashion was inspired by a school teacher she had growing up. So when she joined the profession after college, she decided to carry on the tradition.

“They’d rub my arm and say, ‘Oh, Miss Ford [her maiden name], you look so pretty,’ ” she recalled. “Pretty soon, I had so many clothes that I started a rotation and color-coding system, so I could keep surprising the kids with my outfits.”

Wimberly is known by her fellow parishioners as “Doctor” because she has a doctorate in education. She would go on to be a principal and then a superintendent.

However, from the looks of it, she could have easily made it in the world of fashion, too.

Fashion psychologist Rose Turner from London College says that dressing up even though we don’t have to is great self-care during a pandemic.

“When other activities that help us to feel ‘like us’ – such as hobbies, seeing friends and going to work – are unavailable, getting dressed up may help people to reinforce their sense of self,” Turner told the BBC.

“Clothing impacts how people think and behave. Putting on a ‘work’ outfit might help with motivation and concentration, and wearing something special might help to break the monotony of lockdown, and lift people’s mood,” she added.

Wimbley’s story is a great lesson for everyone to remember. Just because times are hard, doesn’t mean you have to look like it.

The Snyder Cut and Ayer Cut are so last month. I’m all about the Tarantino Cut now.

In an interview with Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast, actress Margot Robbie was asked about the fabled cut of Suicide Squad that “scared the sh*t out of the executives.” She jokingly responded, “For personal reasons, I’d love to watch the five-hour cut of every movie I’ve ever done,” before adding, “There’s a 20-hour cut of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that would… There’s so much more that you didn’t get to see, that we shot that was amazing, and for a million reasons obviously, can’t make the cut.”

The theatrical version of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was 161 minutes long (a re-release added 10 minutes), but a four-hour cut exists and it might be released on Netflix. The extra 80 minutes is mostly Brad Pitt lifting his shirt off in extremely slow motion.

Robbie will soon appear in The Suicide Squad, out August 6, followed by roles in David O. Russell’s next film (along with Christian Bale, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, and Zoe Saldana) and Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, where she’ll reunite with Pitt. Maybe they can text Quentin Tarantino about the four-hour cut between scenes.

(Via Variety)

Every day, more and more rappers are hopping on the viral “Beat Box” challenge. It’s essentially a way for artists to flex their lyricism while offering their own interpretation of SpotemGottem’s “Beat Box” beat. So far, rappers like Mulatto, DaBaby, Polo G, and Lil Yachty have hopped on the trend. Now, NLE Choppa offers up his own version of the viral challenge while also celebrating his recent release from prison with “Beat Box (First Day Out).”

Over SpotemGottem’s recognizable beat, Choppa asserts his dominance with each boastful lyric. Choppa’s “Beat Box (First Day Out)” arrives alongside a fast-paced video, the filming process of which apparently saw some hiccups. It closes out with a clip of the rapper and his crew fleeing a car that they had crashed into the side of the road while on camera. Even still, the video is a way for the rapper to celebrate that he’s currently out of jail on bail.

Earlier this week and ahead of the “Beat Box” filming, the 18-year-old was arrested in Florida on suspicion of burglary, carrying a concealed firearm, and possession of drugs including Xanax and weed. He was taken into Broward County Sherrif’s Office in Fort Lauderdale and his bail was set at $4,500, which he was able to pay shortly after his arrest.

Choppa is looking to make the most of his legal situation, however. Along with dropping “Beat Box (First Day Out)” as an anthem for his freedom, the rapper announced a line of merch that is printed with his most recent mug shot.

Watch Choppa’s “Beat Box (First Day Out)” video above.

NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The only thing that Donald Trump likes more than himself is McDonald’s. He asked White House chefs to recreate a Quarter Pounder; served a buffet of fast food items, including greasy “hamberders” from McD’s, to the Clemson Tigers football team after they won the national championship; and his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski claimed a typical dinner for the former-president consisted of “two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a small chocolate shake – a total of 2,430 calories.” But while Trump may love to recline in bed with a McDonald’s cheeseburger (who doesn’t), he doesn’t love paying people back for McDonald’s.

Kevin McKay, who worked as a bodyguard for Trump for five years, told the Daily Mail that the former-president owes him $130 for a McDonald’s order that he paid for back in 2008. “He told me he would pay me back, but he never did,” he said. “For much of the time I was working for him, I kept thinking he would say, ‘Kevin, here’s that money I owe you,’ but it didn’t happen. I thought he was an OK guy when I first started working for him, but I guess that as we have all come to see, he is not a man of his word.”

I bet Trump never chipped in for gas money, either.

Kevin reveals he bought fast food for Trump in 2008 when the future President was heading to Aberdeen airport in northeast Scotland after visiting his beloved Trump International golf course. The former bodyguard said: ‘We were driving from Mr. Trump’s estate and just as we got to the Bridge of Don, he asked to stop at McDonald’s so he could buy food for the flight back to New York. We were in a convoy of six blacked out Range Rovers with about 15 men in suits inside, so there must have been some shocked expressions as we pulled up in the carpark.’

Trump didn’t have any local currency, so “he asked me if I could front him the cash,” McKay revealed. “I said, ‘Sure’ and took everyone’s order – about 20 cheeseburgers and fries with around 10 or 15 Coca Colas. I think Mr. Trump ordered two cheeseburgers with fries and a Diet Coke – that was his usual order and he always wanted McDonald’s to take with him on the private jet. It cost me about £95 in total and Mr. Trump told me, ‘You’ll get it back.’ … I never heard about it again after that. I should have asked him for the money, but I brushed it under the carpet.” Thirteen years later, he’s still waiting.

I’m beginning to think this Trump guy isn’t a man of his word.

(Via the Daily Mail)

Wheel of Fortune fans have finally had it with a controversial rule that just cost another contestant a win on Wednesday’s episode. As Wheel Watchers know, the show is oddly strict about contestants adding the word “and” while solving a puzzle and will rule their answer incorrect if they make the common blunder. That’s exactly what happened to contestant David Pederson while solving the episode’s crossword puzzle for the day. Via Entertainment Weekly:

“Don’t add anything,” host Pat Sajak warned Pederson, who then answered, “Sole, flounder, cod, and catfish,” which Sajak ruled incorrect. Another contestant then answered correctly by listing the same fish but omitting “and.”

You can watch the frustrating loss below:

While this mistake has happened before, it appears to be the final straw for some Wheel of Fortune fans who took to social media to demand the show ditch the rule once and for all.

As of this writing, the show has not responded to the “and rule” controversy, but judging by the number of people who are arguing that it should stay, there probably will be very little movement on the topic. It’s also not the only problem the show is currently dealing with. Host Pat Sajak has been involved in a growing number of awkward incidents in recent weeks. The longtime host seemingly made a very suggestive remark to a contestant and has been under fire after reportedly mocking a contestant’s speech impediment in late February. Sajak also called a contestant “ungrateful” back in November, but in that case, he apologized for yelling at the end of the show.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)