GORDON Ramsay’s Future Food finalist Steph Buttery has opened up about a clash with the TV chef that could have potentially cost her the competition.
Steph, 30, the founder and owner of Chu-Lo Drinks, made it all the way to the final of the BBC One show last night.
The entrepreneur’s Japanese inspired soft drinks are a “new take” on the market as they are targeted for a younger generation who enjoy South East Asian culture and gaming.
Despite her unique selling point, she narrowly missed out on the famous chef’s £150,000 investment to Victoria Omobuwajo.
During the grilling, Gordon, 55, made it obvious that he thought Steph’s idea was “too niche” and would miss out on a huge potential market.
But what didn’t make the cut was Gordon and Steph’s contrasting opinions about the gaming aspect of her business.
Recalling the moment, Steph exclusively told The Celeb Report: “There was a clash during filming. I don’t know if it’s in the episode, but it’s basically like Gordon was telling me that the drinks market is super niche and it’s too niche.
More on Gordon Ramsay
“We have just stocked in Game stores as well. The head of Game was like ‘the gaming industry is worth more than the film industry and the music industry put together.
“But it’s one of the things that unless you’re in it, you don’t realise how big it is.’
“And so there was definitely a moment like that with Gordon where I sat opposite him like ‘you kidding me?’
“Like everyone’s been stuck in their home for the last two years. What do you mean there’s no market?’”
She added: “Gordon, please stop coming at me for gaming. It’s huge! It’s absolutely massive.”
Steph was keen to win the investment to help expand her soft drinks brand that she developed after travelling to Japan in 2018 after serving in the Royal Navy.
Despite clashing over her idea, Gordon was very hands on during filming and made an effort with each contestant to make sure they were comfortable.
During one episode Steph, who is not a very confident cook, had to make pasta, and was dreading having to do it in front of the Kitchen Nightmares legend.
But Gordon reassured her that everything would be okay.
Steph said: “He was like ‘Steph, don’t worry, I’m not gonna make you look stupid’
“We’re just gonna take it through bit by bit. They probably won’t even use this bit.”
But unfortunately because of the coronavirus pandemic the contestants weren’t able to hang out with the dad-of-five after filming.
Steph and the rest of the entrepreneurs were in one bubble, while Gordon was in another.
She also joked that Hell’s Kitchen star got “frustrated” because all of the contestants got on so well.
Steph confessed: “I think that was possibly one of Gordon’s frustrations was that we weren’t exploding at each other quite as much as we thought we weren’t.
“I mean, Valentina made up from lost explosions, I guess. But everyone else just really got on.
“You put a group of talented people together, and they came up with good results, which you can see some really good stuff come out of the show.”
So much so that Steph still keeps in touch with them all now and loves to update them with voice notes.
- Watch Gordon Ramsays Future Food Stars on BBC iPlayer
