Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. Sarma Melngailis - Netflix

Yel

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Just seen this is coming out 16th March. I used to love pure back in the day - I must have eaten the entire menu several times! The tacos and lasagna were my faves.

I've half followed Sarma since she got out of jail and was always hoping that a TV show would be made about it all.

Really looking forward to this.

Not sure if she's involved or not. Sounds like it'll paint her as the victim in it all, I'm not sure if Mathew Kenny will agree from what I've heard.

Sarma doesn't really have that many followers on social media, she was an early adopter before it really kicked off I guess.

 
Only watched the first episode so far, it's pretty much an interview with sarma and a few others. I went into it a bit biased that sarma is not quite the hapless victim she's often portrayed as and it's not changing my mind.
 
Watching this - on episode 3 and giving up - not salacious enough. Same Tinder Swindler stuff - there's even a Peter! But more boring. I bet a series about her scams and part in all this (which they have omitted completely so far, or they're glossing over it) will be more interesting. These restaurant employees all sound scripted, they've been coached on what to say.

At best another "special" "victim" batting her eyelashes to Netflix and crying instead of taking accountability for her actions and greed, or else a manipulator who got foiled by her match and beat him to the punch with the documentary. I'm guessing she's got a Gofundme open?
 
That's disappointing that it doesn't get any better. Nothing in EP1 was new and missed out a lot of things to show a very one sided view.

Even after Pure's heyday it was still pretty busy. Sarma knows her figures and I know it would have had huge outgoings but the 2million debt surely must have been possible to work off if the business continued. Yes, it must be stressful loading up on such debt and a lovely thought for someone to swoop in and sort it.

I've saw Sarma a handful of times at pure and she never seemed a happy warm person (even in the Mathew days), the employees picked to participate seem rather complementary of her despite the questionable things.

A missed opportunity, not sure I'll watch the rest. Might even cancel netflix after too many disappointments.
 
In the last two episodes the interviewer was asking her questions in an incredulous manner as though he saw through her BS. She then gave crappy answers and he didn’t follow up on them.

She was basically being given carte blanche to put it all on him, which as you say, isn’t the whole story.

I just want making a murderer back.
 
I have to say all the 1 and 2 star reviews on imdb (nearly half of them) are making me want to watch the rest, as something to half pay attention to in the background

----

2/10
Is Sarna not embarrassed to tell her story to the world?
dayana42117 March 2022
So how much money did Netflix pay to Sarna for her to get in front of the cameras and tell the world her outrageously embarrassing story? Don't want to blame the victim but this was a choice to be victimized. Netflix needs to find better stories to make documentaries about.

1/10
not really worth a watch
jubssss11217 March 2022
Story of a first world bimbo.. its silly how easily women like these, fall prey to these sort of men out there.. i mean, are you that stupid or dumb? Now she is trying to make money by gaining sympathy of netflix viewers..

1/10
Enough Netflix....
Tulip8816 March 2022
I'm getting tired of these Netflix documentaries. First Tindler Swindler now this one, only this one is even worse...no sympathy for Sarma from me only frustration... How can someone be so ignorant,what is wrong with these women? How can you give away so much money to someone who clearly is just using you? Please stop making documentaries about these foolish women Netflix please!!!

1/10
Netflix, really?!
wongieteam17 March 2022
I am totally dumbfounded how foolish this entrepreneur is/was. I agree with most of the reviews, so hence I don't need to continue about my thoughts and how brainless this chick is. Who goes to another country on a whim when you already know the person who sent you as well as married you is a crazy nut job?!? I think Sarma is proud and likes to boast what an idiot she is.

2/10
I've heard this plot so many times.
corkidecat17 March 2022
And I always wonder how these intelligent women could be so gullible? Does intelligence take up so much room in their brains, that common sense is delegated to the big toe? Secret Agents are not Secret Agents if it's not a secret. SMH.
 
I would love it if Netflix would do something on the hipster grifter. She has popped up again with a book deal and I think she would be so entertaining. A bit of difference from easily conned women!
 
Just finishing this. It’s been a good watch (despite Netflix’s drawn out scenes and music - very tiresome now!).

So angry at that fat slob who rinsed her. It’s easy to say she was a fool/must’ve known what she was doing, but if you haven’t encountered someone like that before you can easily be hoodwinked. They were polar opposites. I’m saddened for how things turned out for her…
 
I’m just finishing the series up. So he is deplorable and up to a point she is a victim, BUT I don’t believe parts of her story, and the way she tried to gloss over some of the facts made me suspicious that she isn’t as completely innocent as she wants people to think.

Also, I think she was a victim of her own grift. She thought she was marrying someone with money who she could use to bail out her business. But then realised what was going on and that she had dug herself into a debt hole, so now she’s just blaming it all on him and pretending she was a clueless victim. She knows about investing, she worked in it, she wasn’t blind!
 
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I’m just finishing the series up. So he is deplorable and up to a point she is a victim, BUT I don’t believe parts of her story, and the way she tried to gloss over some of the facts made me suspicious that she isn’t as completely innocent as she wants people to think.

Also, I think she was a victim of her own grift. She thought she was marrying someone with money who she could use to bail out her business. But then realised what was going on and that she had dug herself into a debt hole, so now she’s just blaming it all on him and pretending she was a clueless victim. She knows about investing, she worked in it, she wasn’t blind!

I agree she tried to gloss over certain things, but it seemed more from a time when she was in self-destruct mode? He deserves to have it all blamed on him, the vast majority went on casinos. He was utterly repulsive. If it was like tinder swindler where she was on a modest income but went on private jets etc I’d be more inclined to agree, but she was sucked dry. She had the world at her feet with amazing connections but was yearning for that special relationship. She should’ve known better, but sometimes we don’t…

I’m watching the Evan Rachel Wood doc now 😀 men 😡
 
Listened to the last few episodes, it didn't get any better and don't think I missed out on much by not watching.

Her dad bless him I think is way off saying she wanted to save the restaurant. It was doing just fine, sarma was making good money although by Manhattan standards it was just average. He know to show her the 10million brownstone to get her hooked as that's what she wanted.

I don't know why she's insisting she's vegan when she used to post about cheese and meat she ate on twitter and would say it was only a little bit. As if the portion size matters :LOL: . She was shady a long time before she met this guy.

Hopefully somewhere else will pick up the story and cover it fully.

Her ex employees are spilling the tea
And their tea was?

Sarma is annoyed by a twitter account netflix created to promote the show



 
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What about her mate saying Leon the dog shouldn’t be living with ‘rednecks’ 😮 (as he had been taken in by a family in Tennessee). The poor dog had been living in cheap hotel rooms eating Chipotle and Sarmas crocodile tears for months prior to this!
He said he jumped in his car to drive to get him…..but he was homeless? Where did he get the car from? Had he decided that a dog was better off living on the streets, simply because he lived in New York? bleeping prick.
 
Sarma has all of the emotional depth and charisma of a 3-day old sandwich...I'm not sure whether I'm just judging her overly harshly or what...also, I have no idea why she'd put up with that level of aggression and pointless argument from that bullshitter over such a long period.... at no point did I get the impression that she loved that man and was doing anything out of love...
 
Just finished this and so much of it made no sense. I have never heard of her or the restaurant so just went in blind. I can’t believe how much money these people were throwing around, including her mother. They were talking about 100k as if it were $100. So many high figures invested, transferred, borrowed. It all seemed so bizarre. I don’t think she was as innocent as she made out but I do think she was heading for a breakdown by the time she was caught, probably worn out from all the craziness of it. She did say that it never occurred to her they were on the run, yet she used different name and covered her tattoo.
 
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