Worst Cooks in America is an American reality television series that premiered on January3, 2010, on Food Network. The show takes 12 to 16 contestants (referred to as "recruits") with very poor cooking skills through a culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000 and a Food Network cooking set. In the celebrity edition of the show, the winning celebrity gets a $50,000 prize to donate to the charity of their choice.[1][2] The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant-quality, three-course meal for three food critics.
Chefs Beau MacMillan and Anne Burrell lead an intense culinary boot camp. They have six recruits each, and every week they must eliminate one recruit from each of their teams until there is only one from each team left. The final two create a three-course meal to fool a panel of restaurant critics into believing that the meal was created by the acclaimed chefs.
Recruits[]
Twelve chefs competed in the first season of Worst Cooks in America. Hometowns and occupations are available from the Food Network website.[4][5] Chef Anne's team was known as the Red Team and Chef Beau's team was known as the Blue Team.
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
* Initially a member of the other team but switched after Chef Beau won the bet on whose team member made the best crepes.
Episode 1:
Baseline Challenge: 24 of the Worst Cooks in America were brought to Boot Camp. With 45 minutes on the clock, the chef had to cook a dish and whoever has the worst dishes were to be picked for teams. What the recruits didn't know was that Anne and Beau would only select the 12 worst of the worst for boot camp, and they also didn't know that Anne and Beau would pick for their opponent's team.
Team Selection: Beau gives Anne Jenny, Eddie, Hamed, Rachel, Rebecca, and Kelly. Anne Gives Beau Sophia, Susie, David, Wilhelmina, Marque, and Jen.
Main Dish: Anne made Tuscan Fish Stew, while Beau made Poached Tiger Prawns with Littleneck Clams, Bok Choy, and Shiitake Mushrooms. Each team had one hour to replicate their respective chef's dish. During the challenge, Hamed, Wilhelmina, Eddie, and David all struggled. Hamed forgot to put his clams on the plate, Eddie overcooked his shrimp and used too much saffron, Wilhelmina's Broth had too much soy sauce, and David messed up the garnish.
Elimination: After tasting, Rebecca and Marque were named the winners on their respective teams, and Sophia, Rachel, Jenny, Jen, Kelly, and Susie didn't have the best dishes, but they also didn't have the worst dishes and they were deemed safe from elimination. Hamed and Eddie were the bottom two on the red team, and Wihelmina and David with the bottom two on the blue team, but in the end, Hamed and Wihelmina were sent home.
Episode 2:
Skill Drill: The chefs bring the recruits to Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse to teach them about classic knife skills such as Julienne and Slicing.
Season 2: 2011[]
Casting for season 2 of Worst Cooks in America was held at the LA Marriott Burbank Airport, Hotel & Convention Center on March 27, 2010.[6] The Food Network also began accepting online video applications for season 2.[7] Food Network's website announced that Robert Irvine would replace Beau MacMillan for season 2. Season 2 debuted on January 2, 2011.[8] In this season the chefs had eight recruits each.
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
* Initially a member of the other team but switched after Chef Robert won the bet on whose team member made the best burgers.
Differences between seasons 1 and 2[]
In the first episode, a group of selected novice cooks were to prepare a dish from scratch so the chefs would get an idea of how poor their skills were. After tasting all the items, the chefs took turns picking team members for their rival chef. The first season started off with 24 novice cooks but only the worst 12 were chosen for a team. In the second season, the first episode began with 16 amateurs and all took part for the remainder of that episode.
In the penultimate episode of the season, the remaining four recruits learned and replicated a dessert. After this, in the first season, the recruits had to instruct a group of high school students how to replicate the dessert recipe. In the second one, the recruits were assigned the dessert to serve after both chefs, and a special guest enjoyed a main dish.
After learning and replicating a dessert, the recruits had to prepare a meal for both chefs and a surprise guest, usually a spouse or other family member. The first season's main dishes were an improved version of the recruits’ audition meal. The special guests in the second season got to choose what they wanted the students to make them.
Two recruits remained in the final episode and had to prepare an appetizer, main dish, and dessert for a panel of three food critics. The critics in season 1 thought that the final meal was prepared by the chefs until after they sampled all the courses. In season 2, the critics learned their meal was prepared by the recruits immediately after entering the restaurant.
Season 3: 2012[]
Anne Burrell hosted season 3 with Bobby Flay, who replaced Robert Irvine.[9][10]
^Note 1 : In Episode 3, Team Bobby (blue team) won the first challenge; he therefore got to choose one person from Team Anne (red team) to go to his team, and then choose one person from his team to go to the other team. He chose David to go to Team Anne's team and chose Melissa from Team Anne's team to join his team.
Key
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition
^Note 1 : In Episode 3 Team Anne (red team) won the first challenge, she therefore got to choose one person from Team Bobby (blue team) to go to her team, and then chose one person from her team to go to the other team. She chose Stephanie to go to Team Bobby's team and chose Carie from Team Bobby's team to join her team.
Key
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
(IN) The contestant get switched by the host to the other team. Ex: A member of the red team goes to the blue team, and a member of the blue team goes to the red team.
Season 6: 2015[]
Tyler Florence joined Anne Burrell to host season 6, replacing Bobby Flay after 3 seasons. The season premiered on January 4, 2015 to 2,123,000 viewers.[12] The second episode was lower at 1,456,000 viewers,[13] with the third episode rising to 1,732,000 viewers[14] and the fourth episode reached 1,689,000 viewers.[15] the 5th episode reached 1,634,000 viewers. The sixth episode received 1.55 million viewers.[16]
Contestant Stephanie Streisand was deemed too ill to continue on January 11
Contestant progress[]
Red: Team Anne
Blue: Team Tyler
Rank
Contestant
Episode
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
Kristen
IN
WIN
WIN
IN
IN
WIN
BTM
IN
WIN
WIN
WIN
WINNER
2
Genique
IN
IN
WIN
IN
IN
WIN
IN
IN
WIN
WIN
WIN
RUNNER-UP
3
Sarah
WIN
IN
IN
BTM
BTM
IN
WIN
WIN
BTM
WIN
OUT
4
Leo
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
WIN
IN
BTM
WIN
OUT
5
Norman
WIN
IN
IN
IN
BTM
IN
IN
WIN
OUT
6
Sharif
IN
WIN
BTM
WIN
IN
IN
BTM
IN
OUT
7
David
BTM
IN
BTM
IN
WIN
BTM
OUT
8
Kortni
BTM
IN
BTM
BTM
WIN
BTM
OUT
9
Six
IN
IN
IN
IN
OUT
10
Mike
IN
BTM
IN
IN
OUT
11
Susie
IN
BTM
OUT
12
Stephanie
IN
IN
WDR
13
Jason
OUT
14
Christina
OUT
Key
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
(WDR) The contestant withdrew from the competition due to illness.
Season 7: Celebrity Edition 1[]
Rachael Ray joins Anne Burrell to host season 7. The winner earns a $50,000 donation for their chosen charity. Because this season had only 7 total recruits, each team's worst recruit from that week's Main Dish challenge competed head to head in a quickfire elimination challenge instead of eliminating both recruits each week. This challenge involved more basic cooking techniques (e.g. knife skills) and the winner would be decided by a blind judging from both Anne and Rachael. The winning recruit stayed in the competition while the losing recruit was eliminated.
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(TIE) The contestant tied with another contestant as the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
Season 9: Celebrity Edition 2[]
Rachael Ray returns with Anne Burrell to host season 2 of the Celebrity Edition. The winner earns a $50,000 donation for their chosen charity. The season premiered on September 14, 2016 to 1,185,000 viewers.[17]
Note: Vivica was originally eliminated on September 20. In Episode 7, airing on October 4, both Vivica and Sean returned to the competition for a redemption skill drill. Vivica won the drill, re-entered the competition and was then eliminated for the second time following the main challenge.
Contestant progress[]
Red: Team Anne
Blue: Team Rachael
Rank
Contestant
Episode
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
Perez
IN
IN
WIN
IN
IN
WIN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
WIN
WINNER
2
Melissa
IN
WIN
IN
WIN
WIN
IN
SAVE
IN
BTM
IN
IN
IN
WIN
RUNNER-UP
3
Nora
IN
TIE
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
BTM
IN
OUT
4
Vivica
IN
IN
IN
IN
WIN
TIE
SAVE
IN
OUT
RTN
OUT
5
Sean
IN
IN
IN
IN
BTM
TIE
IN
IN
IN
IN
OUT
6
Carmen
BTM
IN
BTM
WIN
IN
WDR
7
Carson
IN
TIE
WIN
IN
OUT
8
Erik
IN
TIE
OUT
Key
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(TIE) The contestant tied with another contestant as the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge but was not eliminated
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
(WDR) The contestant withdrew from the competition due to illness or injury.
(RTN) The contestant won the redemption Skill Drill and returned to the competition.
(SAVE) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge but was saved by their respective team mentor.
Season 12: 2018[]
Tyler Florence joins Anne Burrell to host season 12.
Three contestants from this season—runner-up Steven Crowley, Sharon Shvarzman, and Kevin Pettice—would compete in, and win, season 9 of The Great Food Truck Race.
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(TIE) The contestant tied with another contestant as the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
(QUIT) The contestant volunteered to leave the competition.
In episode 5, contestants Lacey and Spencer switch teams instead of being eliminated, Lacey on Chef Anne's Team and Spencer on Chef Tyler's team.
Season 13: Celebrity Edition 4[]
Tyler Florence returns with Anne Burrell to host season 4 of the Celebrity Edition. This is the first Celebrity Edition to not feature Rachael Ray as a judge. The season premiered on April 15, 2018.[21]
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
Season 20: 2020[]
Alex Guarnaschelli joins Anne Burrell to host season 20. The season debuted on June 21, 2020.[25]
The entire run of this season, along with text summaries of it, was pulled from all Discovery platforms on January 23, 2021, after the season's champion, Ariel Robinson, was charged with homicide by child abuse with her husband for the death of her three-year-old adopted daughter.[26][27]
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
Season 21: 2021[]
Carla Hall joins Anne Burrell to host season 21. The season debut on January 3, 2021 with a 90-minute premiere. Immediately following, spin-off companion series begins its first-ever run.[29] The show sees former boot camp contestants and comedians commenting on past episodes.[30]
An additional twist added this season is the "Danger Zone," in which the worst recruit on each team in the Skill Drill must cook their Main Dish at the stations used by Burrell and Hall in demonstrating the recipe, giving the mentors the ability to keep a close eye on them as they cook.
Recruits[]
Contestant
Age
Hometown
Occupation
Status
Amber Leverette
37
Banner Elk, North Carolina
Bartender
Winner February 28
Cameron Bartlett
20
Norman, Oklahoma
Student
Runner-up February 28
JJ Hurt
35
Atlanta, Georgia
Tech Support Supervisor
Finalist February 28
Chandali Gullick
29
Wichita, Kansas
Customer Service
McKayla Carter
21
Blackshear, Georgia
Model
Eliminated February 14
Tiffany Billingsly
35
Greenwood, Indiana
Music Teacher
Ayesha Dwyer
43
Wadsworth, Illinois
Children's Book Author
Eliminated January 31
Laura Marie Moore
23
Los Angeles, California
NHL Cheerleader
Joey Kinsley
26
Rocky River, Ohio
Digital Marketing Specialist
Eliminated January 17
Mo Nooreldin
Kirkland, Washington
Dental Assistant
Stephanie James
40
Chicago, Illinois
Postal Clerk
Eliminated January 10
Watik Aleem
Aurora, Colorado
Army Veteran
Jonathan Hanna
New York, New York
Hand Model
Eliminated January 3
Joy Blessing
65
Jacksonville, Florida
Wedding Officiant
Contestant progress[]
Red: Team Anne
Blue: Team Carla
Rank
Contestant
Episode
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
Amber
WIN
IN
WIN
IN
BTM
IMM
IN
WINNER
2
Cameron
BTM
BTM
IN
BTM
WIN
WIN
IN
RUNNER-UP
3
JJ
WIN
IN
IN
WIN
BTM
BTM
IN
FINALIST
4
Chandali*
IN
IN
BTM
IN/SWAP
IN
WIN
IN
5
McKayla*
BTM
WIN
BTM
IN/SWAP
IN
OUT
6
Tiffany
IN
BTM
IN
BTM
WIN
OUT
7
Ayesha
IN
IN
IN
WIN
OUT
8
Laura
IN
IN
WIN
IN
OUT
9
Joey
IN
IN
OUT
10
Mo
IN
WIN
OUT
11
Stephanie
IN
OUT
12
Watik
IN
OUT
13
Jonathan
OUT
14
Joy
OUT
Key
(WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
(RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
(WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge or Skill Drill and was considered the winner.
(IMM) The contestant won immunity and was safe from elimination in the week's Main Dish Challenge.
(BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
(OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
* Initially a member of the other team but switched instead of being eliminated.
Season 22: Best of the Worst[]
Michael Symon joins Anne Burrell for the first time to host a new Best of the Worst season where fan-favorite recruits from past seasons return for another chance at redemption. The season premiered on April 25, 2021.[31]
