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Who is Mo Nooreldin? Meet 'Worst Cooks in America' contestant who charmed Anne Burrell early in the competition

This dental assistant from Kirkland was the hero of week 2 from the Rocking Red Stars whose dish shone a bit brighter than the rest. Here's all there's to know about him

Season 21 of 'Worst Cooks in America' has a lot of quirky contestants, one of them is Mo Nooreldin. This Kirkland, Washington resident loves the challenge of new things and this might be the best explanation for why he stepped out from his position as a dental assistant to try his hand at cooking and applied to participate. He made it to the 'Worst Cooks' kitchen and was a thorough disaster on night one of the competition when everyone was required to recreate a childhood favorite. However, week 2 was a different ball game and he ended up as the hero of that particular episode that taught the recruits to cook farm to table meals. He belongs to Chef Anne Burrell's Rocking Red Stars and she looked mighty proud announcing Mo's achievement for the week. 

Turns out the admiration is mutual between the two. Mo told the Seattle Times that he read up about his mentor Burrell a lot before going to film the season last fall. “I read a lot about Chef Anne, like how she started,” Nooreldin said. “And she studied Mediterranean food. And that’s what got me excited because she knows a lot about how to make Mediterranean dishes. So it’s something that you could learn from the best, and also Chef Anne, she is one of the best at giving a crash course, which should give you everything you need right now." 

Nooreldin moved to the US five years ago from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Apart from his dental assistant job, he also started his family bakery called Moklava in his home town which sells his mother-in-law's baklava. His LinkedIn page says he's the managing director of the business. He first started cooking when getting takeout during the pandemic didn't excite him and his wife anymore and he thought to himself that he had a flair for it but also admitted that the fire alarm in his apartment often went off on one too many occasions. 

'Worst Cooks' is not Nooreldin's first tryst in the world of entertainment. His IMDb page states he was a voice actor in an animation movie 'The Legend of Um Elmagreen' in 2019. Currently, he's vying to win the $25,000 that the winner of the cooking show gets to walk away with. Tune in to the show to find out whether he succeeds in doing the same.

Update - Mo Nooreldin ended up in the bottom at the end of Episode 3 and was eventually sent home by his mentor Burrell.