'Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition': Beware! Do not try these food tricks at home
'Worst Cooks in America' returned with Season 19 on Food Network today (May 10). Hosted by chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence, this season is fronted by celebrities Wells Adams, Brian Posehn, Dave Coulier, Sonja Morgan, Bridget Everett, Johnny 'Bananas' Devenanzio and Robin Givens
Only two of these seven celebrities will go to the finale where they will be required to cook a three-course meal for a panel. After a blind tasting, the best dish would be crowned winner and the maker of the dish will walk away with $25,000 for their choice of charity.
Episode 1 of the recent season proved that these celebrities might be stars in their own rights but they might not shine as bright in the kitchen. For the first 'Baseline' challenge, the celebrity recruits had to create a lavish dinner party meal. Each one of them was required to make one dinner party dish and at the end of the challenge each of them was about to taste what the others cooked — potluck style.
There were quite a few highlights in the episode tonight. For instance, Coulier making a lot of jokes and animated voices. After a point, Johnny was too distracted by him and in a video byte he voiced his annoyance against Coulier's "dad jokes". Coulier revealed that his wife has a number of nicknames for him and one includes 'Burnzie' as he often forgets that he's cooking something. 'Burnzie' Coulier was just hoping not to "cause a fire" on the episode.
Then, there was Adams, who was attempting to create his grandma's special Portuguese lasagne. For the challenge, the cooks only had 60 minutes and with 48 minutes left on the clock, Adams's aspirations for rolling his own pasta from scratch were met with a little apprehension from Burrell. This pushed Adams' confidence off the rails and he retorted, "I don't need you to freak me out."
The highlight of all highlights on the episode has to be 'The Real Housewives of New York City' alum Morgan, who is known to make things in a toaster oven outside of the show. Calling herself "life of a party, death in the kitchen", she took things a notch higher by attempting to cook a rack of lamb in the toaster oven. She was really confident about what she was doing with the lamb in the toaster and was pretty sure it would cook.
With a disclaimer running on the screen that said "do not attempt at home, will damage toaster", chef Florence warned her that she might be overcrowding the oven and she should consider using Food Network's "whole wall full of ovens". Post the intervention, she did realize that Florence had a point.
Johnny exhibited a lot of showmanship. From exhibiting flambe skills to presenting his dish with fancy peach champagne, he managed to impress the judges. He also attempted to throw an egg in the air and tried to land it on the top of his head, in his chef's hat. Five failed attempts later, he managed to catch the sixth one.
Actress Givens gave out the impression of being a "tightly wound" person in the kitchen. Her nerves got to her a number of times in the episode and chef Burrell had to constantly remind her to breathe. Even though she admitted to having a "growing fear of cooking", she did make a decently flavored food at the end.
Another celebrity contestant who was a bundle of nerves was Everett. Even though she went through a tough time deciding whether she's poaching or boiling her chicken for her 'chicken-two ways' dish, which gave an impression of her failing at the challenge, it was a hit at the tasting table.
Posehn appeared to be testing the waters in the episode and gauge what he was getting into. He also exhibited some "professional" knife skills and also found an ally in Givens who agreed to be his cheerleader in the show.
After seeing the chefs create mushroom and sausage frittata with potatoes in a masterclass, the celebrity recruits had to recreate it for their second 'Main Dish' challenge. A lot of them failed at recreating this dish and now it was time for them to choose their teams with whom they would work together in the upcoming episode.
Team Rocking Red Stars — Anne Burrell
Robin Givens, Wells Adams and Bridget Everett.
Team Blue — Tyler Florence
Dave Coulier, Brian Posehn and Johnny Bananas.
Sonja Morgan was not chosen by any of the chefs. However, the 'RHONY' star is not leaving the show anytime soon. Not only did she stay in the show, but she also got a chance to pick a team she would like to be a part of. She chose to be a part of Red Rocking Stars and became the fourth member to join Burrell's team.
'Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition' returns next Sunday at 9|8c only on Food Network.
