'Worst Cooks in America': Eric Smart and Domaine Javier's mediocre fish dishes get them eliminated
'Worst Cooks in America' Season 20 is inching to a close. After tonight's episode (July 19), only four recruits remain — two on Team Blue and two on Team Red Rocking Stars as Domaine Javier and Eric Smart were sent home by their mentors.
The episode tonight began with six recruits, three remaining per team, and they were each pitted against each other in the skill drill challenge. They were tasked with creating a plate of hors d'oeuvres with one recruit from both teams working with the same ingredient and the one with the better dish at the tasting table would be announced the winner. So it was Zack vs Ari, Dolores vs Eric, Domaine vs Darian. At the end of the challenge, Ari, Domaine and Dolores won.
For the main dish challenge, the recruits witnessed their mentors Alex Guarnaschelli and Anne Burrell filet and cook a fish. The challenge that lied ahead of the contestants was to recreate the same dish as their mentors and put their own spin on it by creating a unique side dish to go along with it.
All recruits except Dolores faced a huge challenge with filleting the fish. However, the one recruit whose trouble extended beyond the filleting process was Eric. His mentor Guarnaschelli observed that he was going very wrong with the measurements within his dish as he emptied two cups full of parmesan cheese into his mixing tray while the recipe only called for two tablespoons.
"Eric is literally seeing the measurements through the prism of an alternate universe," said Guarnaschelli as she watched in shock. Midway through the challenge, Zack had found his groove and he looked like he was breezing through the challenge and so was Darian. At the tasting table, both Guarnaschelli and Burrell were impressed with what their recruits brought to the table. Except for a little critique about too much lemon in the salsa or slightly undercooked sauce, the recruits had come up with some decent dishes. Eric initially came to the table without a dish in hand as he was disappointed in what he had created but on insistence from his teammates Darian and Ari and encouraging words from Guarnaschelli, he finally brought his dish up for tasting.
It was now time for results and Zack from the Rocking Red Stars and Darian from Team Blue were announced winners of the challenge while Domaine and Eric were sent home.