S11.E03: Starting From Scratch

[Drogo]

Boot Camp is transformed into "Cafe Worst Cooks" as the celebrities learn how to make classic crepes. The main challenge proves to be a lot scarier for these novice cooks when they have to butcher whole chickens, grill them, and create their own unique side dishes. The two least successful recruits go head-to-head in a chicken challenge, and one recruit is sent packing.

[HunterHunted]

Damn Carmen. The fall could have been really bad. Then the flambeing inferno. Yikes.

[Bastet]

Holy crap with this, well, crap.

I came into this thinking the celebrity edition would be worth watching because, while it and the regular series are fundamentally the same - a bunch of people playing the role of incompetent chef and vying for air time - professional entertainers are better than those looking to jump start their 15 minutes of what passes for fame these days.  And, hey, at least the money goes to charity.

But, great googly moogly, the producers seem to trust their experienced talent even less than their Central Casting finds, and have gone berserk with the forced segments.  By all means, make a mastication joke - I can still laugh remembering the inevitable but funny jokes that ensued after John Madden referenced masticating a turkey during one of the Thanksgiving games - but don't run it into the ground. 

And the sound effects are even worse than the repetitive jokes. 

The novelty of actually recognizing one contestant isn't enough; Henny Youngman would groan at these one-liners, so I definitely can't hang.

[cdp73]

It's the awful special effects and things that annoy me.  I'm glad Carson is gone because the "flirting" with Sean (who I don't find attractive at all) was ridiculous.  Stop with the special effects and trying to make things cutesy and show me more of them learning skills.  

[Maya]

Carson was over the top but at least he was interesting. Now we are left with half-comatose Nora. Hope they bring Carson back in some "surprise" twist. I can't remember what they do when one team heavily outnumbers the other. 

[jcbrown]

I don't remember them ever having teams this unbalanced. I thought they usually alternated which team goes home even though they pretended that was not what they were doing. I guess this means that the annoying Melissa will be Anne's final cook. I suppose that's better than Nora with her stupid "jokes."

[Simon47]

So excited Carson got sent home. I couldn't stand his flirting with Sean and he was way too OTT.

6 hours ago, cdp73 said:

It's the awful special effects and things that annoy me.  I'm glad Carson is gone because the "flirting" with Sean (who I don't find attractive at all) was ridiculous.  Stop with the special effects and trying to make things cutesy and show me more of them learning skills.  

I'm going to have a seat at your table. Good thinking. Cheesy SFX need to go now, or else I won't watch this show anymore.

[HyeChaps]

Why didn't they give the contestants meat thermometers?

[Mondrianyone]

And cleavers?  They all seemed to be using chef's knives to remove the head and legs.  They'd have been a lot less squeamish if they had the right tool and didn't have to saw away at those poor birds.  I actually thought it was pretty disrespectful to the animals' lives to make a creepy joke out of butchering them.

[seacliffsal]

I think that had the elimination challenge gone differently that Sean would have been sent home to keep the teams balanced.  However, there was no way around the raw chicken that Carson presented.  I, too, have not seen teams this unbalanced.  I think that there will be a huge elimination challenge in which one of Rachel's contestants will go home which will lead to more of a balance between the teams.

Carmen seems like a really good sport-not only did she quickly get up after the fall and continue to give it her all, she warmly congratulated Vivica for being the winner for their team.  Nora seems like a snooze which surprises me as she was on SNL and I guess that I expected more from her.  I think the Melissa may quiet down a bit as she and Carson were really playing off of each other.

[Amarsir]

Ohhhh, "macerate" sounds like a cross between "massacre" and "eviscerate". No wonder they were making jokes! Good one, show.

Someone remind me: haven't we heard in the past that Rachel isn't really in this for the teaching like Anne is? I was reminded of that when she didn't notice until the end that Sean had left his spine in (among other cutting issues). It contrasted heavily with Anne correcting Carson's mis-butchered chicken and made me think Rachel wasn't even in the room for most of the cooking hour.

Also, and I apologize for just getting this now - "spatchcock" sounds like director Alfred Hitchcock. Hilarious! With jokes that good, who even notices if the contestants are learning useful skills?

[jcbrown]

38 minutes ago, Amarsir said:

Ohhhh, "macerate" sounds like a cross between "massacre" and "eviscerate". No wonder they were making jokes! Good one, show.

Er, maybe you're not serious but I'm pretty sure they were going for masturbation jokes.

[orangekit]

This show is OTT, but not as bad as the "real" people.   Carson Kresley grated on my nerves.   I think a lot of his behavior is very put on and away to get noticed and talked about. I have a friend who is gay and he never could stand Queer Eye because of how stereotypical and obnoxious Carson was with his behavior.   He is every bad stereotype about gay men.   His constant comments about the other guy were tacky and weird and just reinforced what many straight people think of gay men.    Glad he is gone.

I am surprised that I like Perez Hilton, he used to be so nasty and immature. Seems like having children has helped him grow up!

Melissa is annoying,  but I like Carmen.

WTF happened to Rachel Ray? She looks bloated and messy.  Ann Burnell  is a good chef, but she reminds me of a very mean person who puts on a fake nice act.   

[meowmommy]

The thing is that a Worst Cooks series could be very entertaining and educational, in the hands of the right production team.  I would really like segments where they are teaching not only the recipes but the actual cooking skills, as well as showing real mistakes (not the exaggerated disasters we see) that reflect the difference between good and bad execution, and how to correct them.   Instead they go for cheap schoolyard humor that appeals only to the lowest elements.  I don't understand it, but I haven't understood too many FN decisions since they decided to axe Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, which was the show that drew me to FN in the first place. 

[mlp]

Quote

 I would really like segments where they are teaching not only the recipes but the actual cooking skills, as well as showing real mistakes (not the exaggerated disasters we see) that reflect the difference between good and bad execution, and how to correct them.   

The first couple seasons were actually like that.  They started with people who really couldn't cook and taught them knife skills and so on before moving on to more complex tasks.  They didn't start with lobsters and recipes with numerous ingredients.  It was a much better show.

[Snarklepuss]

The celebrity edition of this show has always been awful with mostly washed up stars overacting and looking to breathe new life into their careers.  The original version with regular people started out as @mlp says above but has devolved over the years to be more of a sideshow version of itself than anything genuine.  Even this version started out better.  Now there's no evidence that there is anything genuine about the show.  They put the cart before the horse now with complicated recipes before simple knife skills.  And even Anne and Rachael are slacking off on the skills teaching now.  Anne used to focus in on uniformity of knife cuts, etc., but now they don't even show her saying anything about that.

10 hours ago, orangekit said:

WTF happened to Rachel Ray? She looks bloated and messy. 

Rachael looks better on her daily talk show, but that's only because she has a team of people styling her.  She admits that when she's not on that show she's usually in sweats.  I figure that she's on her own for her wardrobe on this show, and it shows.  I think she films this show when she's on summer break from her talk show, so she's on vacation mode and pretty much doesn't care about this show anymore if she ever did.  It's probably the only current tie she still has left with Food Network so she's keeping it around for now.  Plus I think she and Anne are kind of friendly in part because they're both from upstate New York.

[eurekagirl mOo]

Well, party of 1 here. I'm really loving this...the contestants keep me laughing, i love the silly music and the sound effects. I love that no one is being yelled at or humilated. No matter how bad the judges just go, yeah it is food at least,and move on. The whole thing is just a wink and a nod of, yes this is silly.we're here to have fun. I just relax and giggle for an hour. JMO

[Drogo]

Melissa is adorable and I wish she had a career. That's all. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

36 minutes ago, eurekagirl mOo said:

Well, party of 1 here. I'm really loving this...the contestants keep me laughing, i love the silly music and the sound effects. I love that no one is being yelled at or humilated. No matter how bad the judges just go, yeah it is food at least,and move on. The whole thing is just a wink and a nod of, yes this is silly.we're here to have fun. I just relax and giggle for an hour. JMO

Yeah, it's a fun diversion, and I watch it with my kids. It's refreshingly lacking any of the meanness that some other shows (Master Chef) have. 

[grisgris]

I just got around to watching this today.  When Anne cut into Melissa's chicken the first time around, there was a lingering shot on some very pink meat. I thought that was a heads up for sure that Melissa was going home but Anne ignored that and jumped on Carson both times. I think that both teams need to be given apples-to-apples challenges. I consider spatchcocking a chicken easier than having to butcher one literally from head to toe.

I really don't care that Carson is gone. The reason why I thought he'd go a little further is that he (and Perez) did a fairly impressive stint on "Cupcake Wars" and Carson did very well in last year's "Celebrity Apprentice" (quick to add -- starring Arnold!) I believe Carson made it to the final four.

Anyway, yes, he was acting way OTT and his silly flirting with The Bachelor guy had gone far enough.

I'd be happy to see Vivica, Carmen or Perez in the finale, I guess against Melissa. Anne got stuck with a bunch of duds this go around. I am happy that Carmen redeemed herself from last week. I also believe that Perez is much more accomplished in the kitchen than what he's letting on. He threw out some term/technique while he was fixing his side dish that clued me in, except now I've forgotten what it was!

I don't put a lot of stock in this silly show. It's mindless entertainment with the end game being for charity.

[gryphon]

I heart Carson and am sad he's gone.  I really don't like Bachelor guy-at least I've heard of all the other celebs.  

Quote

 I think that both teams need to be given apples-to-apples challenges. I consider spatchcocking a chicken easier than having to butcher one literally from head to toe.

 Yes, this!

I like that it's for charity.  I thought Melissa and Carson really played off each other well.  They cracked me up.  Sometimes I just need a little silliness.  And the chyron and effects people are awesome!

But please, women, tie your hair back!!

Edited September 11, 2017 by gryphon

[MajorWoody]

On 9/7/2017 at 6:36 PM, HyeChaps said:

Why didn't they give the contestants meat thermometers?

Probably because they are too stupid to figure out such a complicated piece of culinary machinery!!!

On 9/7/2017 at 8:08 PM, jcbrown said:

Er, maybe you're not serious but I'm pretty sure they were going for masturbation jokes.

And failing miserably at it. That segment was so awful even the 12 year old demographic it was aimed it were groaning.