Worst Cooks In America - General Discussion

[eyechart]

Has anyone else watched Wanda Sykes' standup shows where she refers to her belly as Esther?  I get the feeling Ari watched them, and decided to give her belly a name also.  Yes, she bugged, but I didn't hate her as a winner, especially after she talked about her kids which is when I knew she was going to win.

Alex made this a much better season than it had a right to be.  I enjoy watching her on so many other shows, and I would welcome her back immediately.  She and Anne have a fun dynamic together.

[mlp]

I wanted Zach to win because I liked him better but Ari needed the money more with 5 kids so I'm happy for her.  She seems like a nice person but I couldn't stand to be around her much with all the screeching.  

I enjoyed Alex on this show.  She and Anne seem to like each other which made for a comfortable rivalry.

Just out of curiosity, I'd like to know the real timing on this show.  They showed Ari taking lobsters out of boiling water and then tearing them apart with her bare hands what looked like moments later.  The same thing happened last week when Alex was demonstrating a lobster dish.  It looked like she went right from removing them from the pot to twisting the claws off with her bare hands.  No way.

I liked the judges although I had no idea who any of them were.  They all seemed to have credentials though.

[Grizzly]

Who wins seems based on the menu the teacher puts together. Alex, being a judge more often than Anne, used that to her advantage. It was the entree that did Zack in. Alex would have known not to have all that char together.

Ari is a fine winner, so much calmer when she's actually cooking.  She needed the money. Zack won by getting that far.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Grizzly
Fixed grammer

[Catfi9ht]

As soon as the show introduced Ari's kids to give her automatic sympathy, I knew she was going to win.

I'm sure she needs the money more than Zach and seems like a genuinely nice person, but good gravy, she's ridiculously obnoxious.

This was the first non-celebrity season I've watched and there were definitely some good points. I really enjoy Alex's personality. I know she's not popular here, but she seems super knowledgeable and down to earth to me. This is the only show I like Anne on. She seems like a good teacher who can break down complex techniques into smaller, digestible lessons. (Pun intended.)

Overall, I think I like the celebrity version better. I think I'd rather see a paid professional be a buffoon on tv. There's something sad about a private citizen going on a reality competition show to act like a clown for the possibility of winning money.

My favorite part of this show continues to be the editing. I'm glad it doesn't take itself seriously. I'm not a fan when a reality show thinks it's some high art. After all, a reality competition show is a glorified game show for goodness sakes.

[RoxiP]

I wouldn't mind Alex returning as a mentor.  I thought she was great, appropriately snarky and yet was very patient with her team.  

[Gramto6]

10 hours ago, RoxiP said:

I wouldn't mind Alex returning as a mentor.  I thought she was great, appropriately snarky and yet was very patient with her team.  

Alex really was a plus to this show...maybe the best foil to Anne yet. Alton was too in reverso-world of "hate to be here".

[seacliffsal]

I think one reason I really liked Alex on this show (and am glad that she won) is that she truly seemed invested in her team.  Her encouragement to Ari during the finale was just so heartfelt and sincere.  I agree with others that I never liked the "Shirley" bit (and visuals), but I guess all of the contestants need some kind of gimmick, which I wish they would drop.

[Totale]

On 8/3/2020 at 10:29 AM, cameron said:

I think that Ari is a more accomplished cook in real time than the way she was depicted.  Watching her use that mandoline without a finger guard and looking away while doing it along with the way she was handling that saute pan during the championship final.

This plus if that was supposed to be her audition tape she has a pretty nice kitchen at home.

[Sew Sumi]

Having a nice kitchen doesn't necessarily equate to being able to actually use it. 😁

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Having a nice kitchen doesn't necessarily equate to being able to actually use it. 😁

Exactly.  It seems like the people with the most spectacular kitchens are the ones least able to appreciate or use them.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Looks like there's an hour and a half Halloween special this Sunday. It's been a while, I kind of miss it! 

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Looks like there's an hour and a half Halloween special this Sunday. It's been a while, I kind of miss it! 

Still too much tv to I haven’t seen to get me to watch what I imagine will be a poorly produced, shit show filled with really bad puns. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

26 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

a poorly produced, shit show filled with really bad puns. 

This is just about guaranteed. 

[Rahul]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

Looks like there's an hour and a half Halloween special this Sunday. It's been a while, I kind of miss it! 

I would have preferred an All Star edition of Halloween Wars instead. That show started and ended so early this year.

[DC Gal in VA]

On 10/12/2020 at 9:40 PM, Superclam said:

This is just about guaranteed. 

That being a definite given @Superclam, are you or anyone else watching this shit show right now? I am and it's definitely making my teeth itch. Of the four returning for redemption the two almost impossible to watch are Gina and Mike. Gina, well is just as obnoxious and condescending as she was the first time around. Mike, 'cause he really is, inexplicably, so in love with himself and I still can't figure out why. Also, he needs to quit with naming everything but chef Anne seems to like that crap so.......

The other two, Rev. Adam (really nice but rather inept) and muscle head/Brett (also pretty inept) are at least likeable.

I'm a Carla Hall fan, but she could dial it down a little for me.

Help, I need your support!😁

Edited October 19, 2020 by DC Gal in VA
Typo.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I'm watching it. It's just like I expected. Of course, they went for personalities over cooking talent. I don't mind it though, this show is ok in small doses. It's the three seasons in a row that push it for me. 

But yeah, Gina is terrible. 

[mlp]

10 minutes ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Gina, well is just as obnoxious and condescending as she was the first time around. Mike, 'cause he really is, inexplicably, so in love with himself and I still can't figure out why. Also, he needs to quit with naming everything but chef Anne seems to like was so....

The other two, Rev. Adam (really nice but rather inept) and muscle head/Brett (also pretty inept) are at least likeable.

I'm a Carla Hall fan, but she could dial it down a little for me.

Agreed.  In fact, Fr. Adam and Brett are two of my all-time favorites from this show.  I can't remember who nudged out Brett the first time around but I do recall that I thought he got a raw deal at the time.  I'm neutral on Mike.  He's annoying but he's probably a nice guy in real life.  I couldn't stand Gina the first time and she hasn't changed a bit.  

I like Carla but she does seem to be on every show lately.  This one obviously was filmed before Covid so it isn't that no one else was available.  Maybe all the regular chefs have either done it or don't want to.  

I'm glad the red team won.  It seemed to actually matter to Brett so I was happy for him.

Chef Jordan is really cute.  It seems to me that he was on Chopped a long time ago when he was starting out.

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

Agreed.  In fact, Fr. Adam and Brett are two of my all-time favorites from this show.  I can't remember who nudged out Brett the first time around but I do recall that I thought he got a raw deal at the time.  I'm neutral on Mike.  He's annoying but he's probably a nice guy in real life.  I couldn't stand Gina the first time and she hasn't changed a bit.  

I remembered Brett, I remembered Father Adam, I even remembered the idiot Gina (and what is up with each year having a requisite in-love-with-Bobby-Flay contestant? At least it wasn't Carla.) but I don't remember Mike. Even when they did the what-season-am-I-from clip for each person.

[DC Gal in VA]

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

I'm watching it. It's just like I expected. Of course, they went for personalities over cooking talent. I don't mind it though, this show is ok in small doses. It's the three seasons in a row that push it for me. 

But yeah, Gina is terrible. 

Really nauseating that she won "Fan Favorite" for wrapping hot dogs at a snail's pace all the while rudely ignoring Carla's gentle prodding to speed things up AND giving her major side eye in the process. Aaaargh!😡

Edited October 19, 2020 by DC Gal in VA
Effing Autocorrect!

[Maverick]

Carla did this special because she's most known on FN for the Halloween Baking show. 

 Maybe don't have Anne do a Halloween show if she's too stuck up to wear a costume.   Carla's switching into more Bob Mackie-like off its than Carol Burnett on a Saturday Night while Anne spends the show in a devil horn headband from Dollar General. 

[dmeets]

Bummed that Fr. Adam, one of the more likeable contestants across all seasons IMO, was the only one to not win anything.

I wonder if this was Carla's audition to be a future Blue Team coach. I hope Alex makes a return. I think Carla's kookiness plus the contestants' kookiness is too much. But Gina was giving a bit too much attitude towards Carla, and she seemed kinda pissed when she was picked for the blue team, so Gina can fuck back off to wherever she went after her first season.

[Mr. Sparkle]

4 minutes ago, dmeets said:

I wonder if this was Carla's audition to be a future Blue Team coach. I hope Alex makes a return. I think Carla's kookiness plus the contestants' kookiness is too much. But Gina was giving a bit too much attitude towards Carla, and she seemed kinda pissed when she was picked for the blue team, so Gina can fuck back off to wherever she went after her first season.

For a second, I got them confused and I thought you were talking about Gina as a coach! I could definitely see Carla doing it though. 

[Grizzly]

Gina should give the knife set to Fr. Adam. We all know she's not going to cook with it. I felt so bad for Brett that Anne kept sniping at him. After he wanted to be on her team so badly. I remember rooting for him during his season.

[DC Gal in VA]

32 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Gina should give the knife set to Fr. Adam. We all know she's not going to cook with it. I felt so bad for Brett that Anne kept sniping at him. After he wanted to be on her team so badly. I remember rooting for him during his season.

THIS so much @Grizzly! Like you and @dmeets, I thought it was a shame that he didn't get anything.

BTW, is it me or did anyone get the impression that Gina never cooked one morsel of food after being kicked off the first show? Her idiotic fake Bobby Flay crush along with her I could give two shits about learning how to cook attitude really grates on my nerves and should not be rewarded, which means we'll probably be seeing this bitch on Food Network again.

Also, I wonder if there's a cash option for people who, like me, live in apartments? No way would property management allow me to make any permanent changes to my kitchen and, even if they would, why the Hell would I want to give them a free gourmet kitchen!?😁

[Mr. Sparkle]

Another new Halloween episode is scheduled for 11 o'clock tonight, I don't know if it's different from yesterday's. I'm too old to stay up that late. 

[mlp]

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

Another new Halloween episode is scheduled for 11 o'clock tonight, I don't know if it's different from yesterday's.

I'm pretty sure it's a rerun of the show that was on last night.

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

I'm pretty sure it's a rerun of the show that was on last night.

It looks like it from the description. I'll DVR it, and erase it if it's the same one. 

[LexieLily]

9 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

THIS so much @Grizzly! Like you and @dmeets, I thought it was a shame that he didn't get anything.

I'll go ahead and be the fourth on this. The idea of this entire series is kind of mean-spirited in general, honestly, but if the "Fan Favorite" winner was going to be a different person than those on the winning team (and who besides me thought she only won that because pigs-in-a-blanket are a super-familiar snack food and kind of hard to mess up in the first place?), it kind of looked bad for the show to have three out of four people win a decent money-sized prize and someone win nothing. 

Of course, I am only saying this because it was Father Adam. If Gina or Mike had been the one left out I might not have minded so much 😉 

Edited October 20, 2020 by LexieLily

[Ms Lark]

17 hours ago, DC Gal in VA said:

Also, I wonder if there's a cash option for people who, like me, live in apartments? No way would property management allow me to make any permanent changes to my kitchen and, even if they would, why the Hell would I want to give them a free gourmet kitchen!?😁

What most contestants don't usually realize for game shows and prizes: You have to pay the taxes on whatever you won immediately based on full price. Usually federal and state. So, nice to win, but not so nice to have to pass on taking it home!

[Mr. Sparkle]

I worked in the kitchen business 20 years ago, and $5,000 wasn't a lot then. So $5k after taxes today will maybe get you a really nice refrigerator or a new floor, not a whole kitchen with new cabinets and a quartz countertop. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

In strange news for strange times, it looks like our friend Brett is going to play the Iron Sheik in the upcoming Hulk Hogan biopic. 

ETA: Upon further investigation, he's going to play the Iron Sheik in a tv show about Duane Johnson when he was little, called "Young Rock." That's even weirder. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Superclam

[RealityCheck]

Carla Hall Joins Anne Burrell In New Season of WORST COOKS IN AMERICA Premiering Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 9PM ET/PT

Quote

 

The season premieres with a 90-minute episode.  Immediately following at 10:30PM, companion series Worst Cooks in America: Dirty Dishes begins its first-ever run.

This season’s recruits are:

Watik Aleem (Aurora, Colorado);
Cameron Bartlett (Norma, Oklahoma);
Tiffany Billingsly (Greenwood, Idaho);
Joy Blessing (Jacksonville, Florida);
McKayla Carter (Blackshear, Georgia);
Ayesha Dwyer (Wadsworth, Illinois);
Chandali Gullick (Wichita, Kansas);
Jonathan Hanna (New York, New York);
JJ Hurt (Atlanta, Georgia);
Stephanie James (Chicago, Illinois);
Joey Kinsley (Rocky River, Ohio);
Amber Leverette (Banner Elk, North Carolina);
Laura Moore (Los Angeles, California) and
Mo Nooreldin (Kirkland, Washington).

The finale judges are Adrienne Cheatham, JJ Johnson and George Mendes.

 

 

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, RealityCheck said:

Carla Hall Joins Anne Burrell In New Season of WORST COOKS IN AMERICA Premiering Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 9PM ET/PT

 

Ugh, even Covid can't spare us a new season of this train wreck?  I admit that my TV standards have been lowered due to a lack of good programming lately,  but why is it always the shows I hate-watch that are coming out with new seasons?

And just how long ago did they film this?  Or did the cast exist in a bubble during the filming?

[Maverick]

 The Halloween Baking show, the current Chopped tournament, Candy Land and all of the Christmas shows were filmed after covid started so they are producing new shows. 

[LexieLily]

Carla is everywhere these days, ugh. 

[ConcernedCitizen]

That companion series “Worst Cooks in America: Dirty Dishes” sounds promising. I think I’ll give it a try. I guess it’s one of those “reaction” shows. With Carson Kressley in it, should be really funny. I hope they have my fave Domaine as one of the former recruits to be featured. Cutesy, funny with the right amount of shade, such a personality in a good way, unlike that very annoying and loud Armenian girl in her season who only cared about her looks. That girl makes me cringe so hard. 

[jcbrown]

Was I the only one to watch last night? I was surprised that I actually liked Carla in this role, though I agree FN is overdoing her lately. I was surprised at the evident lack of COVID protocols in the episodes that aired last night, though. It seemed like everyone was too close together all the time.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I taped it, I'll watch it tonight. I wasn't up for 2 hours yesterday. 

[SweetSable]

I watched it, but I'm already over the "characters" and stupid editing.  Doesn't mean I won't keep watching it though . . .   

 

[mlp]

I enjoyed the first hour simply because something goofy was a nice respite from the real world and from the lack of much else new on and the second hour because.....Carson Kressley.  

Anne's hair looked nice.  :0  Did she have an engagement ring on?

Carla's expressions were spot on.  I'm sure she knew what to expect beforehand but she did a nice job of mixing horrified with bewilderment.

Almost everyone in this cast is annoyingly OTT.  Either production actively looked for characters or they were coached to act as ridiculous as possible.  The only one I actually like so far is the bartender.  I can't understand half of what she says but she seems nice.  And I don't mind Cameron.  He looks and sounds just like someone else I've seen somewhere on FN but I haven't figured out where yet.

[tomorrowgirl]

I recorded this,  but I kept my finger on the fast forward button while watching the majority of the show.  I mainly only watched the the two times that Anne and Carla were judging the contestants' dishes.  I just wasn't up for listening to all the inane talk and seeing all the inept attempts at cooking from this cast of characters.

[ConcernedCitizen]

My worst fears came true. They paired Domaine with that annoying Kardashian wannabe on the aftershow Worst Cooks in America: Dirty Dishes. I can’t stand her so much, but I’m a huge Domaine fan so I had to watch. Domaine did great as expected. Couldn’t care less about the old lady and her husband(?) and the two black dudes. They contribute nothing to the show. Carson Kressley is as usual, hilarious. 

[Koalagirl]

18 hours ago, jcbrown said:

Was I the only one to watch last night? I was surprised that I actually liked Carla in this role, though I agree FN is overdoing her lately. I was surprised at the evident lack of COVID protocols in the episodes that aired last night, though. It seemed like everyone was too close together all the time.

I agree about Carla. She brings her own brand of the crazies which fits in perfectly with the show.  I actually don’t mind this group of contestants too much.

[Koalagirl]

14 hours ago, mlp said:

Anne's hair looked nice.  :0  Did she have an engagement ring on?

Yes, here’s an article about her engagement.

https://www.mashed.com/203718/the-truth-about-anne-burrells-fiance-stuart-claxton/

[Mr. Sparkle]

So I watched it last night. Yep, same show, same stereotypical characters. I'm kind of glad they're back. Was this filmed during COVID? It doesn't look like they're taking any precautions, but maybe they have a closed set. 

I liked the after-show. Are they going to have different guests every week? 

[ConcernedCitizen]

19 hours ago, Superclam said:

I liked the after-show. Are they going to have different guests every week? 

Based on their official IMDB page, so far it looks like the only confirmed ones to be featured on every episode are Carson, Sonja, Alec, and Domaine. We’ll see as the show progresses, but should they continue this show every season, I hope Food Network keeps those 4 and replaces everyone else. 

[Brookside]

Best (least awful?) thing about this episode?  The woman who said that in the kitchen she's "Like a fart in a whirlwind."

If I'm still alive when the pandemic is over, I will be using this phrase.

[Chyromaniac]

Maybe it’s just me, but that taco pie thing Tiffani(?) made looked... fine?  Sure it was huuuuge, and apparently the spice heat was too much, but overall it seemed like it could have been a real family meal from some “quick meals” cookbook.

[ConcernedCitizen]

Why are we not getting more of Domaine on Dirty Dishes? Is she in some sort of a limited contract or something? One thing I noticed is that when she’s being shown, the Kardashian wannabe talks over her all the time. What’s going on? Also, a lot of the current contestants on the main Worst Cooks are just so overly trying hard at this point. Very attention-seeking and cringeworthy. Overall, both the main Worst Cooks and Dirty Dishes didn’t do it for me this week. Shame.

[Yeah No]

The two hour episodes are difficult for me.  I end up watching it in two takes but why I don't know, it's just more of the same stuff and somehow not as funny this season.   I guess they're moving stuff like Restaurant Impossible and Bobby and Giada in Italy over to Discovery Plus to make room for more of this, like we needed that, LOL.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Yeah No