History of the reality TV show “Worst Cooks in America”
An American Television reality show, Worst cooks in America celebrity edition is considered as an intense culinary camp. This culinary reality show premiered 10 years before in 2010, 3 January on the Food Network channel. The show consisted of minimum 12 to maximum 16 participants with poor cooking skills that are referred to as ‘recruits.’
The concept of the Reality TV Show
The concept of this show is quite different from others, because usually reality shows are in hunt of the good to the best but this show is in search of the best worst cooks in America. So that’s what makes it quite different from others. No?
The Reality show has two different Editions
The show has two different editions one is famously known as non-celebrity edition which consisted of regular and not famous people, where the winning participant would get a chance to win the cash prize of $2500 and a Food Network cooking set.
The other edition is known as celebrity edition of the show, this edition of the show consists of celebrities participating in the show, where the participating celebrities are also referred as recruits and the winning celebrity would get a $50,000 as a winning prize to donate to the charity of their own choice.
All you need to know about the reality TV show ‘Worst Cooks in America’
The recruits are divided into two teams, each team has six or eight participating recruits and every week the team leader must eliminate one recruit from each of their teams until there is only one from each team left. The final two recruits from opposite teams create a three-course restaurant quality meal to fool a panel of restaurant and food critics into believing that the meal was created by the acclaimed professional chefs.
So, what does the Winner get at the end of every season?
The recruits participated to win the cash price of $2500 and a Food Network cooking set. In this reality show the recruits are trained on different kinds of professional cooking skills including baking, knife skills, preparation, seasoning and presentation.
Whereas in the celebrity editions of the show ‘Worst Cooks in America’ includes the fortune winning prize of $50,000 to donate to the charity of celebrity’s own choice
How it all started?
Season 1 of the show had 12 non-celebrity recruits and it had two different teams that were led by two celebrity chefs. Chef Anne Burrell’s team was known as the Red Team and Chef Beau MacMillan’s team was known as the Blue Team. The season 1 of the show was won by the young recruit Rachel Coleman of Red team and she was crowned as “Best of the Worst” along with the winning prizes.
Later on the next year, Season two of the show premiered on January 2, 2011 where Robert Irvine replaced the former team leader of Blue team, Mac Milan. The season had 16 recruits participating and each team had 8 recruits. In this season, the recruit of Red Team Joshua “Joshie” Berger of Anne Burrell made it to earn the title of “Best of the Worst”
Season 3 of the show had Bobby Flay replacing Robert Irvine of the Blue Team. Each team had 16 recruits. With great leadership skills, Anne Burrell of the Red Team made her hat trick by one of her recruits Kelli Powers won the finale.
In 2013 when the 4 season of the show premiered, the winning season for Anne Burrell of the Red Team came to an end because one of the recruits Alina Bolshakova of Blue Team led by Bobby Flay made it to their first win. Continuing their win the next year in the season 5 of the show, Amber Brauner of the Blue Team again made it to win the prize of $25000 and a Food Network cooking set alongside earning the title of “Best of the Worst”
In 2015 when season 6 of the show premiered another replacement took part. Tyler Florence replaced Bobby Flay and became the new team leader of The Blue Team and joined Anne Burrell. In the following season The Red Team of Anne Burrell made it’s come back and Kristen Redmond was crowned was as “Best of the Worst”
The First Celebrity Edition of the Worst Cooks in America
Season 7 is the first celebrity edition of the show, where Rachael Ray joined Anne Burrell as a team leader of the Blue Team. The season 7 had only seven celebrity recruits and the worst recruit of each team from that week’s Main Dish challenge competed head to head in a quick fire elimination challenge instead of eliminating both recruits of each team each week and the celebrity winner was chosen through blindly judging by both the judges Anne and Rachael. The winner would be awarded a $50,000 donation for their chosen charity. The celebrity recruit Jennie JWoww Farley of Team Red of Anne Burrell was blindly chosen by both the judges and he was crowned as first Best of the worst cooks in America celebrity edition.
Resumed the Non-Celebrity edition of the show
The producers and casting directors of the ‘Worst Cooks in America’ resumed regular people participating in the show. In 2016, the season 8 consisted of regular participants. The show premiered where Tyler Florence and Anne Burrell joined each other again and co-judged the season. This season of the show had 14 recruits participate and 7 recruits in each team, where Team Blue was led by Tyler Florence and Team Red was led by Anne Burrell. Team Red added another victory to their list when Nick Slater, a recruit from Red Team was chosen to the winner of season 8 of the show and crowned as “Best of the Worst”
The Celebrity Edition 2 of the Worst Cooks in America
The second celebrity edition of the show was launched which premiered on September 14, 2016 with highest reviews. The season was co-host and co-judge by Anne Burrell with Rachael Ray returning. This time the show had 9 celebrity recruits participating, 5 recruits in the Read Team of Anne Burrell and 4 celebrity recruits in the Blue Team of Rachael Ray. Loni Love from the Blue Team was chosen blindly by the judges and she was crowned as the Best of the worst cooks in America celebrity edition 2.
Season 10 of the show had regular recruits participating again, where Rachael Ray joined Anne Burrell again. This season was premiered on 1 January 2017 and it had 16 recruits participating and 8 recruits in each team where Daniel Mar from Team Red made it to the finale and won the prizes and the title of “Best of the Worst”
The Celebrity Edition 3 of the Worst Cooks in America
As the show completed its one decade, the producer and directors of the show decided to continue the show and premiered its 11th season the same year, right after eight months on 23 August 2017. Season 11 of the show consisted of the 3rd celebrity edition of the show, where Rachael Ray and Anne Burnell co-hosted the 3rd season of the celebrity edition of this reality TV show. The season had 8 celebrity recruits participating, 4 members in each team. The 3rd celebrity edition was won by Perez Hilton of the Blue team and earned the title of the Best of the worst cooks in America celebrity edition 3.
Later on the next year in 2018, the season 12 of the show premiered where Tyler Florence returned with Anna Burnell and co-hosted the season. The 12 season of the show had 16 recruits’ participants, 8 recruits in each team. The season was won by Hazell Mckenzie of the Red Team, she was crowned “Best of the Worst.”
The Celebrity Edition 4 of the Worst Cooks in America
The following year, season 13 and celebrity edition 4 took part, where Tyler Florence joined Anne Burnell to co-judge the season 4 of the celebrity edition, and the first celebrity edition to not feature Rachael Ray. The season 13 premiered on 15 April 2018, and it had 7 celebrity recruits participating, the Red Team had 4 celebrity recruits and Blue Team had 3 celebrity recruits. La Toya Jackson from Blue Team made it to the finale and she was crowned as the Best of the worst cooks in America celebrity edition 4.
Later on the same year in August the season 14 of the show premiered where Robert Irvine returned and joined Anne Burnell to co-host the season 14. The season had 14 regular participants, 7 recruits in each team, where a young recruit Bradley Garcia from team blue won the finale and earned the title of the “Best of the Worst” along with the cash prize and kitchen set.
In 2019, the 15 season of the show premiered when Tyler Florence rejoined Anne Burnell as a co-judge. This time, the season 15 of the show had 15 recruits participating, since the number of the participants was odd, one recruit had to be eliminated before getting into the team. So each team had 7 recruits and fortunately Allison Wolfe from Red Team was crowned as the “Best of the Worst.”
The Celebrity Edition 5 of the Worst Cooks in America
The same year on 21 April, 5th season of the celebrity edition was premiered which was co-judge by Tyler Florence and Anne Burnell. The celebrity edition 5 had eight celebrity recruits participating, 4 recruits in each team. The contest was won by Tonya Harding, the celebrity recruit of the Red Team winning the cash prize of $50000 and earned the title of the Best of the worst cooks in America celebrity edition 5.
On August 4, 2019 the season 17 of the show premiered. The season was co-host and co-judge by Bobby Flay and Anne Burnell featuring 14 regular recruits, each team had 7 recruits. The season 17 of the show was won by Adrian Read of the Blue Team who earned not just the title of the “Best of the Worst” but also winning prize and kitchen set by Food channel.
Earlier this year, the season 18 of the show premiered on 5 January, 2020 which was co-judge by Anne Burnell and Alton Brown. The season 18 featured sixteen recruits, dividing them into two teams. Shannon Akins of the Red Team managed to make it to the finale of the season, and won the prizes and title of the “Best of the Worst” of season 18 of the show.
The Celebrity Edition 6 of the Worst Cooks in America
The season 19 and celebrity edition 6 premiered on May 10, 2020. Tyler Florence returns to co-host the 6 season of the celebrity edition with Anne Burnell. The 6th celebrity edition had 7 celebrity recruits participating, where the Red Team had 4 recruits’ members and the Blue Team had 3. Wells Adams from the Red Team the title of the Best of the worst cooks in America celebrity edition 5 and Red team continued the winning series for themselves in the 6th celebrity edition.
The following year, the season 20 of the show premiered on June 21, 2020. The season was co-host by Anne Burnell and Alex Guarnaschelli, and the season featured 14 regular recruits participating. Each team consisted of 7 recruits. The last season was won by Ari Robinson of the Blue Team winning the title of the “Best of the Worst ” along with the cash prize.
Latest Happenings of the show, ‘Worst Cooks in America’ includes the launch of another season
The producer and casting directors of the show ‘Worst Cooks in America’ confirmed on November 24, 2020, that the 12th season of the show will take part earlier next year on January 3, 2021 with a 90-minute premiere. The latest season will be hosted by Anne Burnell and Carla Hill. The 12th season of the show features 14 regular recruits participating, 7 recruits in each team.