Series synopsis
Worst Cooks in America is an American reality comedy television series that premiered on Food Network on January 3, 2010. It stars Anne Burrell, Beau MacMillan, Robert Irvine and Rachael Ray.
12 to 16 contestants with poor cooking skills are taken through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000. The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including: baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for three food critics.
Premise
12 to 16 contestants with poor cooking skills are taken through an eight-week culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000. The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including: baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for three food critics.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Anne Burrell as Self - Host
- Beau MacMillan as Himself - Host
- Robert Irvine as Self - Host
- Rachael Ray as Self - Host
- Tyler Florence as Self - Host
- Alton Brown as Self - Host
- Alex Guarnaschelli as Self - Host
- Darnell Ferguson as Self - Co Host
Supporting cast
- Jeff Mauro as Self - Co Host
- Gabriele Bertaccini as Self - Host
Guest cast
- Bobby Flay as Self - Chef
- Laura Vitale
- Karen Akunowicz as Self - Judge
- Kalen Allen as Self - Judge
- Leah Cohen as Self - Judge
- Ron Ben-Israel as Self
- Zac Posen as Self
- Tonya Harding as Self - Contestant
- Cheryl Burke as Self - Contestant
- Sebastian Bach as Self - Contestant
- Rachel Reilly as Self - Contestant
- Trinity the Tuck as Self - Contestant
Episodes
This series spans 20 seasons with 148 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 3 | October 2, 2021 | |
| Season 1 | 6 | January 3, 2010 | February 1, 2010 |
| Season 2 | 8 | January 2, 2011 | February 20, 2011 |
| Season 3 | 8 | February 12, 2012 | April 1, 2012 |
| Season 4 | 7 | February 17, 2013 | March 31, 2013 |
| Season 5 | 7 | February 17, 2014 | March 31, 2014 |
| Season 6 | 7 | January 4, 2015 | February 15, 2015 |
| Season 7 | 6 | September 23, 2015 | October 28, 2015 |
| Season 8 | 7 | January 3, 2016 | February 14, 2016 |
| Season 9 | 8 | September 14, 2016 | November 2, 2016 |
| Season 10 | 10 | January 1, 2017 | March 5, 2017 |
| Season 11 | 8 | August 23, 2017 | October 11, 2017 |
| Season 12 | 10 | January 7, 2018 | March 11, 2018 |
| Season 13 | 6 | April 15, 2018 | May 20, 2018 |
| Season 14 | 7 | August 13, 2018 | September 23, 2018 |
| Season 15 | 9 | January 6, 2019 | March 3, 2019 |
| Season 16 | 7 | April 21, 2019 | June 2, 2019 |
| Season 17 | 8 | August 4, 2019 | September 22, 2019 |
| Season 18 | 10 | January 5, 2020 | March 8, 2020 |
| Season 19 | 6 | May 10, 2020 | June 14, 2020 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Thanksgiving Redemption 2 | November 10, 2019 |
| 7 |
Halloween Redemption 2 Four ghoulishly disastrous Worst Cooks recruits return for another stab at boot camp, and they will once again face their fears in the kitchen and tackle terrifying ingredients. Under chefs Anne Burrell's and Michael Symon's coaching, the culinary hopefuls will create a Spooktacular feast for a panel of culinary experts. The recruits start by making a dish using a mystery ingredient they have been assigned; after Anne and Michael pick their teams, the chefs will teach them to make a buffet for a Halloween gathering in order to win a kitchen upgrade worth $5,000 and bragging rights. |
September 26, 2021 |
| 8 |
The Hottest Mess Awards Worst Cooks in America celebrates the funniest mishaps from 24 seasons. |
October 2, 2021 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Into the Fire In the series premiere, 24 terrible home cooks arrive in New York City, hoping to be selected for a 10-day culinary boot camp with chefs Beau MacMillan and Anne Burrell. Then, the field is narrowed down to 12 hopefuls and they begin competing for a $25,000 grand prize. |
January 3, 2010 |
| 2 |
Looking Good The recruits learn five fundamental knife skills at the Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse. Then, each attempts to prepare a teppanyaki-style dish. For the Main Dish Challenge, Anne and Beau post a recipe on the blackboard, only to erase it halfway through the challenge. |
January 10, 2010 |
| 3 |
Feelin' the Flavor The importance of flavor is emphasized when the recruits learn to make crepes. Then, Anne and Beau teach the basics of marinating and grilling. |
January 17, 2010 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Worst Food Forward Sixteen unskilled home cooks arrive in New York City to begin a culinary boot camp in the Season 2 opener. Hosts Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine divide the recruits into two teams and challenge them to butcher a whole chicken and replicate the entrées they've been taught. |
January 2, 2011 |
| 2 |
Farmageddon The remaining recruits take a field trip to a farm, where they're challenged to prepare the perfect omelet. Later, the hopefuls try to re-create a pork dish, relying only on their own memory after their notebooks are taken away. |
January 9, 2011 |
| 3 |
Frozen to Fabulous The hopefuls must replicate three simple sauces and incorporate them into seafood dishes. Later, they re-create frozen meals using fresh and flavorful ingredients. |
January 16, 2011 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Best of the Worst Sixteen hapless home cooks begin culinary boot camp in the Season 3 opener. First, the recruits prepare signature dishes, which are then critiqued by hosts Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay. Later, they learn the basics of cooking breakfast. |
February 12, 2012 |
| 2 |
Going Global The recruits will be tested on an international level as they attempt to learn to make Hand Pulled Chinese Noodles and meatballs from around the globe. Will the recruits pull through or will they create an international disaster? |
February 19, 2012 |
| 3 |
Flavor Combos It's all about flavors for the recruits as they have to make and top their own pizza and have their palates tested with extreme and odd flavor combinations. With 12 recruits left, they will all have to fight to taste victory! |
February 26, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Worst of the Worst Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay are back to turn teams of charmingly helpless recruits into fearless culinary masters. |
February 17, 2013 |
| 2 |
Straight Edge Skills This week Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay test the knife skills of the worst cooks in America. The remaining 12 recruits hit the high seas in a fishing skill drill and also have to take a huge step into the world of farm to table butchery. |
February 24, 2013 |
| 3 |
Fire and Ice Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay train the remaining 10 recruits' palates as they work on creating their own unique flavor combinations. The worst cooks freeze while making gelato and play with fire — as well as burgers — in this week's challenge with special guest Willie Degel. |
March 3, 2013 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Worse Than Ever Coming off her first loss in four seasons, to Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell is out for revenge. In a rematch, they scour the country for the 14 worst cooks in America, pick teams and gives the recruits their first cooking lesson. |
February 17, 2014 |
| 2 |
Scratching the Surface Since Chefs Bobby and Anne are starting from scratch with these bad cooks, the lessons for the week involve learning to cook from scratch -- including an "udder-ly" hands-on experience sourcing milk for homemade cheese. |
February 24, 2014 |
| 3 |
Glazed and Confused It's time to learn how to build flavors. From a sweet skill drill making doughnuts to a savory main dish challenge making roulades, the recruits are asked to experiment for the first time and create their own take dishes. |
March 3, 2014 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
It Just Keeps Getting Worse The fourteen new recruits, nominated by family and friends for their horrendous cooking skills, are selected to compete in a grueling culinary boot camp. |
January 4, 2015 |
| 2 |
Prepping for Success The teams face-off in an effort to gain recipe steps through food trivia; learning and executing knife skills; the recruits must successfully create the Spanish dish paella. |
January 11, 2015 |
| 3 |
Spice Up Your Life The Recruits try their hands at experimenting with flavor combinations with a Skill Drill where they serve their crepe creations in a blind tasting. Then the Recruits make their own international tacos: Some flavor combinations are good enough to take over the world while some are truly Worst Cooks worthy! |
January 18, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Celebrity Pot-un-lucky With Rachael Ray beside her, Chef Anne Burrell faces a new challenge — celebrities who can't cook. They only have six weeks to transform seven pampered celebs into kitchen stars. To assess everyone's skills, Anne and Rachael host a potluck and find themselves tasting some very interesting dishes. After Anne and Rachael pick teams, one celebrity is sent back to Tinsel Town. |
September 23, 2015 |
| 2 |
Takeout or Get Out The celebrity recruits put their palates to the test in a blindfolded taste and identify game. After seeing what they're working with, Chef Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray focus on getting the celebs to lose their biggest kitchen crutch — takeout. The two recruits with the worst takeout dishes go head-to-head in an elimination challenge. |
September 30, 2015 |
| 3 |
Celebrity Showdown Chef Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray's remaining celebrity recruits start the week by testing their food knowledge in a game that gets everyone's competitive side fired up. They then have to use their newfound food knowledge to make a signature celebrity sandwich. Anne and Rachael select the cooks of their least favorite sandwiches into a blind elimination challenge. |
October 7, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Fear the Worst Chef Tyler Florence returns to the kitchen to challenge reigning champ Chef Anne Burrell to a rematch. An open casting call attracts some of the worst cooks that they've seen yet, but they choose 14 recruits to train back at culinary boot camp. These "home cooks" make their signature dishes, and after an unsavory tasting, Anne and Tyler pick their teams and attempt to teach them how to make a well-balanced dinner. |
January 3, 2016 |
| 2 |
Getting Stuffed Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Tyler Florence test the recruits' food knowledge in a game show-style battle of "Family Food," where they go head-to-head to win steps for an incomplete recipe. After the game, they clumsily attempt to fill in the blanks in their partial recipes and cook the dish. Then, they all must stuff and prepare a delicate cut of meat. |
January 10, 2016 |
| 3 |
50 Shades of Flavor The recruits learn all about flavor combinations by taste-testing some unlikely pairings, then then the Skill Drill tests their creativity as they construct unique ice cream sandwiches. The flavor showdown continues when the recruits must create their own unique filling for empanadas, and two recruits fail to deliver. |
January 17, 2016 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Celebrity Dish-Asters Celebrity contestants compete in the Season 9 premiere, which begins with Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray assessing the skills (or lack thereof) of their celebrity recruits, who are asked to cook a dish, using some unique ingredients from Hollywood gift swag bags. Later, instructions are given for how to prepare a simple steak and eggs dish. |
September 14, 2016 |
| 2 |
Hawaiian Pig and a Poke The celebrity recruits are introduced to unique tropical flavors and then given the task of replicating Hawaiian poke and pork dishes. |
September 21, 2016 |
| 3 |
Oktoberfest Feast Anne and Rachael get into the spirit of Oktoberfest by having their teams cook a traditional wiener schnitzel. But there's a twist when the challenge involves a relay race. Then, sausage is made from scratch. |
September 28, 2016 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Decade of Dish-Asters The new recruits enter boot camp with dreams of becoming great chefs, but their dreams become nightmares when they see photos of their culinary failures mounted on their stations. To start off, mentors Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray have the recruits cook their signature dishes so that they can assess their skills in the kitchen. Then, the recruits dive headfirst into a main dish challenge where they must cook shrimp and live lobster. The recruits with the least successful dishes on each team will be sent home. |
January 1, 2017 |
| 2 |
Frozen Freak Out Mentors Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray help the recruits break out of their shell by starting with the most important meal of the day: breakfast. First, the teams get cracking in a game that will get their hands messy and show how much they know about the many different egg dishes. The mentors then bring the day full circle in the main dish challenge by teaching the recruits how to ditch frozen microwave meals and create a home-cooked dinner that will have their friends and family coming back for more. |
January 8, 2017 |
| 3 |
All Aboard! Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray teach the recruits all about flavor, starting with a skill drill that puts their tongues and taste buds to the test. For the main dish challenge, the recruits put their newly-learned flavor combination skills to work as they take a culinary trip around the world and make a roulade inspired by a basket of ingredients that corresponds to the cuisine of a foreign country. |
January 15, 2017 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celebrity: Social Media Food Failures | August 23, 2017 |
| 2 | Celebrity: Shabby to Chic | August 30, 2017 |
| 3 |
Celebrity: Starting From Scratch 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. |
September 6, 2017 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Can It Really Be This Bad? Sixteen of the worst cooks in America, including a sportscaster, a feisty granny and a professional balloon artist, arrive at boot camp with dreams of putting their kitchen nightmares behind them. Mentors Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence need to assess the level of disaster they're facing, so they ask the recruits to make their own specialty dishes -- and the results are worse than the chefs could have imagined! For the first main dish challenge, the mentors teach the recruits how to make the most important meal of the day, and the recruit on each team with the worst breakfast dish is sent home. |
January 7, 2018 |
| 2 |
Fish Are Food, Not Friends Mentors Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence introduce a game in which the recruits meet some magical and mysterious kitchen gadgets. The recruits become fast friends with the most important tool of all, a knife, to make fajitas while demonstrating their knife skills. Then boot camp transforms into a fish market, and the recruits get up close and personal with the catch of the day as they learn to fillet and prepare fish. The recruits who don't get along with their new friends end up sleeping with the fishes. |
January 14, 2018 |
| 3 |
Show Me the Vegetables! The Worst Cooks boot camp is transformed into a game show, Family Food, and the teams of recruits go head-to-head in trivia rounds and culinary tasks that test their knowledge. For the main dish challenge, they're finally ready to put down roots in the kitchen and learn about cooking vegetables. Some will make dishes that taste fresh from the garden, but some recruits will leave mentors Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence missing the meat. |
January 21, 2018 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Celebrity: Hit Me With Your Best Dish The new cast of celebrity recruits arrive at Boot Camp, and chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence immediately hit them with their first challenge to cook their signature dishes so the chefs can assess their skills in the kitchen. Then the chefs teach the celebrities how to make a classic breakfast dish, and the lesson proves to be disastrous for the clueless cooks. After Anne and Tyler choose their teams, the celebrities are ready to officially start their culinary training. |
April 15, 2018 |
| 2 |
Celebrity: Rolling in the Deep Anne and Tyler throw the celebrities into the deep end and start off the day with a fast-paced seafood tower relay game; things get ugly when the recruits tackle monkfish and learn how to make fish and chips. |
April 22, 2018 |
| 3 |
Celebrity: Mother Dough Anne and Tyler watch their teams go head-to-head in the kitchen playing multiple rounds of celebrity-driven food games; the recruits have to make their own unique pizzas; the two least successful recruits face off in a bruschetta challenge. |
April 29, 2018 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Celebrity: A La Cuisine! Fourteen cooks join culinary boot camp with hopes of putting their kitchen nightmares behind them. Chefs Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine want to see what they are dealing with, so they ask the recruits to make their signature dishes. The recruits split into teams and learn to make a surf-and-turf dish. |
August 13, 2018 |
| 2 |
Hibachi Heroes Boot camp transforms into the game show Family Food and the teams go head to head in trivia rounds and culinary tasks testing their knowledge; a Teppanyaki chef performs dazzling tricks over a grill; the recruits learn to make a hibachi-style meal. |
August 19, 2018 |
| 3 |
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner For the skill drill, the recruits must work in teams to identify the ingredients of five mother sauces and then create their own chicken with pan sauce dishes for their chef; the recruits make fried chicken and cornbread for the main dish. |
August 26, 2018 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Perfect Bird Fifteen bad cooks enter boot camp with dreams of putting their kitchen nightmares behind them. Chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence want to see what they are dealing with so they begin by asking the recruits to make their signature dishes. |
January 6, 2019 |
| 2 |
Eggtastic The remaining recruits enter boot camp to find it has been transformed into a casino complete with a game of egg roulette. |
January 13, 2019 |
| 3 |
Cowboy Cuisine The recruits enter boot camp and discover that they will be going back to the basics with meat-and-potatoes challenges. |
January 20, 2019 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
This Isn't How It Looks in the Pictures Eight of the worst celebrity cooks in America arrive at culinary boot camp, and chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence ask them each to cook their favorite restaurant dish to see how they measure up to the original. |
April 21, 2019 |
| 2 |
Wheel of Misfortune It's Celebrity Game Night at boot camp, and the teams of celebrity cooks go head to head for food games and trivia, including a Wheel of Horror; celebrities go on a museum tour of famous movie dishes and are asked to replicate movie-inspired dishes. |
April 28, 2019 |
| 3 |
Celebrity: Take the Bait Celebrity recruits are introduced to fish; for the skill drill, teams race to assemble sushi rolls off a speedy conveyor belt; for the main dish challenge, recruits make fish tacos with homemade tortillas. |
May 5, 2019 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nowhere to Go But Up | August 4, 2019 |
| 2 |
"My Big Fat Greek..." The recruits are tasked with making their own mezze platters and a Greek lamb dish. |
August 11, 2019 |
| 3 |
Summer Catch, Summer Heat For the main dish, the recruits must filet a whole fish and create a side dish with a kick of heat. |
August 18, 2019 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Bottom's Up Sixteen of the worst cooks in America enter boot camp with dreams of putting their kitchen nightmares behind them. Food brainiac Alton Brown and Chef Anne Burrell want to see what they're dealing with, so they ask the recruits to make a baseline dish, and the results are truly disastrous. After being sorted into teams, the recruits try to make their chef's chicken soup and sandwich dish, and the recruits with the worst dishes are sent home. |
January 5, 2020 |
| 2 |
Indulge Me The recruits enter boot camp and find out that the theme is indulgence. Their first lesson is that salads can be indulgent, too, and the recruits play a game where salad elements are tossed into a bowl on their teammate's head. Anne Burrell and Alton Brown teach the recruits how to make fresh mozzarella for a salad, and for the main dish challenge, the recruits re-create their chef's craveable dish. The recruits who indulge their worst tendencies in the kitchen will be sent home. |
January 12, 2020 |
| 3 |
Chinese New Year The recruits enter boot camp and see it transformed for a Chinese New Year celebration. First, they play a game where fortune cookie clues lead them to ingredients, and they learn to make fried rice. For the main dish challenge, Anne Burrell and Alton Brown mentor the recruits as they make dumplings, and while some dumplings are great, others are filled with disappointment. |
January 19, 2020 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Famous Dish-asters Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Tyler Florence are back in boot camp to whip seven of the worst celebrity cooks in America into culinary shape. But before the chefs can pick their teams, they want to see what skills -- or lack of skills -- they're working with. For the baseline challenge, the recruits are tasked with making their go-to dish for a dinner party. After the recruits are split into teams, the chefs show them how to cure those dinner party dish-asters with a delicious boozy brunch that they must replicate in order to stay in the competition. |
May 10, 2020 |
| 2 |
A Day at the Races The celebrity recruits enter boot camp to see chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence sporting fabulous derby hats! In honor of the Triple Crown, the recruits enter a race of their own to test how well they can identify and put together flavors on a crostini. For the main dish challenge, the chefs show the recruits how to make a fancy steak dinner worthy of any celebrity table. The least-successful recruits face a blind elimination challenge where the "steaks" have never been higher. |
May 17, 2020 |
| 3 |
Sea-List to A-List The celebrity recruits enter boot camp to find it transformed into a nautical oasis equipped with fish tanks and a live mermaid! For their skill drill challenge, the recruits dive into the world of seafood by solving a recipe riddle to make ceviche. For the main dish challenge, chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence show them how to butcher their own fish and make the classic fish en papillote. The recruits have to replicate their chef's fish but also create their own vegetable side dish. The two recruits that sink to the bottom enter the blind elimination challenge and attempt to cook their way into another week of boot camp. |
May 24, 2020 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Food Network |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 3, 2010 |
| Last aired | February 1, 2026 |
| Runtime | 42 minutes |
| Status | Returning Series |
| Schedule | Monday at 21:00:00 |