Recap of the 'Worst Cooks in America' Season 4 Premiere!

It is time for me to watch and recap the Food Network’s fourth season premiere of Worst Cooks in America.  I have actually never watched this show before, and probably wouldn’t be watching it if it weren’t for a nice ex-reality television “star” competing on the season.  Who is this person that I speak of, you wonder?  It is Alex Stein “Primetime 99” from ABC’s The Glass House!  If you don’t remember him, he was the obnoxious first boot.  About a month ago, he talked on Rob Has a Podcast (RHAP) a little about his time on Worst Cooks, and you can listen to that HERE.

Chefs Anne Burrell (left) and Bobby Flay (right)
will serve as mentors on the fourth season of
'Worst Cooks in America'

In case, like myself, you are new to this show, Worst Cooks in America airs new episodes at 9 pm on Sundays, on the Food Network channel.  This show is basically just what the name implies.  Two judges each have a team comprised of the “worst cooks in America” and are training them to be great cooks, or at least, good cooks.  In the early episodes, one person from each team will be leaving at the end of each episode, but I’m not sure how it works when the numbers get low.  In the end, the “best of the worst” will be the one who wins it all.  The winner wins $25,000 and a crapton of kitchen supplies. 

We start off with some auditions.  None of these people know how to chop an onion!  Okay, so, I probably couldn’t either, but I’d like the pretend that I could!  Also, I think a lot of these people must be like me and not have a sense of smell (Note: That means I also have impaired taste.  Or as some people like to tell me, no taste)… because these people think that their terrible cooking tastes good!

The first challenge is that the contestants will be given full access to the kitchen and its appliances.  They’re given a lot of “normal” kitchen ingredients and time to make their signature dish.  The judges will be tasting these dishes and then doing a draft of sorts to form their teams that will last for the entire show.

Rasheeda is clueless in the kitchen, and is here to learn how to cook so that she can find her Mr. Right. Her clock is tickin’, people!   Chet “chetalizes” everything that he does, but to be honest, I think he has a leg up on the others.  He is an interior designer, so he should be at least able to make his food look good.   Alex is eating as he cooks his food because “there are starving children” in other countries and he doesn’t want to let food go to waste!  HA!  Carla has a huge crush on Bobby Flay so she is set out to impress him, and hopefully end up on his team.  But, something goes wrong with her cooking when she realizes that at some point in the cooking process, she lost one of her fake fingernails!  And she can’t find it, so it likely in her food!

Primetime Alex Stein is successful at catching things on fire!

It’s too impossible to commentate on this draft, but my early favorites are Alex and Chet (who were drafted onto Bobby’s team) and Michael (who was drafted onto Anne’s team).  It is also notable to add that Carla was drafted onto Bobby’s team, and BOY, was she giddy!  

(Note: she remained giddy throughout the entire episode!)

Before the elimination challenge, the “crutch” of the contestants, the microwave, is taken from them.  They were all reacting as if someone had died, but, I mean, I could understand this, I guess, because I’d probably be so malnourished if it weren't for the handy microwave.  So, who knows!  Maybe I will be cast onto Worst Cooks in America season 5!  Hannah from Worst Cooks!  YEAH!  Also, before the challenge, each coach/mentor teaches their team how to make a certain dish and then asks them to, in 60 minutes, come up with their own version of the dish.  Long story short, they also are given the twist of making a vegetable side dish using any technique, and the end results do not look THAT bad!

After the taste test portion, it’s time for each mentor to pick a “best” and a “worst” dish from their team and the contestant with the worst dish from each team will be eliminated from the competition.  For Anne’s team, the red team, she chooses Michael as the winner!  For Bobby’s team, the blue team, he chooses Chet as the winner!   My favorites are off to a strong start!

Diana is named the "worst" of the
red team, and is the first eliminated
from the season.

The “worst” of the red team is Diana.  She was a kind middle-aged woman who seemed saddened by the fact that she couldn’t cook.  But, Anne thought that since she forgot the sauce to her dish, and presented a bad dish, that it was her time to leave the competition.  The “worst” of the blue team is Tim.  He was a middle-aged man who hadn’t cooked much since his days in college, thanks to his wife.  Tim went out on a pretty good note though.  He was proud of the dish that he cooked, and even went as far as to say that if he cooked it for his family, they would carry him around on their shoulders like he were a hero, or something.   Good for you, Tim.  You go, Tim.

Tim is named the "worst" of the blue
team, and is the second eliminated
from the season.

And that concludes this premiere episode recap of Worst Cooks in America!  Three cheers for Primetime Alex Stein NOT repeating history, and making it past the first cut in the show!  Now, here are some memorable quotes from tonight’s episode.  (I tried to direct quote most, but I’m still pretty bad with the names, so I failed with some of them):

“C’mon, it’s a kitchen.  Who HASN’T set it on fire?” –Michael

“No one will eat my food, it’s disgusting.  I can only eat it because I’m part dog.” –Alex

“DINOSAUR CHICKEN NUGGETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Oh, they have a refrigerator!!! WOW!”

“If you pick me to be on your team, I will do your taxes.. for FREE!”

“I should have just made them cereal.  That’s what I should’ve done.”

“I like to burn things because then I know it’s definitely cooked.”

“There’s this huge kitchen.. which, I don’t know why they gave that to us..”  (regarding the house that they’re staying in)

 “If cooking is this hard, I’m going to be single for life.” –Rasheeda

“Holy Toledo! I totes won!” –Michael

‘Worst Cooks in America’ airs at 9pm on Sundays on the Food Network!