In season 7 of the reality cooking show, a string of celebrities including Superman star Dean Cain, Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Kendra Wilkinson and Jaleel White (Steve Urkel) , battle it out for the title of least worst cook in America.
The common thread among them? Zero talent in the kitchen.
But with help from the show’s mentors, Rachael Ray and Anne Burrell, slowly (read: at the pace of a maimed snail) we see their skill sets expand. Here’s a bunch of things we learned from episode 1:
- Ketchup is a condiment, not a pasta sauce.
- There’s such thing as a “third date closer”. Jaleel White calls it the ‘seal the deal meal’. Basically, it’s where you cook for your date in the hopes of impressing them all the way back to your place. Who knew.
Tomato sauce has no place in pasta. Source: Worst Cooks in America
- When in doubt, fry it (thanks again, Jaleel).
- Cut on the cutting board, because you’re not Zoro (Anne’s words to Dean Cain, not ours. We’d never be mean to Clark Kent).
- Stir your pots with a spoon not a knife. There’s a number of reasons why.
- A knife is not just a knife, as Kendra learned. That means, bread knives should be reserved for – you guessed it.
- Fish and hardboiled eggs don’t ever belong together.
- A teaspoon of cinnamon in apple sauce is a good thing. Half a cup – not so much.
- Carrots should be peeled and topped before they're boiled, not after.
- A swig of whiskey when things hit the fan is only a good idea in single digits (ie, 12 swigs can makes things tricky).
Booze should be sipped rather than swilled while cooking, despite what Jenni JWoww Farley believes. Source: Worst Cooks in America
Here's what else you can expect throughout the season.
Episode 1: Celebrity Pot (un) Lucky
With new-kid-on-the-block Rachael Ray now beside her, Anne Burrell steps up to a new challenge - celebrities who can’t cook. Rachael and Anne have 6 weeks to turn 7 pampered celebs into kitchen stars. The culinary mentors need to assess everyone’s skill, so they host the first ever Worst Cooks Pot Luck and find themselves tasting some very interesting dishes. When Anne and Rachel pick teams, one celebrity does not make the cut and is sent back to Tinsel Town.
Episode 2: Take Out Or Get out
Rachael and Anne test their recruits’ palates with a Taste and Identify game. When the celebrities are blindfolded and made to taste ingredients and flavor pairings, hilarity ensues. With an idea of what they are working with, Rachael and Anne decide to help the celebs lose their biggest kitchen crutch, TAKE OUT! The Celebrecruits learn and are tested on making their own take out from scratch. At elimination, the two recruits with the worst dishes go head to head in an elimination challenge to see who will fight another day in Boot Camp.
Episode 3: Celebrity Showdown
Anne and Rachael’s remaining celebrity recruits start the week by testing food knowledge in everyone’s favorite game show, FAMILY FOOD. The competition between the teams’ fires up and the game comes down the wire. The recruits then have to use their newfound food knowledge to make their own signature Celebrity Sandwich. Anne and Rachael nominate the cooks of their least favorite sandwiches into a blind elimination that will leave one team down a recruit half way through Boot Camp.
Episode 4: Riddle me this
Rachael Ray and Anne Burrel are the mentor/professional celebrity wranglers. Source: Worst Cooks in America
The remaining celebrity recruits walk into Boot Camp to find two huge boards with recipes on them - but the recipes are not complete. As a team the recruits scramble to fill in the blanks so they can move on and cook the recipe. The Celebrecruits then turn their attention to making fresh pasta with seafood. More than one recruit has an aversion to our friends from the sea and culinary boundaries are tested. The bottom two recruits go head to head in a blind elimination challenge to see who gets to stay in Boot Camp and who has to book a ticket home.
Episode 5: Tapas Can’t Stop Us
The final 3 celebrity recruits are left to battle it out for a spot in the finale and a chance to win bragging rights for their mentor. Rachael and Anne teach the recruits about entertaining and they must first make chips, salsa, and guacamole from scratch. With the caterer unavailable, the Celebrecruits have their entertaining and multi-tasking skills pushed even further as they are challenged to make several small plates of tapas to be served at once. It’s the final blind elimination of the season and it decides which two recruits will get the opportunity to win $50,000 for the charity of their choice.
Episode 6: Final Food Fight
Mentors Anne and Rachael take the final two celebrity recruits to a professional kitchen for their last challenge: cook a refined 3-course menu for a panel of culinary experts. The past 5 weeks have all been in preparation for this moment. The recruits work tirelessly to determine which mentor is the best teacher, who will win $50,000 for charity, and who will be the first winner of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition.
Visit our for more or catch up on missed episodes over at or watch episode 1 below.
