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Worst Cooks in America is an American reality television series that premiered on January 3, 2010, on Food Network. The show takes 12 to 16 contestants (referred to as "recruits") with very poor cooking skills through a culinary boot camp, to earn a cash prize of $25,000 and a Food Network cooking set. In the celebrity edition of the show, the winning celebrity gets a $50,000 prize to donate to the charity of their choice.[2][3] 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.[4]
| Worst Cooks in America | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 29 |
| No. of episodes | 217[1] |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Production ___location | New York City |
| Running time | 60-90 minutes |
| Production company | Optomen Productions, Inc. |
| Original release | |
| Network | Food Network |
| Release | January 3, 2010 – present |
| Related | |
Mentors
edit| Mentor | Seasons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | ||
| Anne Burrell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beau MacMillan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Irvine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bobby Flay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tyler Florence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rachael Ray | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alton Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alex Guarnaschelli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carla Hall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michael Symon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff Crooks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jeff Mauro | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Darnell Ferguson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tiffany Derry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Antonia Lofaso | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gabriele Bertaccini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series overview
edit| Season | Episodes | Originally released | Recruits | Winner | Runner–up | Winning Mentor | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||||||
| 1 | 6 | January 3, 2010 | February 1, 2010 | Food Network | 12 | Rachel Coleman | Jennifer "Jenny" Cross | Anne Burrell (1/15) | |
| 2 | 8 | January 2, 2011 | February 20, 2011 | 16 | Joshua "Joshie" Berger | Georgann "Georg" Coleman | Anne Burrell (2/15) | ||
| 3 | 8 | February 12, 2012 | April 1, 2012 | 16 | Kelli Powers | Vinnie Caligiuri | Anne Burrell (3/15) | ||
| 4 | 7 | February 17, 2013 | March 31, 2013 | 14 | Alina Bolshakova | Rasheeda Brown | Bobby Flay (1/3) | ||
| 5 | 7 | February 17, 2014 | March 31, 2014 | 14 | Amber Brauner | Jamie Thomas | Bobby Flay (2/3) | ||
| 6 | 7 | January 4, 2015 | February 15, 2015 | 14 | Kristen Redmond | Genique Freeman | Anne Burrell (4/15) | ||
| 7 | 6 | September 23, 2015 | October 28, 2015 | 7 | Jenni "JWoww" Farley | Kendra Wilkinson | Anne Burrell (5/15) | ||
| 8 | 7 | January 4, 2016 | February 16, 2016 | 14 | Nick Slater | Lawrence Crawford | Anne Burrell (6/15) | ||
| 9 | 8 | September 14, 2016 | November 2, 2016 | 9 | Loni Love | Nicole Sullivan | Rachael Ray (1/2) | ||
| 10 | 10 | January 1, 2017 | March 5, 2017 | 16 | Daniel Mar | Ann Odogwu | Anne Burrell (7/15) | ||
| 11 | 8 | September 23, 2017 | October 11, 2017 | 8 | Perez Hilton | Melissa Peterman | Rachael Ray (2/2) | ||
| 12 | 10 | January 7, 2018 | March 11, 2018 | 16 | Hazell Mckenzie | Steven Crowley | Anne Burrell (8/15) | ||
| 13 | 6 | April 15, 2018 | May 20, 2018 | 7 | La Toya Jackson | Ian Ziering | Tyler Florence (1/1) | ||
| 14 | 7 | August 12, 2018 | September 24, 2018 | 14 | Bradley Garcia | Sarah Harris | Robert Irvine (1/1) | ||
| 15 | 9 | January 6, 2019 | March 3, 2019 | 15 | Allison Wolfe | Brittany Carel | Anne Burrell (9/15) | ||
| 16 | 7 | April 21, 2019 | June 2, 2019 | 8 | Tonya Harding | Alec Mapa | Anne Burrell (10/15) | ||
| 17 | 8 | August 4, 2019 | September 22, 2019 | 14 | Adrian Read | Juliann Sheldon | Bobby Flay (3/3) | ||
| 18 | 10 | August 4, 2019 | September 22, 2019 | 16 | Shannon Akins | Leo Lech | Anne Burrell (11/15) | ||
| 19 | 7 | May 10, 2020 | June 14, 2020 | 7 | Wells Adams | Johnny Bananas | Anne Burrell (12/15) | ||
| 20 | 8 | June 21, 2020 | September 2, 2020 | 14 | Ariel "Ari" Robinson | Zack Ignoffo | Alex Guarnaschelli (1/1) | ||
| 21 | 8 | January 3, 2021 | February 28, 2021 | 14 | Amber Leverette | Cameron Bartlett | Carla Hall (1/1) | ||
| 22 | 6 | April 25, 2021 | May 30, 2021 | 8 | Mercedes “Sadie” Manda | Domaine Javier | Anne Burrell (13/15) | ||
| 23 | 8 | January 5, 2022 | February 23, 2022 | 12 | Peachez Iman-Cummings | Marti Cummings | Cliff Crooks (1/1) | ||
| 24 | 7 | April 24, 2022 | May 29, 2022 | 9 | Tracey Gold | Jodie Sweetin | Anne Burrell (14/15) | ||
| 25 | 8 | January 1, 2023 | February 5, 2023 | 12 | Nick Trawick | Michael Judson Berry | Anne Burrell (15/15) | ||
| 26 | 8 | August 6, 2023 | September 10, 2023 | 16 | Jessica Singer | Samantha "Sami" White | Jeff Mauro (1/1) | ||
| 27 | 6 | January 7, 2024 | February 4, 2024 | 16 | Stacey Loper | Leona McTaggart-Chapman | Tiffany Derry (1/1) | ||
| 28 | 7 | January 5, 2025 | February 2, 2025 | 10 | Corinne Olympios | Adam Rippon | Antonia Lofaso (1/1) | ||
| 29 | 7 | July 28, 2025 | September 1, 2025 | 16 | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
Mentor records
edit| Mentor | Wins | Losses | Win Pct.% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Guarnaschelli | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| Carla Hall | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| Cliff Crooks | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| Tiffany Derry | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| Antonia Lofaso | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| Bobby Flay | 3 | 1 | 75% |
| Anne Burrell | 15 | 12 | 58% |
| Rachael Ray | 2 | 2 | 50% |
| Robert Irvine | 1 | 1 | 50% |
| Jeff Mauro | 1 | 2 | 33% |
| Tyler Florence | 1 | 6 | 14% |
| Alton Brown | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Beau MacMillan | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Darnell Ferguson | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Michael Symon | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Gabriele Bertaccini | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ "Shows A-Z - worst cooks in america on food network". The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
- ^ Lynch, Rene (January 2, 2010). "'Worst Cooks in America' isn't just a title: They're horrible". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ Tucker, Ken (January 4, 2010). "'Worst Cooks in America': Worst thing I watched most of last night". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ Worst Cooks in America (Comedy, Game-Show, Reality-TV), Anne Burrell, Tyler Florence, Bobby Flay, Optomen Productions, January 3, 2010, retrieved July 24, 2025
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