Heading into their fifth week of Boot Camp, the Worst Cooks in America recruits will be forced to face one of their top culinary fears: cooking for others. Many of the competitors have admitted to making their friends and families sick with haphazardly prepared dishes from kitchen attempts past, so it’s no surprise that they’re leery about unsuspecting strangers sampling their latest offerings. Have their skills come so far in the past month that they can now be trusted to feed the public? How will the taste testers react to the contestants’ meals?
After Sunday’s initial challenge of making Asian-inspired dumplings for supermarket shoppers, it will be up to Chef Anne and Bobby‘s teams to prepare a spread of bar snacks for a crowd of hungry motorcycle riders. In the above sneak-peek shot from the all-new episode, the mentors are seen chatting with one of the bikers, and so far, the group seems to be enjoying the experience the contestants are providing. Do you think these happy faces will last throughout the cook-off, or will a partygoer ultimately encounter a disastrous dish? Which samplers — the shoppers or bikers — will be more lenient with the recruits’ culinary shortcomings? Will the mentors be wowed by the contestants’ progress, or will they find some making too many rookie mistakes?
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In an attempt to conquer what Chef Bobby Flay deemed “the final frontier for any home cook,” the remaining Worst Cooks in America recruits tackled the sweeter side of the kitchen: baking. Sweet Genius Ron Ben-Israel stopped by Boot Camp to offer them a basic cake-making tutorial, and while some of their hopes for dreamy dessert crumbled, a few recruits rose to the occasion.
After a 90-minute bake-off, the Blue Team‘s Alina and the Red Team‘s Rasheeda were named the most-successful competitors in this week’s Main Dish Challenge, as they managed to pull off cakes that boasted creative design and winning flavor combinations. Both baking with their cakes’ eventual recipients in mind, Alina and Rasheeda utilized age-appropriate ingredients and fitting frosting designs that reflected what Dash and Sawyer, twin 7-year-old birthday boys, and Rita, a recent retiree, respectively, would enjoy at their celebrations. Alina offered the boys a multicolored caked filled with jam and peanut butter cups as a nod to the kid-friendly PB&J sandwich, while Rasheeda took Rita’s like of nuts to the next level by adding pecans to the top of her light pink-tinted ginger cake.
If you were in need of a cake for your celebration, whose would you order? Are you a fan of Alina’s playful flavor approach to the classic dessert, or do you prefer more mature tastes like the ginger in Rasheeda’s cake? Would you opt for over-the-top color like Alina’s orange-and-green creation, or would you keep it simple with subtle hues?
Vote for your favorite cake
As one of the most-successful pastry chefs in the country, Sweet Genius Ron Ben-Israel is known for creating sky-high cakes that are as deliciously whimsical as they are stunningly beautiful. On Sunday’s episode of Worst Cooks in America, however, he was forced to abandon the high-quality demands he prides himself on in his professional kitchen and think back to basics. Stopping by Boot Camp to offer the recruits an in-depth cake-baking how-to, he showed them seemingly simple recipes for creating wow-worthy celebration cakes, but for some of the competitors, this challenge ultimately proved to be nothing short of impossible. We checked in with Chef Ron to find out what it was like helping the competitors turn out their best-possible confections and to learn the most-shocking moment he experienced at Boot Camp. Read on below to get the insider scoop on what went down, plus check out Chef Ron’s easy tips for at-home bakers.
How was your time on the show?
RB: I’m a big fan of the show and always learn something valuable by watching Chefs Anne and Bobby. So I was so excited to be asked to come to the kitchen and teach the recruits how to bake a cake. And they were so sweet and excited to see me! Also, the kitchen was very well equipped with every tool and ingredient that a cake designer may wish for. I was so happy to be there and started demonstrating with great enthusiasm.
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For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
In the Sweet Genius kitchen, Master Pastry Chef Ron Ben-Israel is all business and no nonsense, challenging top professional bakers to a slew of culinary tasks on the clock. When he’s in charge, only confectionary perfection will suffice; others’ second-best efforts are simply unworthy of the genius title.
All of that is about to change come Sunday night, when Chef Ron drops by Boot Camp to lead the Worst Cooks in America recruits in a simple baking how-to. No longer striving for excellence, the Sweet Genius himself is after mere edibility when it comes to concocting cakes with some contestants who’ve opened their ovens only a handful of times — ever. Will he be able to instill in them a penchant for light, airy batters and smooth, fluffy frostings, or will the teams crumble under the pressures of pastry?
Given the sneak-peek image above from Sunday’s all-new episode, it looks as though it’s Chef Ron who’s taking the brunt of the challenge, as the Blue Team’s Alina Bolshakova dangles a bowlful of frosting over his head. Is her maneuver somehow part of the cake-making process, or do you think this is simply a well-meaning game she’s playing with Chef Ron? Will the Sweet Genius soon be covered with fallen frosting, or does he manage to dodge Alina’s bright-orange spread?
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Flavors were the primary talk of Boot Camp on Sunday’s episode of Worst Cooks in America: which tastes work best together, which ingredients should never be paired and what flavors are most successful in sweet treats and savory picks. The recruits tackled these questions and more as they experimented with signature combinations while crafting from-scratch gelato and handmade hamburgers in an attempt to test their palates.
During the Main Dish Challenge in which contestants from both teams battled for burger glory, the mentors demonstrated that even seemingly unusual ingredients can and often do work well together. In true Bobby Flay form, the Blue Team leader added a topping of potato chips to his beefy creation, “crunchifying” the burger from between the buns. Chef Anne Burrell, too, embraced the untraditional by making for the Red Team a Greek-inspired lamb patty finished with a creamy tzatziki spread. Both of the chefs’ creative additions to the everyday burger proved successful, but many of the recruits’ efforts were simply disappointing, including Sue’s mozzarella-stuffed patties that barely held their shape, Carrie Lee’s chicken burgers that were burned and of course Alex’s overwhelming “burg-dog” and Aadip’s grilled cheese sandwich, which was hardly a burger at all.
When it comes to building your ultimate burger, what toppings do you reach for? Are you a traditionalist who craves nothing else on the patty except a slice of cheese, or do you embrace multiple flavors and textures by adding salty bacon, a runny fried egg or cool lettuce? Have you taken to Chef Bobby’s penchant for “crunchified” burgers? Did Chef Anne inspire you to consider Mediterranean flavors?
Vote for your ultimate burger toppings
For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
Just when the recruits are starting to adjust to the stresses of Worst Cooks in America Boot Camp and the expectations that come with each Skill Drill and Main Dish Challenge, Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay are ready to throw a twist into their list of already tricky demands. On Sunday, for the first time, the mentors will leave the kitchen during the Skill Drill while the recruits prep homemade gelato, which will be subject to a blind tasting. This means that the competitors will be wholly alone in their efforts this week, as they won’t have the security of nearby coaches or the opportunity to defend their dishes as they’re tasted.
Given the sneak-peek image above from Sunday’s all-new episode, it seems as though both Chefs Anne and Bobby are left stunned — and not in a good way — with what chilly treats their team members have scooped for them. Here, both mentors look with confusion and perhaps pure horror at the icy concoction before them, but since it’s a blind tasting, they can’t tell whose recruit is responsible for this dessert meltdown. Do you think the chefs will be able to guess based on flavor and presentation who prepared this plate, and if so, who’s most likely to have crafted this unsuccessful confection?
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