# Worst Cooks in America - Season 3 - *spoilers*



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

I did not see the first season of this show. I caught up on the last season when they did a marathon a few Saturdays ago. So far, I like this one better. I have burst out loud several times.

On this week's episode, when the disaster lady could not get the food processor opened so she poured the sauce out the top I LOLed. Then when she told Ann that "crunchy" was a flavor I laughed again. I'm finding this group way more entertaining than last time.

I loved when Bobby said he's going to quit all his other jobs and do this one all the time.  :up:

I am not a good cook - I have no feel for flavors. But, I can follow directions and a recipe well. I'd do pretty good in the challenges that have recipes, but in the ones like the meatballs where they give you the spices and you have to decide which ones and balance them yourself I'd have failed. Oh, and my meatballs are always dry!


----------



## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I watched the first two seasons and am watching this one too. S2 was better than S1, and S3 may be the best yet. That kooky lady is hilarious. Tofu tufoo tofu tufoo tofu tofu. She thought her tofu should melt? So she squashed it with a spatula. Seriously? Sure, it looks a bit like blocks of cheese, but it doesn't melt! Lol.

I am a good cook - cooking is one of my hobbies. I love laughing at the incompetence of most of the contestants.

a tip regarding meatballs - soak some white bread or panko breadcrumbs in milk or buttermilk, squeeze out the milk, then add this to your meatballs to make them extra tender and moist. This is called a panade. Using meats in addition to just ground beef, like pork and veal, helps too. I often make just pork meatballs (Asian style, with garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, and chili) or lamb (Greek style with garlic, rosemary, oregano, onions, and lemon zest).


----------



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

justen_m said:


> She thought her tofu should melt? So she squashed it with a spatula. Seriously? Sure, it looks a bit like blocks of cheese, but it doesn't melt! Lol.


OMG! Yes! That is the one that made me die. Even I know that tofu is not supposed to melt. That cracked me up so much and then watching her smash it with the spatula was hysterical.

I fast forward through the long drawn out bits at the end and just see who gets kicked off, so I don't know why Bobby sent away the other lady but I thought the crazy lady was worse, she doesn't seem able to learn.


----------



## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

Zevida said:


> OMG! Yes! That is the one that made me die. Even I know that tofu is not supposed to melt. That cracked me up so much and then watching her smash it with the spatula was hysterical.
> 
> I fast forward through the long drawn out bits at the end and just see who gets kicked off, so I don't know why Bobby sent away the other lady but I thought the crazy lady was worse, she doesn't seem able to learn.


Bobby essentially said that the lady who was kicked off went because she was there to learn new techniques but insisted on doing things her way. Her way is the reason she was on the show to begin with.


----------



## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Now that I'm at a real keyboard, I'll add that this episode had a couple of difficult challenges, IMO. The noodle dishes themselves were simple and easy to execute, but making the noodles? Yikes! I wanted Bobby and/or Ann to demonstrate.  Pulling those noodles seemed pretty tricky. A couple of contestants got it right off the bat, e.g. Tiffany. She is my favorite, and not just 'cause she is hot. I was a fan of hers when she competed in the Amazing Race (season 15). Great sense of humor.

At first I thought the second challenge was ridiculously difficult for novices, until a minute later they explained the basket ingredients were tailored for the cuisine they got. Still, cooking an unfamiliar cuisine with unfamiliar ingredients would be difficult.


----------



## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

I couldn't believe it when the poker chick said that she had never even seen a raw piece of meat before.

That just blows my mind!


----------



## Ruth (Jul 31, 2001)

I love this show. It's just hilarous. Sometimes I think that some of it must be fake, but it's still hilarious, so I'm OK with it.


----------



## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

Tiffany needs to go. I'm tired of seeing wealthy people competing for more money on reality shows, let alone retreads from other reality shows.


----------



## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

WhiskeyTango said:


> Tiffany needs to go. I'm tired of seeing wealthy people competing for more money on reality shows, let alone retreads from other reality shows.


If you think she is wealthy, do you think $25K matters to her? She didn't win Amazing Race. She came in 6th - no money. This isn't a competition for $1,000,000, or even $100,000. If I got on this show, I would gladly sign away my winnings to charity for the chance to learn from a chef like Bobby or Ann (or Robert or Beau from past seasons). I wouldn't pay $25k for it, but I wouldn't mind giving away the unexpected money. For many of the contestants, $25K is a considerable sum of money, but surely not for a "wealthy person."


----------



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

Finally the crazy lady gets the boot!

This episode confused me a little bit. For both the pizza and the main dish, they had to come up with a sauce. And they did some pretty ambitious sauces - pesto, etc. There is no way I could do that without at least a base recipe then add my own flare. Do you think they just left that out of the episode? Because these people were making some pretty advanced sauces for being the worst cooks in America.


----------



## betts4 (Dec 27, 2005)

Oh I liked the crazy lady! I think she was great to have around just for the fun of it. I think Bobby was almost sad to see her go! To see him turning away from the camera as he was laughing was hysterical - that may have been last episode.


----------



## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Zevida said:


> Finally the crazy lady gets the boot!
> 
> This episode confused me a little bit. For both the pizza and the main dish, they had to come up with a sauce. And they did some pretty ambitious sauces - pesto, etc. There is no way I could do that without at least a base recipe then add my own flare. Do you think they just left that out of the episode? Because these people were making some pretty advanced sauces for being the worst cooks in America.


Agreed, I think they must leave a lot of instruction out of the show. Basil pesto is simple, but I wouldn't expect a horrible cook to have any idea how to make it. Likewise, I was surprised nobody on Ann's team served raw chicken. Nobody? Most of the pizzas looked to be decently shaped and cooked, too.

I liked this episode a lot, as both of these challenges are things I cook often.


----------



## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I just read this in Food Network Magazine, in the question section.

"Anne, do the Worst Cooks in America recruits get any training before viewers see them on air?" - reader

"Yes, they do. The dishes and steps are always demo'ed for them before they have to re-create each dish themselves. With each challenge, they are given all of the tools they need to performs the tasks at hand - it's up to them, however, whether they use those tools. Sadly, with the editing required to turn all of the footage into a cohesive one-hour episodes, the home audience doesn't always get to see that." -Anne Burrell

So it sounds like lots goes on behind the scenes that we as viewers do get to see. I'm guessing the give more individual advice and instruction, too.


----------



## Big Deficit (Jul 8, 2003)

I'm not a fan of Anne Burrell in the slightest, I find her a creepy annoying salt abuser...yet I watch!?! What stops any of these "worst" cook from being a decent cook that's lying? Also, if looking for the worst cook in America, shouldn't the person with the best dish be sent home?


----------



## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

Big Deficit said:


> I'm not a fan of Anne Burrell in the slightest, I find her a creepy annoying salt abuser...yet I watch!?! What stops any of these "worst" cook from being a decent cook that's lying? Also, if looking for the worst cook in America, shouldn't the person with the best dish be sent home?


"looking for the worst cook" ends with the first episode, after that they are trying to improve them.

Z


----------



## mcb08 (Mar 10, 2006)

I haven't watched this yet, but I'm curious.....was something said to indicate that Tiffany has money?


----------



## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

mcb08 said:


> I haven't watched this yet, but I'm curious.....was something said to indicate that Tiffany has money?


I was assuming it is based on the fact that she is a professional poker player .


----------



## mcb08 (Mar 10, 2006)

Her total earnings from poker in 5+ years are ~$360K, which doesn't take into account any expenses. I'd say that calling herself a professional is a bit of a stretch, and she's far from wealthy. Just sayin'.


----------



## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

I'm only on episode 2 (so have skipped reading the posts thus far) but I just have to say...

I would never say I'm a good cook--but wow, those people make me look like a Michelin rated chef. 

What a train wreck...but I love it!!!


----------



## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

I'm not sure I could replicate a chef's meal...but then again, I don't think I'd have a problems making that amount of Hors d' ouevres.


----------



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

sushikitten said:


> I'm not sure I could replicate a chef's meal...but then again, I don't think I'd have a problems making that amount of Hors d' ouevres.


Ditto on both of those!


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

I've watched since Season 1. The only thing I didn't like about Season 2 was that I cannot stand Robert Irvine. But it was still very entertaining.

In a way I was kind of glad when Squeaky Fromme got the boot but in a way I kind of miss her ridiculosity. Was glad that one guy on Anne's team got the ax this week (forgot his name). He was just too irritating.

It's a fun show and I like that they give really bad cooks the opportunity to learn and have that to feel good about. I also like Ramsay's MasterChef - same basic show but with no separate teams and the three judges.


----------



## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

Down to the final two now. Interesting that the woman that couldn't hold back on the salt remains, and nice creative editing to show her husband saying that the potatoes that she had cooked needed more salt. 

It was interesting that all of the loved ones liked the meals their own loved ones had prepped. Almost like it was telegraphed in advance. Perhaps it was just a sign that the loved ones knew each other's taste in food well enough that they all picked something that they were confident their loved ones would enjoy.

I think it would have been an interesting twist to have the worst cooks contestants prepare a menu that they wanted to serve to their loved ones only to have the menus shuffled between the teams/contestants so that the loved ones couldn't easily guess who had prepped what. I also was a little disappointed that the meals that were prepped and served only had to feed the two loved ones and the team's Food Network chef. It would have been more interesting to see the loved ones all sample *all* of the contestant's food so that they could each rate all of the meals.


----------



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

I loved this group in the final four, I was rooting for all of them! But, I correctly picked who was going to stay. I'll be happy with either of them winning, though I hope it is Vinny because I want Bobby to win. 

I thought this was a nice twist to have the meals mixed up. I also thought when they talked about it that all four family members would taste all four meals. I think that would have been a little bit better.

The reactions when the cooks watched their family members eat was terrific.


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

Oh I was bummed when the blonde woman was cut this week.  I wanted to see her win this thing (even though I usually root for Anne). 

It was cool how each family member chose their own as the best dish.


----------



## d-dub (Mar 8, 2005)

sharkster said:


> Oh I was bummed when the blonde woman was cut this week.  I wanted to see her win this thing (even though I usually root for Anne).
> 
> It was cool how each family member chose their own as the best dish.


The family member chose the dish cooked by their cook, even though everyone cooked something they'd never made before, when choosing the other dish could have resulted in their person going home. Coincidence?


----------



## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

Wife and I watched the finale last night. Thankfully it was from a TiVo'd recording so we were able to buzz through the commercials though I did pick up that Next Food Network Star is coming soon "with new rules" or something to that effect. Looking forward to that and the Chopped: All Stars that starts up next Sunday as well. :up:

In terms of how the season ended, I'd like to have to seen a bit of the justification as to why they picked the winner that they (the judges) did. That seemed quite a bit arbitrary, though both of the finalists had issues with parts of the meals they had prepped. By my count the number of issues was 3 for one of the cooks, 2 for the other, but perhaps I was wrong.

Either way congrats to both of the competitors for getting through the boot camp and doing a reasonable job with the final meal prep. Hopefully the producers will find some equally entertaining characters for the next season.


----------



## bryhamm (Jun 30, 2004)

Say what you want about Ann, but she has nailed WCiA


----------



## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

Even though she won, I thought it was a bit stupid to have Kelly cook steak which she'd never done before...especially when Vinnie was cooking squab for the third time. 

And similarly, why chance creme brûlée with Vinnie if its so temperamental?


----------



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

I was rooting for Vinnie and Bobby so I was a little disappointed in the result, but I liked Kelly a lot too, so was not unhappy that she won. It just would have been greater if Vinnie had won.



sushikitten said:


> Even though she won, I thought it was a bit stupid to have Kelly cook steak which she'd never done before...especially when Vinnie was cooking squab for the third time.
> 
> And similarly, why chance creme brûlée with Vinnie if its so temperamental?


Agree on both of these. I think if Vinnie had nailed dessert he would have won. The creme brulee not setting was worse than the dark apples.


----------

