Worst Cooks in America Premieres: Sunday, January 3rd at 10pm, will you be watching? Or do you think you’re a superior cook, eh? Psh! No one is THAT good, we can all use pointers.

Twelve of the worst cooks in the country attempt to transform from kitchen zeros into kitchen heroes in the new Food Network series Worst Cooks in America. Under the tutelage of premiere chefs, Anne Burrell and Beau MacMillan, the “recruits” split into two teams and face a series of high-pressure challenges that test their newly-formed culinary skills. Each week the two teams get narrowed down until the final two recruits face off in the ultimate challenge: prepare a three-course, restaurant-quality meal for a panel of food critics that thinks the dishes have been prepared by chefs Anne and Beau. On the line are the chefs’ professional reputations and $25,000 for the newly-crowned kitchen hero!

Episode Guide for Worst Cooks:

Premiering Sunday, January 3rd at 10pm – SERIES PREMIERE!

“Into the Fire”

Twenty-four of the country’s worst cooks arrive in New York City with hopes of participating in a 10-day culinary boot camp with acclaimed chefs Anne Burrell and Beau MacMillan. The eager applicants prepare a sample of their terrible cooking and present to Anne and Beau, who in turn each select six candidates for the other chef to teach. The first challenge has each team striving to perfectly replicate a dish taught to them by Anne and Beau. The least successful recruit on each team is then eliminated.

Premiering Sunday, January 10th at 10pm

“Looking Good”

The 10 remaining recruits take a trip to Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse, where they learn five fundamental knife cuts in their first Skill Drill. Anne and Beau then teach their teams a Teppanyaki-style dish, cooked directly on a blazing hot flattop grill. During the Main Dish Challenge, the Chefs demonstrate a few techniques for a dish and post the rest of the recipe on a blackboard – emphasizing that a good cook must read and know the recipe completely. To test the recruits, the Chefs erase the recipe halfway through prep! The next two recruits are eliminated.

Premiering Sunday, January 17th at 10pm

“Feelin’ the Flavor”

To illustrate the importance of flavor, Anne and Beau provide the eight remaining recruits with a “blank canvas” by jointly demonstrating a basic crepe dish. Each recruit then flavors his or her own crepe, and the Chefs do a blind taste test. The team with the best-tasting crepes gets to steal a player from the other team and give up one of its own. The Chefs then demonstrate marinating and grilling basics before assigning the recruits to create original marinades with ingredients from one of four international flavor profiles – France, Greece, Spain and Thailand – along with a side dish. The next two recruits are eliminated.

Premiering Sunday, January 24th at 10pm

“Multi-tasking”

Anne and Beau teach their teams how to make fresh pasta, filling and sauce to emphasize the importance of multi-tasking. Then for the Main Dish Challenge, the recruits are surprised to learn that they must cater a cocktail party for 30 guests. The recruits are asked to put their own personal spins on crostini appetizers plus make additional hors d’oeuvres from a recipe created by their Chef. The party guests weigh in on the results, which leads to the next two eliminations.

Premiering Sunday, January 31st at 10pm

“Are You Ready?”

Anne and Beau teach the four remaining recruits a complicated dessert. To test their retention, the recruits must teach the dish to a group who knows even less about cooking than they do: high school football players!  Then for the final Main Dish Challenge, each recruit must use all the skills they have learned to reinvent the terrible dish they cooked on the first day. They cook in a private kitchen at Benoit restaurant, and in addition to the Chefs, they each serve a surprise guest: a beloved family member. After tasting all the dishes, Anne and Beau decide which two recruits will move on to the final challenge airing Monday, February 1st at 10pm.

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