Worst Cooks in America season 1
| Worst Cooks in America | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
| Judges | |
| No. of contestants | 12 |
| Winner | Rachel Coleman |
| Runner-up | Jennifer "Jenny" Cross |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Food Network |
| Original release | January 3 – February 1, 2010 |
| Season chronology | |
Worst Cooks in America 1, is the first season of the American competitive reality television series Worst Cooks in America. It premiered on Food Network on January 3, 2010 and concluded on February 1, 2010. Rachel Coleman was the winner of this inaugural season, with Jennifer "Jenny" Cross as the runner-up.
Format
[edit]Worst Cooks in America is an American reality television series in which contestants (referred to as "recruits") with poor cooking skills undergo a culinary boot camp for the chance to win $25,000 and a Food Network cooking set.[1][2] The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. Each episode features two core challenges: the Skills Drill, which tests their grasp of basic techniques demonstrated by the chef mentors, and the Main Dish Challenge, where they must apply those skills to recreate or invent a more complex dish under specific guidelines. The weakest performer is eliminated at the end of each episode. The final two contestants prepare a restaurant-quality, three-course meal for a panel of food critics, who evaluate the dishes based on taste, presentation, and overall improvement.[3]
Judges
[edit]Chefs Beau MacMillan and Anne Burrell lead an intense culinary boot camp. They have six recruits each, and every week they must eliminate one recruit from each of their teams until there is only one from each team left. The final two create a three-course meal to fool a panel of restaurant critics into believing that the meal was created by the acclaimed chefs.
Recruits
[edit]Twelve chefs competed in the first season of Worst Cooks in America. Hometowns and occupations are available from the Food Network website.[4][5] Chef Anne's team was known as the Red Team and Chef Beau's team was known as the Blue Team.
| Contestant | Age | Hometown | Occupation | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rachel Coleman | 23 | Brooklyn, New York | Marketing Website editor | Anne | Winner on February 1, 2010 |
| Jennifer "Jenny" Cross | 21 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Waitress | Beau | Runner-up on February 1, 2010 |
| Jennifer "Jen" Vecchio | 38 | Cumberland, Rhode Island | Dance Studio Owner | Beau | Eliminated on January 31, 2010 |
| Eddie Chang | 32 | Jersey City, New Jersey | IT project manager | Anne | |
| Marque Hernandez | 41 | Brea, California | Director of Clinical Operations | Beau | Eliminated on January 24, 2010 |
| Rebecca Hooper | 43 | Sandy, Utah | Salon Owner | Anne | |
| Sophia Gettys | 27 | Aurora, Colorado | Stay-at-home Mom | Anne | Eliminated on January 17, 2010 |
| Susie Shoman | 53 | Georgetown, South Carolina | Grants administrator and entrepreneur | Beau | |
| Kelly Johnson | 31 | Scottsdale, Arizona | Corporate litigation attorney | Anne | Eliminated on January 10, 2010 |
| David Summey | 29 | Charlotte, North Carolina | Salesman | Beau | |
| Wilhelmina Josephine | 29 | Aliso Viejo, California | Insurance claims adjuster | Beau | Eliminated on January 3, 2010 |
| Hamed Hamad | 27 | North Hollywood, California | Journalist and fashion consultant | Anne |
Elimination Chart
[edit]- * Initially a member of the other team
| Rank | Contestant | Episode | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| 1 | Rachel | IN | IN | IN | IN | WIN | BTM | WIN | WINNER |
| 2 | Jenny* | IN | IN | SWAP | WIN | IN | BTM | WIN | RUNNER-UP |
| 3 | Jen | IN | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | WIN | OUT | |
| 4 | Eddie | BTM | WIN | BTM | BTM | IN | WIN | OUT | |
| 5 | Marque | WIN | WIN | BTM | BTM | IN | OUT | ||
| 6 | Rebecca | WIN | BTM | IN | WIN | IN | OUT | ||
| 7 | Sophia* | IN | IN | SWAP | OUT | ||||
| 8 | Susie | IN | BTM | IN | OUT | ||||
| 9 | Kelly | IN | OUT | ||||||
| 10 | David | BTM | OUT | ||||||
| 11 | Wilhelmina | OUT | |||||||
| 12 | Hamed | OUT | |||||||
- Key
- (WINNER) This contestant won the competition and was crowned "Best of the Worst".
- (RUNNER-UP) The contestant was the runner-up in the finals of the competition.
- (WIN) The contestant did the best on their team in the week's Main Dish challenge and was considered the winner.
- (BTM) The contestant was selected as one of the bottom entries in the Main Dish challenge, but was not eliminated.
- (SWAP) The contestant get switched by a mentor to the other team
- (OUT) The contestant lost that week's Main Dish challenge and was out of the competition.
Episodes
[edit]| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date [6] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Into the Fire" | January 3, 2010 | |
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| 2 | 2 | "Looking Good" | January 10, 2010 | |
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| 3 | 3 | "Feelin' the Flavor" | January 17, 2010 | |
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| 4 | 4 | "Multitasking" | January 24, 2010 | |
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| 5 | 5 | "Are You Ready" | January 31, 2010 | |
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| 6 | 6 | "Final Test" | February 1, 2010 | |
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References
[edit]- ^ 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
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Worst Cooks in America: Red Team (Chef Anne Burrell)". Food Network. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ "Worst Cooks in America: Blue Team (Chef Beau MacMillan)". Food Network. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ "Shows A-Z - worst cooks in america on foodnetwork". The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 27, 2025.