Pittsboro’s ‘Worst Cook’ Dr. Lulu Boykin ekes out another week

Boykin continues on Food Network show

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The Food Network’s “Worst Cooks”

Episode 4: Simple, Yet Sophisticated

Sunday, Jan. 26 at 9 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 27 at midnight

Thursday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 3 at midnight

PITTSBORO — Pittsboro’s Dr. Lulu Boykin squeaked through another week of The Food Network’s series “Worst Cooks.”

In fact, everyone made it another week.

The show features self-described “worst cooks” facing off against each other in competition starring renowned chefs Anne Burrell and Alton Brown. The show’s 18th season, which premiered on Jan. 5, pits contestants on two teams — the blue team led by Brown and the red team, of which Boykin is a member, led by Burrell — against each other. Each week, a member of each team is typically sent home with a single contestant eventually making their way through to the end with a reward of $25,000 and bragging rights.

This week’s episode, entitled “Chinese New Year,” had the teams create their own original fried rice recipe followed by a challenge to recreate homemade dumplings recipes crafted by the hosts. During the first challenge, co-contestant Monica Colwell of Kentucky remarked concern for Boykin saying “she’s all over the place.” Boykin wasn’t alone in struggling during the first challenge with Burrell noting that none of the contestants “built” their fried rice correctly. While Boykin’s “Happy New Year fried rice with shrimp” was not “built correctly” as fried rices are cooked in a specific order of ingredients, Burrell didn’t complain about the flavor.

During the second challenge, the contestants were asked to make two different types of dumplings. The red team was provided fresh, unprocessed shrimp that required “cleaning.” As Burrell demonstrated the process, Boykin had a look of horror on her face a Burrell ripped the heads on the shrimp, shelled and deveined them. Boykin said in a cut-scene, where contestants provide commentary on the show after the competition is filmed, that the first time she ever had to clean shrimp, she fainted. However, she persevered and completed the challenge.

The coverage of the dumpling challenge, which included a retrospective of the variety of ways the contestants said the word “Worcestershire,” showed each of the contestants struggling to complete the very challenging task of making homemade dumplings. When the timer rang and the food was plated, Burrell noted that she didn’t think “this was not a very happy New Year.” Brown also refused to taste any of the blue team’s dumplings after witnessing “so many egregious food sanitation crimes” throughout the challenge.

Boykin admitted she didn’t feel “really good” about her dumplings, where her struggle with the wrappers were evident. Her difficulty in making a thin enough wrapper resulted in less than ample filling for each dumpling. But Burrell noted that “what I can taste I think is good” to which Boykin responded, “I’ll take it.”

Even so, Boykin was again in the bottom two of the team with Burrell chastising her for not following the demonstrations closely enough. But then Burrell noted that “everyone struggled with this challenge” so the two chefs decided that they would let all the contestants stay for another week and see if they can redeem themselves.

Next week’s episode is called “Simple, Yet Sophisticated” and will include the contestants making crepes for the initial challenge followed by the recreation of one of the renowned chef’s own duck recipes. If you missed the “Chinese New Year” episode, you can watch it at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 26 on The Food Network. The next episode premieres at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 26.

Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.