The Food Network’s “Worst Cooks”
Season 18, Episode 6
Opposites Attract
Sunday, Feb. 9, 9 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 10, 12 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 17, 3 a.m.
PITTSBORO — The field of contestants has now been cut in half, with Pittsboro’s Dr. Lulu Boykin still hanging in the competition for “America’s Worst Cook” on The Food Network after Sunday’s newest episode.
The show pits two teams of self-described “worst cooks” against each other, learning cooking skills and then being tested on their ability to improve. The teams are “coached” by chef hosts Anne Burrell and Alton Brown. Each week, the candidate that does the worst of the worst goes home. Once all the rest are eliminated, the best of the worst walks away with bragging rights and a $25,000 prize.
After coming off a winning week last week, Boykin was back in the bottom two this week.
In the episode entitled “Let’s Get Ready to Tailgate,” contestants had to “put on their game faces” and create meals inspired by the time-honored tradition of tailgating. The first “game” saw both teams compete to make several items as their coaches walked them through the process. After the tasks were complete, their individual creations were judged by Eddie Jackson, a former NFL player who joined The Food Network after winning the network’s “Food Network Star” and now hosts numerous shows which air online for the network.
As Boykin prepared the pasta salad, her questionable knife skills played a central role. In the first episode, Boykin noted that she was “afraid of sharp things” and used a meat tenderizer to pound the back of a knife during prep work. Her teammates were behind her, chanting her encouragement as she cut through the ingredients. Burrell noted her “knife cuts” were “way better.” As she presented her pasta salad to Jackson, she threw out a wink, to which he responded: “Now that’s good pasta salad.”
The next task for Boykin was to make a burger with a “flavor profile” of her own choosing. Boykin created a sausage burger with roasted red peppers and a pine nut basil dressing. Burrell complimented her idea and execution of flavor, but again her cutting skills caught her. Her romaine was so butchered and her choice to use hearts instead of green drew Burrell’s criticism.
“Things ran amok here,” Burrell said to Boykin.
The final challenge was for contestants to make “southern tailgate classics” inspired by the tailgates of “southern college football.” Boykin’s team was told to make barbecue ribs per Burrell’s recipe including homemade sauce and a macaroni and cheese where they were asked to experiment on the tradition.
“I love barbecue ribs,” Boykin said. “I just thought you slapped some sauce on them and cooked them. But actually you need one zillion 50 ingredients.”
During the challenge, Boykin again had her head in her notebook — an activity that she had been chastised for previously by Burrell.
“Get your face out of your book,” Burrell said to Boykin.
“I have the attention span of a gnat,” Boykin said. “So it’s getting more and more challenging.”
In the end, Boykin created ribs and a macaroni and pimento cheese dish. Though Burrell complimented Boykin’s final product, she again noted that Boykin had her “nose in her book.”
In the end, Boykin was in the bottom two.
“Everyone on this team has made some definite improvement,” Burrell said. “We need to see constant improvement every week.”
Noting that Boykin “tries as hard” as she could, Burrell gave her another shot, saving her from elimination again this week.
If you missed this week’s episode, it will air again on The Food Network at 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Next week’s episode is called “Opposites Attract” and contestants will be challenged to combine “unlikely ingredients.” The recipes will include flatbread dishes and a main dish which pairs meat and fruit.
Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.