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Worst Cooks in America S20 Brought Back Our Bob Barker Feels: Review

This week's episode of Food Network's Worst Cooks in America made me nostalgic for Bob Barker, The Price is Right, and his very long, thin mic. Alex Guarnaschelli and Anne Burrell dressed up in shiny game show gear and had the recruits enjoy a fun game of "The Bite is Right." High-quality food was paired next to its subpar counterpart and each team member had to guess the more expensive ingredient. There was dancing, there was singing, some very inappropriate eye contact and celebratory booty shakes.  So much silliness and much-needed competition among the recruits, they even heckled each other. On the flip side, there were also slices of fingers flying and "something" got drunk.

Burrell and Guarnaschelli got even more competitive when the Blue and Red team members were paired up and had to go head to head. As has become the norm, Guarnaschelli supported them through their meal prep, while Burrell showed her dictator's teeth. Which was more effective? In Guarnaschelli's defense, she has been gifted with a team full of crybabies. "The Cost of Cooking" showed that even inexpensive food such as canned ham can be made to taste delicious, sort of. There does seem to be a pattern emerging with this batch of recruits they all seem to struggle and fear prep more than they do the actual cooking. From not being able to get food out of its container to taking way to long to put on latex gloves.

Skill Drill Challenge: Hors D'oeuvres

• Recruits were pinned against each other in having to create mini appetizers out of either blue cheese, canned ham, or chorizo.
• The judges would then compare dishes and crown a winner
• The Red Team struggled with their ingredients, prep, and tried masking the smell of canned ham with jalapenos
• Zack decided to get super fancy dumping a ton of ingredients in one meatball but fell short
• Not everything apparently tasted better with bacon
• The Blue Team got hurt and had to be saved by Guarnaschelli with proper dicing of a mango
• Their mini dishes were dry and crumbly and drowned in lime

Main Dish Challenge: Butcher and Cook a whole Fish

• Burrell taught recruits to make "Flounder Piccata with String Beans and Mushrooms"
• Guarnaschelli a beautiful "Flue Milanese with Spinach and Salsa Verde"
• Filleting a fish proved incredibly challenging, more like brutal butchering
• The work stations were in chaos
• The Red Team shimmied and blanched and shocked
• The Blue Team recited the mantra: fish, eggs, breadcrumbs, rest but neglected to focus on measuring their ingredients
• The matchup turned in to a group support system with a massive crying session.
• The Red Team made an unappetizing TV dinner but managed to cook their fish ok
• The Red Team finally realized they were cooking peas and overall did well.

In the end, Burrell grants the win to Zack again. He is looking like a serious contender to win this season. Unfortunately, she said goodbye to Domaine. Guarnaschelli was proud of how well Darian has improved. Not surprisingly she bid farewell to Eric, guess there will be no more tears (I hope).

Such a charming episode. Lots of fun, spunk, and healthy competition- though I could have done without the river of tears. Darian and Zack are excelling at their skills and Zack especially has started to embrace his creativity and has lost that ego he advertised at the beginning of the season. Next week, the final main dish challenge and the recruits get to play with my favorite lobster. They will surely butcher it but it will be hysterical to watch. Guarnaschelli will have serious bragging rights if her recruit takes home the series win.

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