Turning Kitchen Zeros Into Kitchen Heroes

The Food Network is hosting a new Competition Series called Worst Cooks In America this upcoming January.

Hopeless cooks around the country will compete in this high-stakes elimination series. At stake for the last two standing is the chance to cook for a panel of esteemed culinary critics and win the grand prize of $25,000. Premiering Sunday, January 3rd at 10pm ET/PT, the five-week series will put the “recruits” through a culinary boot camp led by two acclaimed chefs: Anne Burrell, host of Food Network’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, and Beau MacMillan, executive chef at elements in Phoenix.

Bob Tuschman, Senior VP of Programming and Production says…

“Watching the Worst Cooks in America struggle to become great cooks, makes a show that is very funny, dramatic and moving. Ultimately, it offers hope for even the most kitchen-challenged of our viewers.”

Under the tutelage of Chef Anne and Chef Beau, the recruits are split into two teams. They learn valuable culinary skills from their team leaders, which are then tested in a series of high-pressure challenges. Based on their performances, the recruits will be narrowed down each week until two are left standing to face the final 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. The winner will be revealed during the finale on Monday, February 1st at 9pm ET/PT.

Anne Burrell is currently the host of Food Network’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and is known as Mario Batali’s energetic and reliable sous chef on Iron Chef America. A graduate of the New York Culinary Institute, Anne has then worked at notable New York restaurants including Felidia, Savoy, Lumi, and Italian Wine Merchants. Anne also opened as executive chef at New York’s Centro Vinoteca until 2008.

Beau MacMillan hails from Plymouth, Mass., and is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I. Beau joined the brigade at La Vieille Maison in Boca Raton, Fla., rising through the ranks to the position of sous chef, then moved to Los Angeles where he held sous chef positions at the prestigious Hotel Bel Air and Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, Calif. Later, he relocated to Phoenix to work at The Ranch on Camelback, which is now the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain. In 2001 he helped open elements restaurant, which he now oversees as executive chef. In addition to his restaurant work, Beau has competed on Iron Chef America and cooked at The James Beard House.

Photo Credit: The Food Network