The WORST episodes of Worst Cooks in America
Every episode of Worst Cooks in America ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Worst Cooks in America!
Recruits with poor cooking skills go through an eight-week culinary boot camp to earn a cash prize of $25,000. The recruits are trained on the various basic cooking techniques including: baking, knife skills, temperature, seasoning and preparation. The final challenge is to cook a restaurant quality three-course meal for three food critics.
#1 - Doomed Dinners
Season 20 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/21/2020
Chef Anne Burrell and new mentor Alex Guarnaschelli welcome 14 of the worst cooks in America into boot camp with frightened but open arms. In order to pick teams and see what they're working with, Chef Anne and Chef Alex task the recruits with a baseline challenge to make their favorite childhood dish. Then, for the main dish challenge, the recruits learn how to spice up their cooking by making Jamaican jerk chicken. The two recruits who cluck it up will be sent home.
#2 - Simple Yet Sophisticated
Season 18 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/26/2020
The recruits enter the world of culinary sophistication, starting with a game where they have to taste and identify different crepe fillings. Then Anne Burrell and Alton Brown show them how to make their own crepes. For the main dish challenge, the recruits create a duck dish, and the recruits who "quack" under the pressure will be going home.
Watch Now:Apple TV#3 - Let's Get Ready to Tailgate
Season 18 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/2/2020
It's game day, and the teams of recruits face off as they make game day dishes in order to move down the field to the end zone. Then they re-create burgers made by Alton Brown and Anne Burrell. For the main dish challenge, the recruits make Southern tailgating staples, and those who fail to make tasty game day fare get cut from the team.
Watch Now:Apple TV#4 - Opposites Attract
Season 18 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/9/2020
The recruits learn how to combine unlikely ingredients and kick things off with a game where they must punch their way to success. Then Alton Brown and Anne Burrell challenge the recruits to make a flatbread including an unusual pairing, and for the main dish challenge, they must make a dish pairing fruit and meat. It's a sweet victory for the recruits with the best dishes, but for those with the worst dishes, it's sour grapes and a ticket home.
Watch Now:Apple TV#5 - Amore Sucre
Season 18 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/16/2020
It's a sweet week in boot camp, with the recruits playing a culinary version of Candyland in which they must identify sweet treats using all their senses. In the skill drill challenge, the recruits make napoleons. For the main dish challenge, Alton Brown and Anne Burrell mentor the recruits as they make a citrus tart with a meringue, but whoever fails to whip their dish into shape goes home.
Watch Now:Apple TV#6 - Incognito Cuisine
Season 18 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/23/2020
The recruits enter the world of clandestine cuisine and play a game where they answer seafood trivia in order to reveal a picture puzzle. Then Alton Brown and Anne Burrell teach them how to make empanadas for their skill drill challenge. In the main dish challenge, the recruits make shellfish dishes, but those with unsuccessful dishes see victory slip through their claws.
#7 - High Steaks
Season 18 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/1/2020
In the penultimate skill drill challenge, the recruits play remote-control chef and instruct Alton Brown and Anne Burrell in how to make a dish they cannot see or taste. For the main dish challenge, the recruits have to make a steak dish. The stakes are high, and only the recruits with the two best dishes make it to the finale.
Watch Now:Apple TV#8 - The Final Countdown
Season 18 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/8/2020
The final two recruits get private cooking lessons from Alton Brown and Anne Burrell and learn to make a dish of their choosing. Then Alton and Anne teach their recruits how to make a three-course, restaurant-quality meal. For the main dish challenge, the two finalists put all their new culinary skills to the test in order to impress judges Kelly Choi, Brian Mazza and Jet Tila, who do a blind taste test and determine the winner of the $25,000 prize.
Watch Now:Apple TV#9 - Celebrity: Famous Dish-asters
Season 19 - Episode 1 - Aired 5/10/2020
Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Tyler Florence are back in boot camp to whip seven of the worst celebrity cooks in America into culinary shape. But before the chefs can pick their teams, they want to see what skills -- or lack of skills -- they're working with. For the baseline challenge, the recruits are tasked with making their go-to dish for a dinner party. After the recruits are split into teams, the chefs show them how to cure those dinner party dish-asters with a delicious boozy brunch that they must replicate in order to stay in the competition.
Watch Now:Apple TV#10 - Celebrity: A Day at the Races
Season 19 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/17/2020
The celebrity recruits enter boot camp to see chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence sporting fabulous derby hats! In honor of the Triple Crown, the recruits enter a race of their own to test how well they can identify and put together flavors on a crostini. For the main dish challenge, the chefs show the recruits how to make a fancy steak dinner worthy of any celebrity table. The least-successful recruits face a blind elimination challenge where the "steaks" have never been higher.
Watch Now:Apple TV#11 - Celebrity: Sea-List to A-List
Season 19 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/24/2020
The celebrity recruits enter boot camp to find it transformed into a nautical oasis equipped with fish tanks and a live mermaid! For their skill drill challenge, the recruits dive into the world of seafood by solving a recipe riddle to make ceviche. For the main dish challenge, chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence show them how to butcher their own fish and make the classic fish en papillote. The recruits have to replicate their chef's fish but also create their own vegetable side dish. The two recruits that sink to the bottom enter the blind elimination challenge and attempt to cook their way into another week of boot camp.
Watch Now:Apple TV#12 - Celebrity: Robo-Dough
Season 19 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/31/2020
The roles are reversed in boot camp as the celebrity recruits and chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence play the fan-favorite game, Remote-Control Chef. In the game, the recruits instruct their chef on how to make a dish that they cannot see, taste or touch. For the main dish challenge, Anne and Tyler teach the recruits how to make homemade ravioli. The recruits put their own flavor riff on their ravioli, and the bottom two are sent to the blind elimination challenge.
Watch Now:Apple TV#13 - Celebrity: Sweet Showdown
Season 19 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/7/2020
The final four celebrity recruits enter boot camp to find a sweet surprise! To kick things off, they play a dessert scramble game before they're tasked with making their own sweet parfaits. Then, things get competitive for the main dish challenge as chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence challenge the final two recruits on each team to cook head-to-head to earn their spot in the finale. Each team is given an ingredient to use in a composed meal. The two recruits with the best dishes move onto the finale while the bottom two recruits say a bittersweet goodbye to boot camp.
Watch Now:Apple TV#14 - Celebrity: Fight for Food Fame
Season 19 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/14/2020
The two final celebrity recruits are greeted by former celebrity recruit and referee for their final skill drill challenge, Carson Kressley! The recruits team up with their chefs in a recipe relay race where they work together to make steak fajitas. Then chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence break off to teach their recruits their menus for the three-course, restaurant-quality final challenge meal. Judges Dan Churchill, Jeff Mauro and Grace Mitchell blindly taste each course and pick the winner of $25,000 for their chosen charity.
Watch Now:Apple TV#15 - Chinese New Year
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/19/2020
The recruits enter boot camp and see it transformed for a Chinese New Year celebration. First, they play a game where fortune cookie clues lead them to ingredients, and they learn to make fried rice. For the main dish challenge, Anne Burrell and Alton Brown mentor the recruits as they make dumplings, and while some dumplings are great, others are filled with disappointment.
Watch Now:Apple TV#16 - Culinary Games
Season 20 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/28/2020
The recruits participate in the first annual Boot Camp Culinary Games and compete in culinary-related events, from whipping cream to stomping tomatoes. Then, Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli teach them how to roll sushi for their skill-drill challenge and make traditional Japanese bento boxes for the main dish challenge. The bottom recruit on each team will say "sayonara" to boot camp.
#17 - When in Boot Camp
Season 20 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/5/2020
The recruits take a trip to Italy by playing a game of blindly identifying Italian ingredients using touch, taste and smell. Then, Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli test the recruits on making Italian antipasto in the skill drill challenge. In the main dish challenge, the recruits must replicate a classic Italian American dish in order to stay in boot camp for another week.
#18 - Boardwalk Bites
Season 20 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/12/2020
The recruits kick off the day with a doughnut eating game to learn about flavors -- Glaze of Glory! Then, they put their newfound knowledge to the test by making their own uniquely flavored doughnuts for the skill drill. For the main dish challenge, Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli teach the recruits how to make sausages from scratch, and the recruits must grind, case and flavor their own sausage sandwiches. The two bottom recruits who don't "meat" the chefs' expectations will be sent home.
#19 - The Cost of Cooking
Season 20 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/19/2020
Chef Anne Burell and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli are in full game-show mode as the recruits play a game to see if they can determine a higher quality ingredient from a lower quality ingredient solely by taste. Then, things take a turn in the skill drill challenge when the red team goes head-to-head with the blue team. For the main dish challenge, the recruits tackle breaking down a full fish to make a "sofishticated" dinner. The least successful recruit on each team will be sent home.
#20 - Eat Your Heart Out
Season 20 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/26/2020
The final four recruits walk into boot camp to find photos of their past kitchen disasters and play a quick game that takes them on a trip down memory lane. Then, Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli show the recruits how to make classic comfort food dishes before the recruits cook for their toughest critics and the people who sent them to boot camp -- their loved ones! With hearts and bellies full, only two recruits move on to the finale, while the bottom recruits will be sent home.
#21 - Fight for Food Fame
Season 20 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/2/2020
In the last skill drill, the final two recruits are challenged by a couple of cooks who aren't kidding around -- Chopped Junior Champions! Then, Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli teach the recruits their finale menus. For the final main dish challenge, the recruits put their newly learned skills to the test by cooking a three-course restaurant quality meal for a panel of culinary experts. Judges Mary Giuliani, James Tahhan and Julian Rodarte blindly taste each course and determine the winner who will take home $25,000!
#22 - Horrendously Homemade
Season 21 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/2021
Chefs Anne Burrell and Carla Hall ask 14 recruits to make their favorite homemade recipes, and the chefs choose their teams. Then the recruits must replicate their chef mentor's favorite Asian takeout dish before the least successful cooks are sent home. Then former recruits react to a date night-themed episode of Worst Cooks in America featuring Chef Anne and Chef Bobby Flay as mentors.
Watch Now:Apple TV#23 - Garden of Eat'n
Season 21 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/10/2021
Boot Camp challenges help the recruits understand how food gets from the farm to their fork. Chefs Anne Burrell and Carla Hall show them how to make meatless meals, and the recruits are judged on their pairings of seasonal fruit and meat. Former recruits react to a Derby Day-themed episode of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition featuring Chef Anne and Chef Tyler Florence.
Watch Now:Apple TV#24 - Sauce Boss
Season 21 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/2021
Boot camp gets a retro, '80s makeover, and the recruits use their palates and culinary senses to learn about different sauces in a zany "Balls to the Wall" game. Then chefs Anne Burrell and Carla Hall teach their recruits how to make meatballs and sauce from scratch. In the main challenge, the recruits are tasked with making the ultimate saucy dish, enchiladas. Unfortunately, the fiesta is over for the two recruits with the least successful dishes.
Watch Now:Apple TV#25 - Between Two Buns
Season 21 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/2021
The recruits start the week learning about flavor pairings in a wacky sandwich tasting game. For the skill drill, chefs Anne Burrell and Carla Hall have their teams put their own spin on fried chicken sandwiches. In the main challenge, the recruits rock and roll while creating unique roulades, but it may be the last week of boot camp for the least successful recruits.
Watch Now:Apple TV