Meet the Competitors of 'Worst Cooks in America' Season 30

There are celebrity chefs — Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay and Ina Garten, for example — and there are celebrities — actors, musicians, TV personalities and the like — who are known separately for their culinary skills and knowledge. Think Stanley Tucci, Selena Gomez and, yes, even Snoop Dogg. But the celebrities you're about to meet don't belong in either of those categories. We're talking about the Worst Cooks in America — specifically the 10 stars competing in the newest season of Worst Cooks in America: Reality Check, premiering on Food Network January 4 at 8|7c. This collection of Los Angeles scenesters has captured the imagination of Tinseltown with their performing talents and personalities, but you probably wouldn't want any of them near your kitchen. However, with the help of hosts and mentors Tiffany Derry and Jeff Mauro, they'll attempt to transform themselves into capable chefs in a heated competition (complete with broken dishware, spills, fire hazards and other kitchen disasters). The competitor named as the most-improved chef will walk away with a $25,000 cash prize for the charity of their choice.

Chef mentors for Season 30 of Worst Cooks in America are Jeff Mauro and Tiffany Derry. Jeff is a Chicago native and co-host of Food Network's The Kitchen. He was also a winner on Food Network Star (Season 7) and hosted the Emmy-winning series Sandwich King. After graduating from college, Jeff opened Prime Time Deli & Catering in Illinois and, later, further refined his cooking expertise by enrolling in the Le Cordon Bleu culinary program. Tiffany is a Texas native, a chef, a restaurateur and the founder of Tiffany Derry Concepts, the hospitality group that's behind restaurants Roots Chicken Shak and Roots Southern Table. Her Food Network appearances include Worst Cooks in America, Chopped Junior, BBQ Brawl, Beat Bobby Flay and more. Under the guidance of Jeff and Tiffany, finalists will be charged with cooking a three-course restaurant-quality meal to be judged by a panel of food experts. But their first assignment, as seen in the season premiere, is a contest to create a dish worthy of a Hollywood red-carpet occasion (a preview to reveal the contestants' baseline culinary talents — or lack thereof — before the full-fledged competition commences).

Worst Cooks competitor Lisa is a New York native and a cast member on the reality series The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. She's the founder of Luxe Marketing and co-owner of Vida Tequila. "I love fine dining, I love eating out," she says, "but I don't cook … Cooking takes too much time. You have to go to the grocery store, look around, find everything. By the time I get home, I'm too tired to make anything." Her cooking experience includes heating up hot dogs in the microwave and (one time) making a grilled cheese sandwich.

Diana Danelys De Los Santos, also known as Amara, is a singer, a dancer, an actress and an author best known for her role on the VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop: Miami. She grew up in Miami as the daughter of a single mother who immigrated to the US from the Dominican Republic. She began her television and musical career at age 4, performing on the Spanish-language program Sábado Gigante. She released her first single in 2012 and has since released more than 20 singles, as well as the studio LP Unstoppable (2019). Though an accomplished recording artist and television personality, cooking is far from her forte. An Iron Chef she is not.

Ryan is a competitive swimmer and a 12-time Olympic medalist — which makes him the third most decorated swimmer in Olympic history in terms of medals won. But Ryan is quick to acknowledge that his cooking expertise is far below his athletic capabilities. In fact, on a recent occasion, he managed to burn microwaveable mac 'n' cheese. Enough said.

Julie Dorne Brown, known to the world as Downtown Julie Brown, will be familiar to anyone who grew up watching early-era MTV, where she was host of the popular dance show, Club MTV. Julie became known for her signature catchphrase ("Wubba wubba wubba!"), which originated from an accidental live on-air cue-card misreading. Julie has also been an on-air personality for ESPN and E! and held roles in a number of movies and television shows. In her early career as a dancer, she was the winner of the UK Disco Dancing Championship and, later, the World Disco Dancing Championship. Her skills in the kitchen don't rival her dancing, however, as evidenced by the time she accidentally served salmon covered in ants. (She thought the ants were pepper.)

CT is another MTV alum, where he appeared on the reality competition series The Challenge and The Real World, a multi-arc series that can arguably be identified as the show that kicked off the genre of unscripted reality television. More recently, CT appeared on The Traitors. In terms of culinary expertise, his cooking tool of choice is the cellphone — since that's what he uses to order to-go food.

Reza was born in Tehran, Iran, and has appeared on all nine seasons of Shahs of Sunset, the Bravo series focusing on Iranian Americans living in Beverly Hills, California. He currently works in Los Angeles as a real estate agent and lives with his partner Adam, who, Reza admits, does all the cooking and "anything to do with our sustenance."

Karl Philip Michael Westerberg, known professionally as Manila Luzon, is a Filipino-American drag queen, reality television personality, recording artist and comedian who became well-known after appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race. Manila was born in the Philippines on the island of Luzon — where he took his drag name from — but grew up in Minnesota. Luzon is also the host and head judge on the Amazon Prime Video Filipino series Drag Den and serves as the series' executive producer. When it comes to cooking, he has yet to make his mark. He leaves all food prep and cooking to his husband. "But he's not a very good cook," says Manila, "so I'm thinking maybe it's time for me to step up."

Val is a Ukrainian-American professional dancer known primarily for his appearances on Dancing With the Stars. In fact, he has won that competition three times. "If you don't know me [from that]," he says, "I'm sure you have a grandma or aunt who loves me!" Val is also a 14-time US National Latin Dance champion. He's a renaissance man of sorts who dances, plays violin and writes poetry — "but being a cook," he says, "has always evaded me." As an example, he cites the time he caused "a bit of explosion" by attempting to boil (!) olive oil.

Romeo (Lil' Romeo) is an American rapper, an actor and a television personality. His 2001 debut single, "My Baby," peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded his debut studio album Lil' Romeo, which peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard 200. He summarizes his cooking skills by referencing the time he almost burned down his cousin's house trying to cook steaks.