Worst Cooks in America, Season 11: Craziest Moments
Relive some of the top moments from Boot Camp, including hilarious mishaps, epic cooking fails and bittersweet eliminations.
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Raneri, Joel
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Photo By: Jason DeCrow
Welcome to Boot Camp!
They're stars of the big screen, the small screen and the internet, but this crop of celebrities are no stars in the kitchen. Their first challenge in Boot Camp: to make a dish they love to eat that they've featured on social media.
Fired Up
Carson Kressley wanted to make sure his lamb chops were cooked just right, so after taking them out of the oven and pan-sautéing them, he hit them with a little flame from his burner – just to caramelize the edges.
Phone-a-Friend
An open flame wasn't enough to convice Carson that his meat was cooked through, so he called on his former co-host, Ted Allen, for help. "I'm getting a little advice, but he doesn't really know much," Carson assured.
Shredded Disaster
Carmen Electra has a knack for making reservations, but lasagna? Not so much. After discovering that all of her pasta sheets were stuck together, Carmen tried to separate them, but instead of full pasta sheets, Anne said they reminded her of a Stevie Nicks dress. "This is going to be an impressionistic lasagna," Anne said.
Spice of Life
Vivica A. Fox was tasked with making jambalaya, and while it looked fine, she thought it tasted a bit bland. Her solution? Hot sauce, and plenty of it. "I wanted my jambalaya to have some kick and lots of flavor," Vivica said. As it turns out, her dish had a whole lot of kick and everyone agreed it was way, way too spicy.
Live Lobsters!
After seeing how the celebrities fared in their first challenge, it was time for Anne and Rachael to see how well they could follow one of their recipes. Rachael's team made lobster rolls, and Anne's team made a lobster salad. The biggest challenge for Anne's team was cooking the live lobster!
Cautious Carmen
Everyone on Anne's team had a little trouble wrangling their live lobster, but Carmen Electra had the most trouble of all. "Hmm. This is not going to go well," Carson mused as he watched Carmen struggle at the fridge. After some encouraging words from Anne, Carmen was finally able to get her lobster cooking.
Red vs. Blue
After a long first day at Boot Camp, it was time for Anne and Rachael to pick their teams. Erik, Nora, Carson and Melissa ended up on the red team with Anne, while Carmen, Sean, Vivica and Perez were chosen by Rachael for the blue team.
Wingin' It
Week two of Boot Camp was all about palate, and the first test was identifying the flavors in different chicken wings. The blue team got off to a rough start with their first batch of wings, but they turned it around, eventually guessing 8 out of 15 ingredients.
Three Cheers
The red team was very supportive.
Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk
The red team fared a bit better, guessing 10 out of their 15 ingredients, but unfortunately for Carson, he got so excited, jumping up and down, that the milk from his milk hat spilled all over him.
Carmen vs. Carmen
For the main challenge, the blue team was making fried pork chops, but Carmen Electra couldn't seem to get her dish started. "Carmen's problem is Carmen," Rachael said observing her scurry around the kitchen. "She psyches herself out." From the kind of pan to use to butchering her protein and dicing garlic, Carmen couldn't seem to bring her dish together. Thankfully with some helpful guidance from Rachael, Carmen was able to get her dish headed in the right direction.
Burnin' Up
While Carmen was having trouble with her ingredients, Melissa Peterman was struggling with her stove. "These burners, they're not like any stove I've ever cooked with," she said. "There's, like, 17 burners, 18 handles, you can never tell if it's on. Sometimes one just turns on and you're not even there."
Burnt to a Crisp Crostini
The red team was tasked with making crostini, but after making his slices too thin and leaving them in the oven too long, Erik Estrada's crostinis were burnt. "They're more than burnt," he said. "Super burnt."
Electra vs. Estrada
After tasting all the celebrities' dishes, Carmen Electra and Erik Estrada were left to battle it out in the elimination round. The challenge was to make a single bite of food, pairing different flavors. Carmen decided to make a mozzarella, pepperoni and jelly crostini, while Erik made a grilled cheese and prosciutto sandwich.
Sweet Surprise
Luckily for Carmen, although her crostini had a strange flavor profile, Anne and Rachael liked it. "It's weird, but I dig it," Rachael said. Unfortunately for Erik, his sandwich was extremely greasy, and his time at Boot Camp was over.
Celebrity Crepes
Week three of Boot Camp started with Anne and Rachael teaching the celebs how to make French crepes. Macerated strawberries and freshly made whipped cream topped off the dish.
Flipping Out
The most common issue the celebs faced was when to flip their crepes. "This crepe is just like a teeny, tiny pancake," Vivica said. "I just don't know how to flip it."
Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner
After the crepe challenge, it was time for the celebs to learn another new skill. "You guys have proved that you can put stuff together," Anne said, "but can you take something apart?" After a lesson in chicken butchery, it was time for the celebs to breakdown a whole chicken.
Choppin' Up Chicken
For a little extra challenge, Anne and Rachael gave the recruits chickens with a little more than just wings, breasts and thighs. "I feel terrible," Nora said. "My chicken has a face and hands and is wearing a nametag."
Carmen Takes a Tumble
The blue team was making a dry rubbed and spatchcocked chicken, and after the live lobster from week one, Carmen was feeling confident she could handle anything — except walking across the kitchen.
Saved Spices
Luckily for Carmen, the only thing she lost was her footing. "I killed myself and I saved the spices," she said.
Fired Up
Once she recovered from her fall, Carmen tried to redeem herself by making a whiskey barbecue sauce. Unfortunately, that plan went up in flames. "I started a fire in the kitchen," Carmen said. "This day is weird. I fly across the room, then I start a huge fire. What's going on today?" Lesson learned: when you're adding liquor to a pan, take it off the heat.
Bromance Battle
Despite her many mishaps in the kitchen, Carmen managed to survive the challenge. It was Carson and Sean who were left to battle it out in the redemption round, making a perfectly grilled and seasoned chicken skewer.
Pink Bird
"Carson's chicken, apparently he has a thing where he just doesn't like to cook chicken," Anne said. Carson's undercooked bird meant the end of his stay at Boot Camp.
Where In the World is Carmen Electra?
After Carmen's action-packed adventures last week, the injuries from her fall meant she'd have to bow out of the competition. "Unfortunately it would be a risk to continue the competition," she said. "I'm very disappointed, but I can't wait to invite a bunch of friends over and roast a chicken." Now it was up to Sean, Vivica and Perez to fight for the Blue Team.
International Flavor
This week's skill drill was all about identifying different styles of cuisine. With a variety of cuisines in front of them, the celebs had to work as a team to taste and identify the dishes. Did anybody know what shawarma tastes like? What's baba ghanoush? "I didn't know there was a country called baba ghanoush," Nora said.
Baba Gha-Who?
Each team had to identify six dishes from various countries. After round one, both teams had guessed four out of six dishes correctly. Then they had to correct the ones they missed. For the Blue Team, that was shawarma and pupusa, and for the Red Team it was jianbing and baba ghanoush. After a second try, both teams managed to guess all six dishes correctly, but since the Blue Team got it done first, they won the challenge. "The Blue Team got them right faster," Melissa said, "which just tells me I need to eat more and travel more ... and nap more ... and shop more."
Noodling Around
For the Main Dish challenge, the celebrities had to make an Asian noodle dish. Seemed simple enough, until they found out they had to make their own noodles. Anne and Rachael brought in master noodle puller, Ling Xi, to teach the celebs the art of noodle pulling.
Shrimp Skills
After learning the art of making noodles and getting a recipe demo from Anne and Rachael, it was time for the celebs to get cooking. The Blue Team was making a crispy, fried shrimp and noodle dish. Vivca got started deveining and cutting up her shrimp. “I’ve never deveined a shrimp,” she said, “but hey, last week I cut off a chicken’s head.” Everything seemed to be going smoothly, until it wasn’t. “I’ve got my shrimp done and I’ve got them all cut up, and then I realize I cut the tails off. To batter them you need the tails. I just spent all this time, and now I’ve got to start all over again.”
Hot Bachelor
“I married into a Filipino family, Sean said, “so, I’m trying my best, because mastering this dish will earn me huge brownie points with my in-laws. I’m running around my station trying to do everything in order, step-by-step, and then I notice I’ve got flames.” You can’t follow instructions if the instructions are on fire.
Burning Down the House
The Blue Team was facing some major roadblocks, but the Red Team had their fair share of trouble, too. After pulling her noodles and putting them in water, Melissa realized one of her kitchen rags was on fire.
Melissa vs. Vivica
After two fires and some tailless shrimp, Melissa and Vivca were left to battle it out in the redemption round. The challenge was to make a crispy lettuce wrap in 10 minutes. “I’ve ordered lettuce wraps that take 20 minutes to get to my table,” Melissa said. “I have no idea what I’m doing.” After time was up, Melissa’s wrap didn’t have enough lettuce, but Vivica’s had too much.
Lettuce Stay
“They’re both really good,” Anne and Rachael agreed. After a quick deliberation, they decided nobody would be going home this week.
Freaky Food Feud
"Today is the stuff that nightmares are made of," Anne said at the start of week five. The celebs' first challenge was to identify different ingredients ... by touch ... while blindfolded. "Borderline excited, nauseous," Melissa said. The first recruit to guess the ingredient correctly would win a point.
Box of Mysteries
First up was Nora, Perez and liver. "I know it immediately," Nora said. "Liver, without the onions." With one point for the red team, it was time for Vivica and Melissa to feel around the mystery box. "Tongue!" Vivica guessed correctly. "As a child, I was licked by a cow, and I've never forgotten how that felt." After a few more rounds of freaky food competition, the Red Team came away with the win.
Head Games
"It's Rachael and Chef Anne's heads," Vivica said. "Are we cooking them today?'
Meat Master Class
The Celebs wouldn't be serving up Anne and Rachael on a plate, but they were going to learn how to butcher a cow and properly sear it. Butcher Aldo Rendon was on hand to give the celebs the 101 on butchery.
Butchered Bachelor
"I am so lost. I don't know exactly where to cut, how much fat to leave. There's so much that I'm just unsure of," Sean said. "None of this makes sense."
Aldo to the Rescue
Luckily for Sean, Aldo the butcher was still on hand for another lesson and Sean was able to save his meat.
Vivica's Fiery Vermouth
In addition to slicing and searing a perfect cut of meat, the recruits also had to make a sauce to go with their dish. Vivica was making a porcini mushroom sauce and decided to add vermouth. Just like Carmen before her, Vivica's pot lit up in flames.
Steak Flambé
"I've never tried to cook my own steak before," Perez admitted. His first attempt started off well, that is until his pan caught on fire. "Who doesn't like a little flame in the kitchen?" he asked.
Smokehouse
"I put my steaks in my pan and my pan is way too hot," Vivica said. "The steak is supposed to be the star of the dish, and I am totally ruining my steak."
Melissa vs. Vivica: Part Deux
It was a case of déjà vu this week when Melissa and Vivica were left in the elimination round. Melissa's runny sauce and Vivica's uneven cook on her steak landed them in the bottom once again. Their challenge was to get a perfect sear on a piece of steak. "The worst part of this is that half of the challenge is you just have to shut up and let it happen," Melissa said.
High Stakes
Melissa opted to use a metal pan, while Vivica went for the cast-iron skillet. "I don't want to go up in flames like I did in the main dish challenge," Vivica said.
Bon Voyage, Vivica
Vivica's choice of the cast-iron skillet would be her undoing. It took too long for her pan to heat up, and there wasn't enough time to properly char her steak.
Sweet Side of Boot Camp
Week six of Boot Camp was all about dessert. "You guys have made marked improvements on the savory side of things," Anne said. "So, we thought we'd give a little nod to the sweet side." For their first challenge, the celebs had to assemble pastries as they came down a conveyor belt.
Pastry Bag Problems
Before they started assembling the pastries, the celebs had three minutes to prep their stations. Melissa had no problem slicing her strawberries, but by the time she got around to filling her pastry bag, the desserts started flying down the belt.
Speedy Sweets
Assembling pastries started out fine for both teams, that is until the conveyor belt sped up. "The conveyor belt is going a lot faster," Sean said, "and Perez can't put them away fast enough. I feel like I'm at the gym on the treadmill, and it just keeps speeding up and I can't keep my legs under me."
Dessert Dilemma
While the Blue Team managed to keep up with the speed, the Red Team was falling apart. "Sean is killing it," Rachael said. "The other side looks like a bomb dropped on the largest pastry factory in the Northeast." "This is some weird pastry sweatshop," Melissa protested. After three rounds of working the pastry line, the Blue Team came away with the win.
Shaking It Up
For the main challenge, the celebs had to make a milkshake topped with a cupcake (Red Team) or a cookie (Blue Team), and just to make it interesting, Anne and Rachael had another surprise for the celeb recruits. "For the very first time ever in Boot Camp, Rachael and I will not be here to ask for help," Anne said. What the celebs didn't know is that Anne and Rachael would still be watching their every move.
Peanut Butter Blunder
Part of the milkshake challenge was to add an edible rim to the glass. For his rim, Sean wanted to include peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, cereal and bananas. "What is he doing? He's putting the bananas in the topping?" Rachael questioned. "Oh, that's not good. That's weird." To glue his topping to the glass, Sean slathered on a heaping amount of peanut butter. "It looks like stucco," Rachael said.
Weighed Down
All those toppings made for one heavy rim, so heavy that it wouldn't stay at the top of Sean’s glass.
Sean's Super Strength
One thing was going well for Sean this week: his cookies were baking perfectly. It's too bad he broke the oven door while checking on them. "Oops," he said. "Glad Rachael isn't here to see that."
Sean vs. Nora
Sean's peanut butter disaster landed him in the redemption round with Nora whose milkshake "lacked direction," Anne said. For this week's redemption challenge, they had to frost and decorate two cupcakes. "This blind elimination challenge is all about decorating and making things pretty," Sean said, "and that's not really my forte."
See Ya, Sean
Sean's suspicions were correct. After ruining his frosting with some misguided food coloring, it was the end of Boot Camp for this former Bachelor.
Surprise Guests
Week seven of Boot Camp started with the introduction of some mystery guests. Just because Perez was the only celeb left on the Blue Team didn't mean he was automatically making it to the finale. "It's Boot Camp," Rachael said. "There's always a wrinkle." "What better way to iron out the wrinkle than to welcome back some old friends to give them a chance at redemption?" Anne asked.
Ultimate Redemption
Vivica and Sean were back in Boot Camp to battle it out for one last chance at earning a spot in the finale. To see who stacked up to the competition, Sean and Vivica had 15 minutes to make a delicious and perfectly constructed sandwich.
Battle of the Breakfast Sandwiches
In an ironic twist, Vivica and Sean both decided to make breakfast sandwiches. "I love me some Sean," Vivica said, "but I'm taking him down."
Jelly vs. Mayo
Vivica made a breakfast BLT with a fried egg, avocado slices and wild blackberry jelly, while Sean made a scrambled egg sandwich with salami, two types of cheese and basil mayonnaise.
Victory for Vivica
Anne and Rachael weren't too hot on the jam in Vivica's sandwich, but they were even colder on all the fat in Sean's. Boot Camp was over for Sean (for real this time), but Vivica had one last chance to cook her way to the finale.
Iron Chef Boot Camp
After six weeks of competing in Boot Camp, it was time for the celebs to take on the ultimate cooking competition: Iron Chef. They wouldn't be cooking against Bobby Flay, but each team would be cooking head-to-head utilizing a special secret ingredient. First up was the Red Team, and their secret ingredient was chicken.
Chicken Cross-Contamination
During the Red Team's Battle Chicken, Nora broke one of the cardinal rules of Boot Camp when she placed her raw chicken on a wooden cutting board. "Every turn I make, Chef Anne is calling down to me about cross-contamination," Nora said. "I feel like I'm spreading the plague."
Battle Shrimp
After Nora and Melissa finished their chicken dishes, it was time for Perez and Vivica to take on their secret ingredient: shrimp.
Deveining Diva
Any good cook knows that one of the most important steps in preparing shrimp is to devein it. Unfortunately for Nora, she was observing Perez a bit too closely when one of his shrimp veins landed on her arm.
Final Elimination
After seven weeks of Boot Camp, it all came down to this. After Battle Chicken and Battle Shrimp, it was time for Anne and Rachael to decide who they wanted to represent them in the finale.
Hasta la Vista, Vivica
After winning another chance at redemption, Boot Camp was finally over for Vivica. "If you guys had asked us, "who is the stronger person?" I would have suggested him," Vivica said, motioning to Perez. "I can so put my ego to the side so that Rachael gets a victory."
Sayonara, Nora
In the end, Melissa's creativity during Boot Camp won her the spot representing Anne in the finale. "I leave here very happy," Nora said. "I really, really learned so much."
And Then There Were Two
After seven weeks of intense competition, Perez Hilton and Melissa Peterman were the last celebs left standing in Boot Camp, and now they had one final meal that would determine who would take home the prize.
Family Time
Before Melissa and Perez cooked for a panel of culinary experts, they had some more important people to impress: their families! Melissa's husband along with Perez's mother and his kids came to Boot Camp to see how much their celebrity loved ones had improved in the kitchen.
Surf 'n' Turf Surprise
Melissa and Perez were tasked with making their families a surf and turn dinner. Melissa made lobster, steak and a grilled corn salad while Perez made an avocado salad to go with his lobster and steak. "It's delicious," his mom said.
Crabby Face
Now that they'd impressed their families, it was time for the celebs to prepare to cook for a panel of culinary experts. For the first course in her meal, Anne was teaching Melissa a recipe for soft shell crab over a spring salad. Melissa was already an expert at prepping lobster, but when it came time to clean the crab, she wasn't as prepared. "I'm truly traumatized," she said. "Do I have to rework this whole dish around Melissa and her crab issues?" Anne asked.
Fiery Finish
No stranger to a flare up, Melissa saw her pan of hot oil and crabs go up in flames. "Apparently, you would want me camping," she said, "because if you can't start a fire, I sure can."
Dulce Demo
Over the on the Blue Team, Perez was working on his dessert course, learning from Rachael how to make churros with a rich dulce de leche dipping sauce. "Dulce de leche from scratch?" Perez asked. "Is she crazy?"
The Last Hurrah
It all came down to this: the final cook-off. Melissa and Perez would be cooking a three-course meal in a restaurant kitchen, the winner walking away with $25,000 for charity. "Melissa's dishes are technical and fancy," Perez said. "Mine are more homey. It's going to be really hard, and potentially very close." "I'm so excited, and scared," Melissa said. "I'm scarited."
Decision Makers
Joining the celebs and mentors for the final showdown was a panel of culinary experts to judge the dishes. The panel was made up of chef and restauranteur, Scott Conant, chef and cookbook author Aliya LeeKong and chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelson. "We look forward to seeing you cook," Scott said, "but also, we're going to hold you to pretty high standards."
Chef Peterman
After seven weeks of intense cooking challenges, Melissa was ready to get into the kitchen, Anne's kitchen, that is. "Would you hire me?" Melissa asked while cooking her entree course. "Sure," Anne responded hesitantly. "I mean, not today."
Dulce Dessert Disaster
After successfully executing his appetizer and entree, Perez moved on to his dessert. "I have just 30 minutes to get my churros fried and my two sauces made," he said. "That is not a lot of time." Perez was getting all his ducks in a row when he spilled his dulce sauce all over the stove. "I am not going out this way," he said. "I am going to make more."
Judgement Day
After seven weeks and three restaurant quality courses, it was time for the judges to decide which celeb would take home the grand prize for charity. "We have a very difficult decision to make," Scott said.
Blue Team Triumph
After tasting three dishes from each celeb, the judges crowned Perez the winner of season 11 of Worst Cooks in America. "Perez, I feel like after eating your food, we all get to know you a little bit better," Scott said. "I think that's the intention of good cooking."
Breaking News: Perez Hilton Wins Worst Cooks
"This has been a powerful experience for me," Perez said. "I signed up for Worst Cooks thinking I was a worst cook. Now I get to cook for my family. I'm going to keep cooking, and you're not going to see my kids on Worst Cooks in the future." In addition to winning the competition, Perez also won $25,000 for his charity, VH1's Save the Music Foundation.
