If you’ve been waiting to watch a professional poker player return to the set of a reality television show, look no further than Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America.” PocketFives has learned that Tiffany Michelle (pictured), who formerly competed on the CBS Emmy Award winning series “The Amazing Race,” will join the cast of “Worst Cooks in America,” which begins its third season on February 12th at 9:00pm ET on Food Network.Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay will compete against each other in this reality series featuring 16 sub-par cooks. A Food Network press release explains that the contestants will take part in “a grueling eight-week boot camp designed to transform these culinary disaster-makers into competent cooks. A $25,000 grand prize will be awarded to the winning contestant who achieves the most progress and best performance, in addition to bragging rights and victory for their culinary mentor.”
Burrell, who also starred on “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” and “The Next Iron Chef,” has coached the winning cook in the first two seasons of “Worst Cooks in America.” Flay has appeared on numerous culinary-related reality series, including NBC’s “America’s Next Great Restaurant” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” and “Boy Meets Grill.” He’ll try to put a stop to Burrell’s undefeated streak on the show.
Every week, one contestant from each team who cooked the least successful dish is sent packing. In the kickoff episode, Burrell’s team cooks orange pumpkin pancakes with vanilla whipped cream, while Flay’s team serves blue corn pancakes with whipped orange honey butter and cinnamon maple syrup.Michelle told PocketFives that the show was a perfect fit: ""I've never been very open about my family or personal life, but my mom is actually an amazing, award-winning chef and I come from a family of talented cooks. This wasn't just another TV show for me, it was really a chance to be vulnerable about my insufficiencies and tackle something I'm terrible at while having some fun and learning from the best. The poker community really only knows one dimension of me and my lifestyle, so this show is definitely going to give them a whole other side of me that is much more personal, but of course still in a competitive format that we know I love!""
Michelle was the last woman standing in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. She bowed out in 17th place from the $10,000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas and banked $334,000. Immediately, she became a polarizing figure by calling the clock on Paul Snead in the late stages of the tournament during a hand she was not actively involved in.
In mid-2009, Michelle and Maria Ho, the last woman standing in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, competed on “The Amazing Race” as the lone all-female team that season. They were the seventh team to be ousted from the reality series after a windy game of golf and a carnival high-striker in the Netherlands did them in (pictured). Ironically, the season finale of “The Amazing Race” that year featured players having to count out $1 million in poker chips at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas.Other poker pros who have been on reality competitions include Annie Duke finishing as the runner-up to Joan Rivers on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” and Beth Shak appearing on Bravo’s “Millionaire Matchmaker.” Doyle Brunson was once interviewed on Golf Network’s “Golf in America” and we should also mention Phil Hellmuth tutoring George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” in mid-2010.
Nick Schulman was once profiled on MTV’s “World of Jenks,” while several online poker players, including Dani ansky451 Stern, were chronicled on G4’s “Two Months, $2 Million.” Jean-Robert Bellande (pictured) also ventured into the wonderful world of reality television during a stint on CBS’ groundbreaking “Survivor: China” in 2007.Over on TwoPlusTwo, the reaction to Michelle representing the poker community on a major television network was mixed. One poster wrote, “It's just another regular season with annoying contestants. Guess she fits the bill.” Another sighed, “That’s a shame. I liked the show without celebrities as contestants. Was good TV-with-the-girlfriend material. Oh well.”
Steve Preiss, better known as Chops of WickedChops, gave PocketFives his take on Michelle’s return to reality television: “There's a reason why reality competition shows have in the past chosen contestants like Jean-Robert Bellande and Annie Duke: because they're interesting and make good TV. Part of the reason Tiffany Michelle has been such a polarizing figure in the poker world is because she had an attitude during her Main Event run. But, unlike most people who make deep Main Event runs, the poker community is still talking about her. She left an impression.”
Priess concluded, “That type of reaction obviously translates well to non-poker programming, so the producers of ‘Worst Cooks in America’ made an excellent casting decision. Tiffany will stir the pot and make the show more interesting.”
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