Interview: Houstonian Ann Odogwu Is One of Food Network's WORST COOKS IN AMERICA!
By: Katricia Lang Jan. 28, 2017
Food Network's WORST COOK.
Houstonian Ann Odogwu is a bad cook hoping to make good in this season's WORST COOKS IN AMERICA. The bubbly bumbling culinarian hails from Nigeria and yet she somehow got away with being the only one in her family who couldn't cook jollof rice.
"My mom's perfect in the kitchen," says Odogwu. "But the problem is I've always been very impatient and she hates it. And when I start bickering she says, 'Get out of here! Go sit down somewhere. When we're done you do dishes.' She giggles. "I know how to do dishes," says Odogwu. I'm the queen of cleaning up."
The set of WORST COOKS IN AMERICA is farthest thing from her momma's kitchen. "You're going to be impatient with [Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray]? It's clearly not a good mix at all," she says with a laugh.
It's hard work too. The one hour episode that appears on your TV screen is the result of two days of shooting, says Odogwu. "You're standing for 18, 19 hours. It's bad," she says, before breaking into laughter.
So why did she audition and agree to appear on WORST COOKS IN AMERICA? To be drilled by Sergeant-Majors Burrell and Ray?
"I had to do it! Come on, it's Rachael Ray and Anne [Burrell]," she says. It's true. Odogwu has snagged an opportunity that many professional chefs can only dream of. "You're learning from people who have been in the business for years. You're learning from the best," says Odogwu, who is on Ray's team. It's also a show where the most improved award is much more than a consolation prize. Learning how to boil an egg may earn you $25,000.
But Odogwu has learned more than that. Now, she's a spice mixologist and a wiz with seafood. Not only can she season and saute a fish, but she can bait and catch one too. In fact, using her newfound culinary skills, she plans to hook the catch of a lifetime -- a husband. "I need to settle down with a man and feed that man!" Thank god the show didn't teach her how to gut and skin a bluefin.
You can catch WORST COOKS IN AMERICA Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network.
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