Well, the season finale of Worst Cooks in America—and Anne’s final season—aired last night, and not a single post to be found. This was a show that at one point had a feverent following, to the point you would see multiple posts and hundreds of comments about each week’s episode. Now? Crickets.
It’s not hard to understand why, as the topic has been discussed on here ad nauseam: a focus shift from actual cooking and teaching techniques to the oversized personalities of the contestants themselves, favoring inane games and over caffeinated editing. But watching last night’s episode, I was struck by just how little the network actually cares about this show.
Back in the day, the finale actually meant something. There was an opulence, a grandness to it. There was a gradual build-up, the contestants’ family members even being flown out to participate in choosing who would compete. The finale itself involved intricate practice beforehand, and took place at a different location, a high-end restaurant in New York City. The network actually advertised the finale as an event.
I had no idea last night’s episode was even the finale when I sat down to watch it. The previous week’s “On the next episode…” made no mention of it. The remaining four contestants did a random skill drill, and the final two were immediately chosen and basically thrown into the finale, where they cook in the same kitchen and feed some visiting chefs on a set next door. It’s so sad and pathetic. I’m sure it’s a budget thing, but it speaks to just how little the network cares anymore.
And there speaks to the bigger issue with the Food Network as a whole, a fact they seem to be ignoring: if they don’t care, why should the viewer? Watching last night’s episode of Worst Cooks was as patronizing and condescending and depressing an experience as the network has served up in awhile, but unfortunately, more common than not. There is just no excuse for the laziness on display in practically every venture foisted upon us.
Yet let it be said, Burrell never phoned it in. She held her head high through even the lowest lows thrown at her, and her legacy deserved better than this nothing of a finale that the network doesn’t even seem to want to acknowledge. Let this be the last we see of Worst Cooks.