Genre Cooking
Competition Country of origin United States No. of seasons 3 | Starring Rachael Ray
Guy Fieri Original language(s) English No. of episodes 18 | |
Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off is an American cooking competition series that premiered on Food Network on January 1, 2012. The series pits Team Captains Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri against each other in determining who is the best cooking mentor toward their team of four celebrities. Each week, one celebrity will be eliminated, with the "last star standing" winning a $50,000.00 cash donation toward their charity. The series premiere earned 3.524 million viewers, and a rating of 1.1; it ranked 3rd overall in the cable ratings that night. The second season premiered on January 6, 2013, the third season on January 13, 2014.
Contents
- Participating celebrities
- Celebrity progress
- Episode One Celebrity Food Festival
- Episode Two Let Them Eat Cake
- Episode Three Chopping Block
- Episode Four Food Lunch Trucks
- Episode Five Friends and Family Favorites
- Episode Six Restaurant Battle
- Episode One The Show Must Go On
- Episode Two Hollywood Walk of Farm
- Episode Three Bright Lights Big Classics
- Episode Four Picky Palates
- Episode Five Lights Camera Lunch Trucks
- Episode Six Star Studded Supper
- Episode One Chefs of the Roundtable
- Episode Two Leis in the Fray
- Episode Three Supermarket Smackdown
- Episode Four Big Game Grub
- Episode Five Boardwalk Bites
- Episode Six Sink or Swim
- References
Participating celebrities
In the premiere episode, Guy & Rachael played "roshambo" to determine who would pick first for their teams. Guy won (paper beating rock) and chose first. Here are how the teams were chosen, and what charity each celebrity was supporting:
Celebrity progress
(WIN) The celebrity won the series. (RUNNER-UP) The celebrity was the runner-up of the series. (WIN) The celebrity won the task. (IN) The celebrity lost the task but was not in the bottom two. (LOW) The celebrity competed in and won the cook-off to advance to the next round. (OUT) The celebrity lost that week's cook-off and was eliminated from the competition.Episode One: Celebrity Food Festival
As described above, the teams are chosen and given their first task: supply food for the first ever Celebrity Cook-Off Food Festival, to be attended by 150 people. Each person is given a token to give to the celebrity who, in their opinion, made the best dish. The team with the most tokens wins the task and is safe from elimination. The two members of the losing team with the least tokens will have a 10-minute "secret ingredient" cook-off to determine who advances and who is eliminated (similar to the "Secret Ingredient Showdown" in the 2011 The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs competition).
Each team had a 90-minute brainstorming session with their coach to determine the overall theme for their dishes, then was given two hours to cook their dishes before serving them to the Festival-goers.
Episode Two: Let Them Eat Cake
The contestants make desserts judged by 13 pastry students and instructors. Each of the 13-student panel would grade the contestants' dishes on four different scores.
Episode Three: Chopping Block
The remaining six have one-on-one battles, to prepare favorite dishes of three judges from Chopped. (Note: winners' names appear in bold)
Episode Four: Food Lunch Trucks
The remaining five are asked to run food trucks
Episode Five: Friends and Family Favorites
The remaining four are asked to cater a three-course dinner for ten.
Episode Six: Restaurant Battle
The final two are asked to run their own restaurants, to be judged by Tim and Nina Zagat, based on comments of 40 diners.
Celebrity progress
(WINNER) The celebrity won the series. (RUNNER-UP) The celebrity was the runner-up of the series. (WIN) The celebrity won the task. (IN) The celebrity lost the task but was not in the bottom two. (LOW) The celebrity competed in and won the cook-off to advance to the next round. (OUT) The celebrity lost that week's cook-off and was eliminated from the competition.Episode One: The Show Must Go On
Teams are chosen, and the teams' first challenge is to prepare a tasting menu. Each team must produce four individual dishes plus one team dessert, and put on a skit.
Episode Two: Hollywood Walk of Farm
The two teams visit a farm to learn about fresh cooking. For their challenge, each team member must create a dish with a specific meat product, such as salmon or lamb chops, along with a side dish that includes vegetables that they must pick on their own as a team.
Episode Three: Bright Lights, Big Classics
The teams run their own diners with the help of wait staff. Each team member is responsible for one of three diner classics: the tuna melt, the cheeseburger, or the club sandwich. One member must also entertain the crowd.
Episode Four: Picky Palates
The remaining five have to create a child's birthday party menu
Episode Five: Lights, Camera, Lunch Trucks
The remaining four are asked to run food trucks and are judged individually.
Episode Six: Star Studded Supper
Celebrity progress
(WIN) The celebrity won the series. (RUNNER-UP) The celebrity was the runner-up of the series. (WIN) The celebrity won the task. (IN) The celebrity lost the task but was not eliminated. (MVP) The celebrity was their team's MVP. (OUT) The celebrity was eliminated.Episode One: Chefs of the Roundtable
Teams are chosen, and the teams' first challenge is to prepare a medieval themed meal.
Guest Judge: Lee Anne Wong Winning Team: Team Guy MVP: Tiffany Eliminated: No OneEpisode Two: Leis in the Fray
The teams must prepare a meal for a luau.
Guest Judge: Marc Murphy Winning Team: Team Rachael MVP: Florence Henderson Eliminated: Chris KattanEpisode Three: Supermarket Smackdown
Guest Judge: Madison Cowan Winning Team:Team Guy MVP: Penn Jillette and Herschel Walker Eliminated: Jake PavelkaEpisode Four: Big Game Grub
The episode is set in a sports center. In the first challenge, the celebrities must make chicken wings (vegetarian Vanilla Ice was allowed to instead make a similar game day food out of tofu). Based on that, each team's MVP gets chosen who also gains immunity from elimination. In the next challenge, they have to cook elevated stadium food.
Guest Judge: Alex Guarnaschelli and Josh Elliott Winning Team: Team Guy MVP: Penn Jillette and Herschel Walker Eliminated: Judy GoldEpisode Five: Boardwalk Bites
First, in a mini-challenge to win a 10-minute advantage in the main challenge, the celebrities must make French fries. In the main challenge they must make hot dogs.
Guest Judge: Amanda Freitag Winning Team: Team Rachael MVP: Florence Henderson Eliminated: Vanilla IceThe finalists therefore are Herschel Walker, Tiffany, Penn Jillette and Florence Henderson.
Episode Six: Sink or Swim
Aboard a ship, the finalists have to cook three-course dinners with Vanilla Ice and Judy Gold assisting them. They have to give five-minute presentations.
Judges: Aaron Sanchez, Scott Conant, Sunny Anderson, and some restaurateurs. Winning Celebrity: Herschel WalkerPenn was the runner-up and was given $5000 for his charity from Rachael and Guy's own money.