''Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off'' is an American cooking competition series that premiered on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

on January 1, 2012. The series pits Team Captains

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program '' Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series ''30 Minute Meals''. ...

and

Guy Fieri Guy Ramsay Fieri (, ; '' né'' Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owns three restaurants in California, licenses his name to restaurants in New York City, Las ...

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.

Season One

Participating celebrities

In the premiere episode, Guy & Rachael played "

roshambo Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...

" 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.

Episodes

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. *Team Rachael's food theme: "Hot in the City" (Spicy Foods) *Team Guy's food theme: Mexican Foods *Winning team: Team Guy *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Aaron Carter and Taylor Dayne *Elimination Cook-Off Secret Ingredient:

Shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

*Advanced: Taylor Dayne *Eliminated: Aaron Carter

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. *Winning team: Tie (Each team received 26 points out of a maximum of 52) *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Alyssa Campanella and Summer Sanders (Due to the tie, the team captains were chosen for the cook-off.) *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment:

Salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a v ...

*Advanced: Summer Sanders *Eliminated: Alyssa Campanella

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) *

Marcus Samuelsson 25 January 1971) is an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York. Early life and education Kassahun Joar Tsegie was born in Ethiopia. His fat ...

(

Fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating o ...

): Coolio vs. Lou Diamond Philips *

Scott Conant Scott Conant (born February 19, 1971) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. Since 2009, Conant has been a judge on the reality cooking television series '' Chopped''. He has published four cookbooks. Early life Conan ...

(Tomato & basil

pasta sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are ...

): Taylor Dayne vs. Joey Fatone *

Alex Guarnaschelli {{Infobox chef , name = Alex Guarnaschelli , image = , caption = , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1969, 6, 20 , birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. , birth_name = Alexandra Maria Guarnaschelli ...

(

Porterhouse steak The T-bone and porterhouse are steaks of beef cut from the short loin (called the sirloin in Commonwealth countries and Ireland). Both steaks include a "T"-shaped lumbar vertebra with sections of abdominal internal oblique muscle on each side ...

): Summer Sanders vs. Cheech Marin *Winning team: Team Rachael (2 out of 3 rounds) *Bottom 3 Cook-Off Participants: Lou Diamond Philips, Cheech Marin, and Joey Fatone *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment:

Grilled cheese sandwich A grilled cheese (sometimes known as a toasted sandwich or cheese toastie) is a hot sandwich typically prepared by heating one or more slices of cheese between slices of bread, with a cooking fat such as butter, on a frying pan, griddle, or sandw ...

*Advanced: Joey Fatone and Lou Diamond Philips *Eliminated: Cheech Marin

Episode Four: Food Lunch Trucks

The remaining five are asked to run food trucks *Winning team: Team Guy *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Taylor Dayne and Summer Sanders *Elimination Cook Off Assignment:

Amuse-bouche An ''amuse-bouche'' (; ) or ''amuse-gueule'' (, ; ) is a single, bite-sized'' hors d'œuvre''. Amuse-bouches are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons but are served free and according to the chef's select ...

*Advanced: Taylor Dayne *Eliminated: Summer Sanders

Episode Five: Friends and Family Favorites

The remaining four are asked to cater a three-course dinner for ten. *Advanced: Coolio, Lou Diamond Philips *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Joey Fatone, Taylor Dayne *Elimination Cook Off Assignment: Use anything in the pantry *Third Place: Joey Fatone (

Fried rice Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another di ...

) *Fourth place: Taylor Dayne (

Matzah ball Matzah balls ( yi, קניידלעך pl., singular ; with numerous other transliterations) or matzo balls are Ashkenazi Jewish soup dumplings made from a mixture of matzah meal, beaten eggs, water, and a fat, such as oil, margarine, or chicke ...

soup)

Episode Six: Restaurant Battle

The final two are asked to run their own restaurants, to be judged by

Tim and Nina Zagat Nina S. Zagat (née Safronoff) and her husband, Eugene Henry "Tim" Zagat, Jr. (born 1940, New York City) (pronounced ) are the founders and publishers of Zagat Survey, Zagat Restaurant Surveys. They met at Yale Law School and were both Attorney at l ...

, based on comments of 40 diners. *Winning team: Team Rachael *Winner: Lou Diamond Philips (28/30) *Runner-up: Coolio (23/30)

Season Two

Participating celebrities

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.

Episodes

Episode One: The Show Must Go On

Teams are chosen, and the teams' first challenge is to prepare a

tasting menu A tasting menu is a collection of several dishes in small portions, served by a restaurant as a single meal. The French name for a tasting menu is ''menu dégustation''. Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other case ...

. Each team must produce four individual dishes plus one team dessert, and put on a skit. *Team Rachael Captain: Kathy Najimy *Team Guy Captain: Dean McDermott *Winning team: Team Guy *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Kathy Najimy and Gilbert Gottfried *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment: Ideal midnight snack *Advanced: Kathy Najimy *Eliminated: Gilbert Gottfried

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. *Team Rachael Captain: Carnie Wilson *Team Guy Captain: Cornelia Guest *Winning team: Team Rachael *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Cornelia Guest and Dean McDermott *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment: Corn *Advanced: Dean McDermott *Eliminated: Cornelia Guest

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. *Team Rachael Captain: Hines Ward *Team Guy Captain: Johnny Weir *Winning team: Team Rachael *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Chilli and Dean McDermott *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment: Milkshake *Advanced: Dean McDermott *Eliminated: Chilli

Episode Four: Picky Palates

The remaining five have to create a child's birthday party menu *Winning team: Tie *Bottom 2 Cook-Off Participants: Johnny Weir and Carnie Wilson *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment: Hot dogs *Advanced: Carnie Wilson *Eliminated: Johnny Weir

Episode Five: Lights, Camera, Lunch Trucks

The remaining four are asked to run food trucks and are judged individually. *Winning cook: Dean McDermott *Bottom 3 Cook-Off Participants: Carnie Wilson, Hines Ward, and Kathy Najimy *Elimination Cook-Off Assignment: Anything on a stick *Advanced: Carnie Wilson *Eliminated: Hines Ward and Kathy Najimy

Episode Six: Star Studded Supper

*Winning team: Team Guy *Winner: Dean McDermott *Runner-Up: Carnie Wilson

Season Three

Participating celebrities

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.

Episodes

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 One

Episode 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 Kattan

Episode Three: Supermarket Smackdown

:Guest Judge: Madison Cowan :Winning Team:Team Guy :MVP: Penn Jillette and Herschel Walker :Eliminated: Jake Pavelka

Episode 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 Gold

Episode 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 Ice The 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 Walker Penn was the runner-up and was given $5,000 for his charity from Rachael and Guy's own money.

References

External links

* * {{Food Network series 2012 American television series debuts 2010s American cooking television series 2010s American reality television series Food Network original programming English-language television shows