If cooking well is a fine art, then cooking badly is something else: a TV show.
When the new season of Worst Cooks in America premieres Sunday night at 9 p.m. on Food Network, Northeast Ohio will be (proudly?) represented by Kayla Kurtz of Kent.
Kurtz, a mother of four whose culinary calamities include burned eggs, raw poultry and chicken-casserole-ala-Cheerios, will be one of 16 contestants vying for new kitchen skills and a $25,000 grand prize.
“I’ve never been a very good cook and my kids hate what I make,” said Kurtz. “But I order pizza really well.”
Food Network mentors Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray will lead two teams of eight through kitchen boot camp and multiple cooking challenges.
The series, launching its 10th season, culminates on March 5, when the two most-improved contestants compete in a three-course cook-off for a panel of experts. Sunday night’s main dish challenge is cooking shrimp and live lobster.
For an audition video, Kurtz created her signature chicken casserole. “It’s chicken with noodles, cream of chicken soup, stuffing and green beans,” she said. “Then I sprinkled Cheerios on top. The only way I can get my boys to eat anything is if I put cereal on it.”
Despite her oats-inspired variation, sons Ethan, 8, Kingston 5, and 2-year-old twins Jackson and Deacon, “just kind of picked at it.”
But what failed at her dinner table won over the Worst Cooks producers and Kurtz headed for Brooklyn, N.Y., in July to tape the show.
Kurtz, 29, who grew up in Solon, Aurora and Chagrin Falls, was talking during a break from her job at the Basement Sports Bar & Grill in Sagamore Hills, where she is a bartender and server.
She originally applied to be a Worst Cooks contestant in 2015 but didn’t make the cut, then re-applied this year. She ended up on Team Burrell.
“I had a lot of fun doing it,” she said. “It was such a cool experience. You get chosen out of thousands of people who applied, so it’s kind of a humbling thing.”
Kurtz could not share any show secrets, but she did recall some past meals gone wrong.
Breakfast: “I burn my eggs, but I think they taste good. That’s how I’ve always made them. Let’s just say they’re ‘gently browned.’ ”
Lunch: “I made burnt peanut butter and jelly once, which sounds really ridiculous. I had the peanut butter in the fridge, so to warm it up I put it in the microwave. The little metal lining was still on it so it started sparking. But I still served it.”
Dinner: “I once served raw chicken. I didn’t know. I thought it was done, but it was a little pink inside.”
When dining out, Kurtz said her own tastes run to the Mexican T’s: “Tortillas, tamales, tacos. And tequila.”
Kurtz will be working behind the bar at the Basement when Worst Cooks airs Sunday night. Her competitive cooking will also be splashed across the sports bar’s 25 TV screens.
Is she ready for the spotlight?
“I’m nervous. I wonder how people will react. Especially on the internet and social media. I refuse to read anything because then I’ll get defensive. It’s better to just avoid it.”
One supporter is her boss, Basement owner Matthew Coleman.
“People love Kayla,” said Coleman. “She’s upbeat. She makes people laugh.”
Would he ever let her cook for his customers?
“Oh no. No. We actually don’t let her back in there,” he said, pointing to the kitchen. “We bring the food out to her.”
Clint O’Connor can be reached at 330-996-3582 or coconnor@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClintOMovies .