Article below via West Life News:
When Rocky River resident Joey Kinsley was in college, he made omelettes for his fraternity. However, instead of a hearty breakfast, they were surprised by large chunks of egg shells in the food.
Now, he’s working to shake the reputation of “bad cook” by competing in the Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America,” premiering at 9 p.m. on Jan. 3.
“Doing this show was absolutely surreal,” Kinsley, 27, said. “It’s one thing to watch it on the television, but it’s completely different when you experience it first hand.”
“Worst Cooks in America” is a cooking competition hosted by celebrity chef Anne Burell. Each season, some of the worst cooks across the nation compete to improve their skills through various challenges.
Kinsley auditioned in July and went through a two-week vetting process that included multiple interviews, an audition tape and a questionnaire. Filming in New York began in September and will feature 13 other chefs who have been deemed the worst cooks in America.
While on set, the contestants needed to wear masks when they weren’t filming. Daily temperature checks were also done before filming.
A long-time fan, Kinsley auditioned because it’s his girlfriend Paige Wilson’s favorite show. Wilson is studying to become a surgeon and Kinsley wanted to learn how to cook so that he could make meals for her while she was away, he said.
“Paige is a foodie so she did all the cooking. The most I helped in the kitchen was by handing her things she couldn’t reach,” Kinsley said. “My experience on the show has given me the confidence to help out more in the kitchen, especially when she’s away.”
This season will feature guest judge Carla Hall, famous for her role on ABC’s canceled daytime show “The Chew,” Kinsley said.
While he couldn’t give too much away about this season, Kinsley says his favorite part about working on the show was having access to all of the ingredients on set. However, the hardest part was the long hours the show filmed.
“Sometimes we were on set for 13 or 14 hours,” he said. The show also had to adhere to safety guidelines for COVID-19, which meant he needed to wear a mask almost the entire time he was there, he added.
Before the show, Kinsley never felt he needed to learn how to cook. While he was growing up in Rocky River, his mother, Jackie Kinsley, would do all the cooking for him and his siblings, John and Jillian. He can cook simple things like eggs and quesadillas.
He graduated from Rocky River High School in 2012 and studied management at Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating in 2016. Kinsley now works as a digital marketing specialist for Emerge Inc. of Avon Lake. The culinary rookie works on social media campaigns and filming videos for various businesses across the state, he said.
While his time on set has come to an end, Kinsley says his experiences while filming will last a lifetime.
“People would pay top dollar and sacrifice everything to pay for lessons from Burell and Hall,” he said. “The fact that I got to do it while being a miserable cook and on the Food Network, I couldn’t put it into words. It was the best experience of my life.”
Here is he listed among the other contestants on Food Network's official website.