What is it like to be one of the worst cooks in America? Ryan Grovey, a Hobbs native, told us about being a participant in Worst Cooks in America on the Food Network. “Oh my gosh, I’m on national TV. Everybody’s watching how much of a hot mess I am in the kitchen. It’s just surreal,” said Grovey.
Grovey, who was raised in Hobbs, was working as a mortician, funeral director, and fitness instructor when he got an email about the show, after being spotted on Instagram. “They were looking for people with unique jobs,” said Grovey. “I thought it was a joke. I was like ‘no, this has to be something, they’re just playing around.’”
Grovey spent time in New York filming the show, and now watches himself on the big screen from his home in Phoenix, Ariz.
Grovey is 30 years old and say’s that a lot of his bad cooking comes from never being taught.
“I tell my mom, ‘Mom, how come you never taught me how to cook?’ I can barely boil an egg,” laughed Grovey. “I can’t cook anything.”
After learning from the cooks on the show, Grovey says he is now a 5, on a scale from one to 10.
Grovey said what he enjoyed most was all of the different people on the show.
“Meeting the cast, we are like so connected and we talk weekly,” said Grovey. “Were just like a family now. Just getting to meet all these different types of people from around the U.S. Everyone just clicked. We were so tight and so connected and it was just like, family.”
Although growing close to the cast and learning to cook along the way, Grovey stated the worst experience on Worst Cooks was learning how to control the knife.
“Getting yelled at about my knife cuts every single day,” laughed Grovey. “You have to have the perfect knife cuts they have to all be the same size.”
Finding inspiration during the show Grovey looked back to his mother Patrica Grovey who still lives in Hobbs.
“I called her every single day,” said Grovey. “That’s my girl; that’s my bestie.”
Grovey hopes to make it all the way to the end of the show and win the prize money.
“I want to win the $25,000,” said Grovey.
Worst Cooks in America airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on the Food Network.
