| Genre: | Cooking Competition |
| Starring: | Rachael Ray Guy Fieri |
| Country: | United States |
| Num Seasons: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 18 |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Channel: | Food Network |
Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off is an American cooking competition series that premiered on Food Network on January 1, 2012. The series puts 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.[1] 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.
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:[2]
| Celebrity | Occupation | Team | Charity | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum Recording Artist | Rachael | Kids Beating Cancer | Eliminated 1st on January 1, 2012 | ||
| Miss USA 2011 | Guy | Eliminated 2nd on January 8, 2012 | |||
| Actor & Comedian | Guy | Hispanic Scholarship Fund | Eliminated 3rd on January 15, 2012 | ||
| Gold Medal Olympian | Rachael | Eliminated 4th on January 22, 2012 | |||
| Multi-Platinum Recording Artist | Rachael | Cambodian Children's Fund | Eliminated 5th on January 29, 2012 | ||
| Singer & Television Personality | Guy | Fatone Family Foundation | Eliminated 6th on January 29, 2012 | ||
| Coolio | Grammy Winning Rapper | Guy | Runner-up on January 29, 2012 | ||
| Actor | Rachael | No Kid Hungry | Winner on January 29, 2012 |
| No. | Contestant | Episode | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| 1 | Lou | IN | IN | LOW | IN | WIN | WINNER | ||
| 2 | Coolio | WIN | IN | WIN | WIN | WIN | RUNNER-UP | ||
| 3 | Joey | WIN | IN | LOW | WIN | OUT | |||
| 4 | Taylor | LOW | IN | WIN | LOW | OUT | |||
| 5 | Summer | IN | LOW | WIN | OUT | ||||
| 6 | Cheech | WIN | IN | OUT | |||||
| 7 | Alyssa | WIN | OUT | ||||||
| 8 | Aaron | OUT | |||||||
(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.
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.
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.
The remaining six have one-on-one battles, to prepare favorite dishes of three judges from Chopped. (Note: winners' names appear in bold)
The remaining five are asked to run food trucks
The remaining four are asked to cater a three-course dinner for ten.
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 | Occupation | Team | Charity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actor & Comedian | Rachael | The Gift of Laughter: The Friars | Eliminated 1st on January 6, 2013 | |
| Fashion designer, Author and Philanthropist | Guy | Humane Society of New York | Eliminated 2nd on January 13, 2013 | |
| Chilli | R&B Artist | Guy | Cat's Crew | Eliminated 3rd on January 20, 2013 |
| Figure Skater | Guy | Human Rights Campaign Foundation | Eliminated 4th on January 27, 2013 | |
| Actress | Rachael | PETA | Eliminated 5th on February 3, 2013 | |
| Former NFL Player & Super Bowl MVP | Rachael | Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation | Eliminated 5th on February 3, 2013 | |
| Singer & Television Personality | Rachael | Autism Research Institute | Runner-up on February 10, 2013 | |
| Reality Television Star & Actor | Guy | Miracle Babies | Winner on February 10, 2013 | |
| Contestant | Episode | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Dean | WIN | LOW | LOW | WIN | WIN | WINNER | |
| Carnie | IN | WIN | WIN | LOW | LOW | RUNNER-UP | |
| Hines | IN | WIN | WIN | WIN | OUT | ||
| Kathy | LOW | WIN | WIN | IN | OUT | ||
| Johnny | WIN | IN | IN | OUT | |||
| Chilli | WIN | IN | OUT | ||||
| Cornelia | WIN | OUT | |||||
| Gilbert | OUT | ||||||
(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.
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.
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.
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.
The remaining five have to create a child's birthday party menu
The remaining four are asked to run food trucks and are judged individually.
| Celebrity | Occupation | Team | Charity | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday Night Live Comedian & Actor | Guy | The Chrysalis Foundation | Eliminated 1st on January 13, 2014 | ||
| Reality Television Star The Bachelor | Rachael | Tag the World | Eliminated 2nd on January 20, 2014 | ||
| Comedian | Rachael | Project ALS | Eliminated 3rd on January 27, 2014 | ||
| Rapper & Television Host | Guy | Make-A-Wish Foundation | Eliminated 4th on February 3, 2014 | ||
| Actress & Singer | Rachael | City of Hope | Finalist on February 10, 2014 | ||
| Tiffany | Platinum Recording Artist | Guy | The Caring Place | Finalist on February 10, 2014 | |
| Magician, Illusionist, & Entrepreneur | Rachael | Opportunity Village | Runner-up on February 10, 2014 | ||
| Former NFL Player & Heisman Trophy Winner | Guy | Patriot Support | Winner on February 10, 2014 |
| Contestant | Episode | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Herschel | WIN | IN | MVP | MVP | IN | WINNER | ||
| Penn | IN | WIN | MVP | MVP | WIN | RUNNER-UP | ||
| Tiffany | MVP | IN | WIN | WIN | IN | OUT | ||
| Florence | IN | MVP | IN | IN | MVP | OUT | ||
| Vanilla Ice | WIN | IN | WIN | WIN | OUT | |||
| Judy | IN | WIN | IN | OUT | ||||
| Jake | IN | WIN | OUT | |||||
| Chris | WIN | OUT | ||||||
(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.
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
The teams must prepare a meal for a luau.
Guest Judge: Marc Murphy
Winning Team: Team Rachael
MVP: Florence Henderson
Eliminated: Chris Kattan
Guest Judge: Madison Cowan
Winning Team:Team Guy
MVP: Penn Jillette and Herschel Walker
Eliminated: Jake Pavelka
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
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.
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 $5,000 for his charity from Rachael and Guy's own money.