LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Kentucky native claims he is the worst cook in America.
He is competing to make it official on Food Network and said it all started to get revenge on an ex-girlfriend.
Cameron Pennington grew up in a family of cooks. "I grew up with a very good cook in my family, my mom," Pennington said.
It didn't take Pennington long to realize that he wasn't one of them.
"Oh Lord. I've known him for quite a while, and he's never been in the kitchen, and there's a good reason why," said Khristal, Pennington's best friend.
"I guess it skipped my generation because ya'll, it's bad. It ain't no good. It's bad. It is bad, bad, bad," Pennington said.
It was over steak dinner during a date, that his bad cooking was made even more apparent. "I actually forgot to take the plastic off the cheese. So, I cooked plastic onto the cheese. I still fed it to her, because I'm not going to be embarrassed and say, 'I can't feed you this.' So, I fed it to her anyways. Long story short, she discovered the plastic and the following week at school, she said her mom didn't want her talking to me anymore," he said.
Not long after that, the now 20-year-old applied to Food Network's 'Worst Cooks in America.' "I want to be able to cook my mom a good meal. I want to be a good cook, and also I want to get revenge on my ex-girlfriend," he said.
He submitted a demonstration. "It was horrible. it was absolutely horrible. The chicken wasn't even done," Khristal said.
"When they say garlic cloves, I didn't realize that garlic cloves were the individual little circle thingies. I thought garlic cloves were the whole thing. So, I put like three heads in on accident," Pennington said.
Out of several thousand applicants, the Grayson, Kentucky native found out he would compete against 14 others. "This is my favorite show in the world, and I've watched Food Network my whole life," he said.
Pennington flew to New York to compete to become the best of the worst. He just won week two of season 15.
Since returning home, he's been recognized several times. "It's so hard to keep it in. I had to keep it in all these months that I was even on the show," he said.
Remember that date? "She actually texted me already. I'm going to go ahead and say it because I don't care. She texted me and she said, 'hey we should hang out sometime,' and I'm like 'are you kidding?' I was like, 'you can kiss my country butt. We are not hanging out.' I was like, 'nuh uh uh.' So, technically I've already got revenge. So, now it's just adding on each week," Pennington said.
Pennington is representing his small town nationwide.
"Worst Cooks in America" airs each Sunday at 9 p.m. on the Food Network. The finale is set for March 3.
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