You would never guess this burnt lump of coal was once a bagel. Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt uploaded a photo of the extremely over-microwaved meal to his Instagram in October 2019, commending wife Katherine Schwarzenegger on her attempt at cooking. Quoting Rocky Balboa he wrote: "It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get up... and keep moving forward”.
That wasn’t the only time Katherine Schwarzenegger messed up her cooking times. The following year, in April 2020, the author attempted to make homemade croutons for a salad and left the bread in the oven too long. By the time she got it out, it had turned to embers and even set the fire alarm off. “The oven will always keep you humble,” she said.
Normally a culinary whiz, TV star and model Chrissy Teigen had some trouble making sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving 2018. Though she authored two cookbooks and has a tonne of online cooking advice, the mum managed to burn its crust to a blackened crisp after allowing it to stay in the oven too long. It goes to show, even experts have slip ups sometimes.
We’ve all been there. Just before you go to put your cake in the oven, you realise you’ve forgotten to add chocolate chips or vanilla essence. In March 2020, while making blueberry vanilla cupcakes with daughter Luna, singer John Legend did just this and forgot to add butter. Did he start again? No – he just scraped all the batter out of the cupcake tin and back into the mixing bowl.
During an attempt to make nachos in March 2020, the Kardashians’ momager Kris Jenner had a kitchen disaster and spilt a whole pan of oil on the floor. Luckily it wasn’t hot and could be wiped up with paper towels. But, less fortunately, daughter Kylie caught the whole accident on camera. The young makeup mogul asked: “Do you need help or do you just want me to stand here and film?”
When talk show host Whoopi Goldberg made herself a meal during lockdown in 2020, she quickly revealed she had no idea what she was doing. Filming herself on TikTok, the actress roughly chopped way too many garlic cloves, about four or five, before sautéing them in a pan of oil. The end dish? A plate of spaghetti swimming in garlic oil. Although she said she had a good time in the process.
The Food Network chef is loved for her cooking show Giada at Home – however, she wasn’t able to impress actress Nicole Kidman when they were on The Ellen Show together in May 2018. Giada was demonstrating how to make focaccia topped with orange slices, but after trying a nibble, Kidman complained: “I know you’re not meant to criticise, but it’s a little tough”.
If the Kardashian Wests do one thing well it’s themed parties, and the family went all out for Kanye’s 41st in June 2018. Refreshments included cookies and coffee with West’s face featured on them. However, a birthday cake with green frosting crafted to resemble the Teton Range (one of Kanye’s album covers), looked more Halloween than Happy Birthday.
Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria launched a restaurant that served "He-Cuts" and "She-Cuts" of meat (in other words, small and large) in Las Vegas in 2013. Called SHe, the restaurant also had mirrors on the dessert menu for reapplying makeup and a catwalk. Needless to say, it only stayed open for two years.
Back in February 2018, 13 Going on 30 star Jennifer Garner decided to bake a batch of bagels for her Pretend Cooking Show series on Instagram. Having made them successfully before, she started off confident only to have her ego checked. They came out of the oven all different shapes and sizes and were swiftly thrown in the bin.
Selena Gomez may be a talented singer, but it appears that cooking is not her forte. In cooking show Selena + Chef, the popstar is taught to cook virtually by professionals such as French chef Ludo Lefebvre and Top Chef star Antonia Lofaso. The show premiered in August 2020 and Gomez makes a whole host of mistakes. Serving up raw cheese soufflé, mistaking her gas hob for an electric stove and starting a grease fire were just a few of them.
TV bloopers are usually edited out, however, there wasn’t an option to hide this food fail on the live Rachael Ray Show. While making stuffed chicken and green beans, Ray sets a dishcloth on fire. No big deal, though – she casually picked it up and put it to the sink, saying “note to self: don’t put your kitchen towel too close to the stove”.
Check out these genius cooking tips from our favourite TV chefs
Rap superstar Drake celebrated his 34th birthday last October with a tailored two-course dinner at Nobu in California. Along with the expected fancy offering of a sushi platter, fried calamari, steak frites and grilled shrimp, there was a more unusual choice: mac ‘n’ cheese with sun-dried tomatoes, capers, raisins and parsley. While the disconcerting dish may have been a menu misprint, it left fans scratching their heads.
It’s every dinner host’s worst nightmare, but actress Gwyneth Paltrow's cooking actually made her friends feel unwell. On the Rachael Ray Show, in 2015, the health-food advocate revealed her failed attempt at aubergine parmigiana. She didn’t realise you had to cook the veg first, so she just served slices of raw aubergine in tomato sauce with mozzarella and “everyone threw up”. At least we all know now.
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi rarely gets it wrong, but when she does it’s in a big way. During an interview with People in March 2018, the TV chef said she once tried to flip something in a frying pan and oil splashed and caught on fire. And it gets worse: she had a wooden spice rack above the stove which set aflame too. Thankfully everything was alright in the end.
Even seasoned chefs make mistakes sometimes. In 2014, TV chef and cookbook author Emeril Lagasse revealed that he once had a cooking disaster when cooking in a high-altitude spot. After a few glasses of wine, Lagasse forgot about the altitude and didn't make allowances for the elevation. The cake blew up inside the oven and all that was left was pineapple. In a quick save, he bought some ice cream and made bananas Foster instead.
Pop singer Pink is a regular on social media, updating fans with images of domestic bliss. She’s an old hand at cookies, banana bread and sourdough, and even grows her own veg. However, her April 2020 baked cheesecake caught her out as she wasn’t expecting it to rise quite so much. Fans suggested baking it in a bain marie (water bath) next time.
Fancying a night at home in December 2020, The Help star Octavia Spencer decided to bake a chicken pot pie. Though it looked pretty tempting to us, the actress had one regret. She used pre-packaged “butter flavour” dough instead of making her own, which made the crust taste "horrible". But did she learn a lesson? Yes: “In life, and in cooking, nothing artificial is worth your time."
These days Donald Trump is known for politics rather than food production, but a few years back, in 2007, he was heading up his own line of mail-order steaks. Trump Steaks, costing between $200 to $900 (£147–£661), were self-described as the greatest steaks in the world. However, the business venture was short-lived and came to an end after two months.
Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness might be great at fashion and hair styling, but he’s not so talented in the kitchen. When making cinnamon rolls in February 2020, he made his dough too watery and ended up with a batch of misshapen biscuits. One fan suggested he should just put cream cheese icing on top anyway, while another suggested he should “get a Betty Crocker recipe”.
Here's what we've learned about celebrity chefs' kitchens during lockdown
Throughout the Christmas period in 2020 it felt like everyone was cooking, including Keeping up with the Kardashian stars Kylie and Kendall Jenner and model Hayley Bieber. The threesome got together one evening to make fried chicken, mac ‘n’ cheese, sweet potatoes and corn muffins, and posted a pic of their creation on Instagram. However, fans were unimpressed and dubbed it kids' cuisine.
On Thanksgiving 2020 supermodel Bella Hadid gave her social media following a mini-tutorial on how to make mac ‘n’ cheese. She used rigatoni pasta instead of macaroni, cooked it al dente to prevent it becoming mushy and topped it with panko breadcrumbs and grated cheese. But the end product – despite its golden crust – looked watery in the middle.
When mother, actress and cookbook author Reese Witherspoon tried to make baked brie from her book Whiskey in a Teacup in October 2018, it was left in the oven a little too long. The huge hunk of cheese, topped with roasted nuts, melted so much the inside oozed out of the rind and all over the baking dish. We bet it still tasted delicious though.