Top Ten Tuesday: Writers on Reality TV

Top Ten Tuesday is a blogging meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, one of their number posts a top ten list based on a given theme, and then invites others to post links to their blogs with their lists on the same theme. This week, they want to know The Top Ten Authors I’d Like To See On A Reality Show (and which reality show)

I don’t watch a lot of reality TV aside from reality contests–and particularly cooking reality contests. My favorites are Top Chef, and just about any contest on The Food Network. One of TFN’s reality contests is Worst Cooks in America, and I think this would be the perfect venue for an author cook-off. In Worst Cooks, a group of culinary-challenged viewers, selected for their distinct lack of ability, divide into two teams which are each coached by a Food Network celebrity chef. Each week, a contestant from each team is eliminated. The two remaining contestants then have to prove how much they have learned by preparing a dish that is so good, it can pass as being made by their celebrity chef mentor.

I think this would be a particularly good challenge because, while some authors may be great in the kitchen, others might not be so great. And I imagine that even those that are good have their comfort zones, so they may not do as well if challenged to prepare food outside that zone. This challenge would make no assumptions about ability. So, the ten writers I think would be fun to watch compete on Worst Cooks in America are:

• Stephen King

• J.K. Rowling

• Neil Gaiman

• John Green

• Scott Westerfeld

• Maureen Johnson

• Stephen Fry

• Tom Clancy

• John Grisham

• Tahereh Mafi

Let me explain some of my choices. I’m thinking of people who would be entertaining to watch, and while authors are not necessarily given to performance, I think these people would make for fun television. John Green, Scott Westerfeld, and Maureen Johnson are good friends and writing buddies, so there would be plenty of witty banter between them while they cook. I realize there are some Brits in my list–the show is Worst Cooks in America, not Worst American Cooks, so I don’t see why they can’t be a part of it. Stephen Fry is primarily a TV and stage performer, but he has written a couple of novels, so he’s in. Clancy and Grisham are such legendary writers, it would be nice seeing them in this setting, interacting with writers they may never have met. And from the couple of vlogs she has done, Tahereh Mafi seems such a sweet and funny person–and I think she would have a great time with the other writers.

Which author would you like to see showing off their culinary chops on a television reality contest?