When Food Network announced the upcoming season four of Worst Cooks in America, I did what I usually do: Troll the release and look for people from DFW.
Top 50 DFW reality-TV stars.
Alex Stein of Dallas popped up. The Worst Cooks site doesn't have season four info yet, so here's his bio:
"Alex, a 25-year-old former high school football team captain, has shocked his friends with his outrageous behavior. He chugs hot sauce, participates in speed-eating contests, and finishes other tables’ leftovers at restaurants. He only eats fast food and insists he has an iron stomach that will tolerate anything. His loud personality, one-liners, and gross-out food antics have been a challenge with the ladies. Now, he wants to shock his friends and, hopefully win some hearts, with some brand new cooking skills."
Something about Alex's name was familiar, so I Googled him and discovered why -- I'd written about him before, when he was cast on ABC's Glass House last summer. And I'll be honest: That is the last bit of attention I paid to Glass House.
But The Dallas Morning News kept an eye on the show, with Alan Peppard answering the question Who is Highland Park grad Alex Stein? and other questions more specific to Glass House. (Partial answer: "Alex is the son of colorful Dallas bon vivant Rhett Stein, whose businesses include diamond and art investing and money lending, but he is best known as a go-to bail bondsman. While Alex also lists his profession as bail bondsman, father and son do not work together.")
But there is so much more to Alex Stein. He's a rapper (do I have to warn you about the language?). A comedian. He's PrimeTime99. And it looks like he knows how to game the reality-TV system. Here he is in one of his speed-eating attempts.
If you haven't seen Worst Cooks, it involves (in this incarnation) Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay, who really can cook, leading teams of bad cooks in competition against each other. There's a lot of encouragement, sarcasm and just being plain appalled on the part of the mentors, but the people who stick around do become halfway decent cooks and learn things. Stein is on Flay's team; can't wait to see how much he annoys Flay.
Worst Cooks in America's fourth season begins at 8 p.m. Central Time Feb. 17 on Food Network.
