I know probably no one even cares enough about this show anymore to look up any reviews for it, but in case there is ANYONE watching this still, this one's for you.
This show follows a very specific formula that is nearly identical every season, which tells me by itself that it is scripted.
But the contestants this season in particular just screams FAKE! Every single contestant this season lists their job as actor or content creator. If you were casting a show with people good on camera, that's who you'd pick. I guarantee the audition process for this show now consists of production assistants scouring Tik Tok videos.
The audition tapes themselves are so fake looking as well. Obviously people play up how bad they are to seem more outrageous, because that's more entertaining in the eyes of producers. The ones who act terrible on camera are cast because they are the best actors, not because they are the worst cooks.
The first round no contestants get cut, so producers tell the contestants behind the scenes to make disgusting food on purpose. People get cut on this show for being boring, not for being bad cooks.
Here's a trick that Worst Cook producers do at the beginning of every season: The "outrageous" dishes the contestants make in round one serve the purpose of ensuring that the audience thinks all these cooks truly are terrible, and when they later prepare food properly under the guidance of the professional chefs it serves the purpose of making the professionals look like geniuses who magically turned these people around.
Everything about this series is designed to make the contestants look clueless and the professionals look like gods. Neither thing is actually true.
Oh and I didn't really mention the "dating" premise of this season because it's just as fake as everything else is. It has no purpose and nothing will come of it.