Ted Allen Hosts New Food Network Series AMERICA'S BEST COOK Tonight

Home cooks from across the country compete, with the guidance and determination from Food Network chefs, for a $50,000 cash prize in the new culinary competition series America's Best Cook, premiering tonight, April 13th at 9pm ET/PT.

Hosted by Ted Allen, the cooks are divided into teams which are mentored by Cat Cora, Tyler Florence, Alex Guarnaschelli and Michael Symon, each representing the South, West, East and North respectively. The series kicks off with a timed culinary challenge where 16 cooks divided into groups of four compete for coveted positions on the mentor's teams. Following the challenge, each mentor tastes the dishes of four hopeful cooks and chooses the two for their team that they believe will lead them to victory. Emotions run high as each mentor puts their reputation on the line for one of their cooks to be named America's Best Cook.

In each episode, the hand-picked cooks compete in a Group Challenge to prove they have what it takes to compete another day and to make their Food Network chef mentors proud. With direction and counsel from their mentors the cooks must raise the bar in every facet of their cooking. From elevating every day, tired dishes to restaurant quality cuisine to transforming savory ingredients into amazingly sweet desserts, these cooks must give it their all to impress the rotating guest judge and avoid the elimination round. The bottom four cooks dig deep for redemption as they face-off in the intense Pressure Cooker round where their final dishes are judged again by the guest judge who then determines who is safe for another week and who goes home. The finale puts the four remaining home cooks through three grueling, single elimination rounds until one cook along with their chef mentor is left standing as America's Best Cook. Special guests include Anne Burrell, Bobby Flay,Ron Ben-Israel,Marcel Vigneron and Geoffrey Zakarian.

Viewers wanting more can visit FoodNetwork.com/BestCook for behind-the-scenes photos, interviews and more insider coverage.

America's Best Cook is produced by Relativity Lifestyle Television, a division of Relativity Television.

FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers' best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and averages more than 9.9 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine's rate base has grown tenfold and is now the second largest monthly magazine on the newsstand, with over 11.6 million readers. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24-hour networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com) and GREAT AMERICAN COUNTRY (www.gactv.com), is the manager and general partner.

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