Michael “Six” Muldoon – Worst Cooks In America

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) How did you get involved with “Worst Cooks In America?”

A) I was tricked into it! My brother graciously nominated me for the show and it was a bit of a surprise. Originally, I was like, “No. I don’t want to get involved.” I thought about it and decided, “What’s the harm in learning how to do something better?” I figured he put me in a position to learn and I do love to learn. I’m constantly learning. So, learning from two of the best chefs in the world is not a bad plan. A lot of why I went on the show was because two of the kids I teach in El Salvador graduated from Culinary Schoo. So, it would be an honor to get in the kitchen with them. 

Q) How did you choose the dish you made to introduce yourself with?

A) There were two segments. You had to send in a video of yourself and you cooking a dish. The original dish, which you see where they show me meeting Chef Anne, is Chicken Noodle Soup Burger. It looks like a burger and it is on crackers, but when you eat it, it actually tastes like Chicken Noodle Soup. There are noodles inside and you get the flavor of Chicken Noodle Soup. There is a show called “Restaurant Impossible” and it is hosted by Robert Irvine. He was at a magic convention held by Magic Magazine called “Magic Live.” Robert came in and cooked a bunch of dishes that looked like one thing, but tasted like another. You could be eating soup that tasted like a cheeseburger. That’s where I got the idea for making the burger. The meatball cake came from one of my own ideas. I thought, “Bread goes good with spaghetti and meatballs so what if I made a cake out of bread and inside was spaghetti and meatballs?”

Q) Before coming on the show, did you have a chef in mind you were hoping to have as our mentor?

A) No, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure how the whole process worked. I’ve seen other seasons and sometimes they pick you to be on a team. I knew Tyler Florence a little more than I knew Chef Anne. I’ve seen him before, but Anne has been on more recently. I used to watch years ago when Rachael Ray was on and that’s when I think Tyler Florence was getting his start. I’ve only seen Chef Anne on more recently so I wasn’t really looking to go for either one. When I found out that Chef Anne was a winner on multiple seasons I was willing to go with that side because it doesn’t hurt to go with a proven winner.

Q) What was your family and friends’ reactions when they learned you were going to be on “Worst Cooks?”

A)  It was different. Everybody’s reaction is different.  Some people laugh about it and other people are like, “No way! You get to learn from these two fantastic chefs! That’s pretty cool!” Other people go, “Are you really that bad of a cook that you need to go on the show?” It kind of varies from person to person. In the end, everyone got a good laugh out of it. As long as people try, that’s the big thing. Accepting you’re not good at something and trying to learn from it is what is important for me. I think that’s the big lesson here. If you look at a lot of tweets people wonder why we’re doing this. If you’re not good at something, don’t be ashamed of it. Become better at it. I think that’s kind of the end goal. I think if people could see things that way instead of being ashamed. Stop worrying about what other people think and pursue it in that sense to make yourself the best person you can be. That is important.

Q) What is it like living with your fellow contestants in a home in New York?

A) It’s unique! It’s a gorgeous house and you get to share a home with complete strangers. We didn’t eat much (it felt like) because nobody wanted to cook. There were tons of things in the refrigerator like fish, meat and fresh vegetables. We didn’t know what to do. We were all like, “Where is the microwave?” So, we didn’t eat much in there as much as we should have or would have if we were home. There were late nights. Norm is a big snorer…I was fortunate enough not to got that room. There was a wall between us. I think Sharif got the hit of it. It was a lot of fun and a great experience.

Q) Who did you become closest with while you were on the show?

A) You kind of stay close with everybody. Everyone was really nice. It’s not like some reality shows where everyone is fighting with each other. It was really, really cool and really, really fun. It’s hard because you have no contact with the outside world so you are just relying on everyone to talk. I pretty much stay in touch with everyone. The people that I probably speak to the most are Norm, Sharif, Mike Kennedy, Leo and Genique. She’s fantastic and always calling me. You kind of stay friends with everyone. There is no one I would say that I didn’t stay friendly with from the show. Everyone was fantastic. Who ever decided who the final contestants would be on the show made a great choice. Everyone was wonderful.

Q) When you first saw what everyone was making on the show, how did you feel about the competition?

A) You really don’t get to see it because you are too busy freaking out as you are going. The only person I saw was Norm and I was kind of worried because it kind of looked good. It sounded crazy: jelly, hotdog and cheese on toasted bread. When I was looking at him next to me, I thought it looked pretty good. I thought, “I might eat that.” I think that Susie was to the left me and she made kale and potatoes and it looked very perverted. I thought, “I’m not worried about her so much.” I couldn’t see everybody else’s dish. Nobody really stood out in the beginning, but even I was surprised with the potato and the plastic bag. Kortni made that and I just found it so funny. And she had logic to it! You have to make sure the colored side of the plastic bag is facing up because it will stick to the bottom of the microwave. So, she’s obviously tried this and tested this. It’s something that works for her. I saw some people and I thought, “I got this in the bag.” I t wasn’t too crazy what they were making, but some of them made me a little bit worried. Overall, I think that we were evenly matched.

Q) A lot of fans have commented on the fact they feel this season had too many contestants that were performers, comedians and singers. How do you feel about the casting?

A) It’s kind of more about who shows up. When I was at the casting call, I was hanging out with the wrestler you saw in the premiere episode. It’s funny because my brother happens to be in the same wrestling federation as that guy. So, I knew that guy. I told him that my brother was the announcer for his wrestling events. We just were sitting around and talking. There were a lot of people there. I think it came down to character, personality and how bad of a cook you are. Obviously, you don’t want to put boring bad cooks on the show. No one wants to watch people cooking badly for an hour. There has to be something interesting about them. I will say that everyone you aw on the show was extremely authentic. People wonder about Leo skipping around and that was Leo. He would skip around the house! He’s an amazing person and he loves to talk to anybody. He just has a bright and bubbly personality. everyone you see is authentic. Everyone was true to who they were and no one on the show was faking it. Everyone was exactly who they said they were.

Q) Many fans are curious about the contestants real abilities. Is there truth to how people are portrayed?

A) It’s completely true! I thought the same thing. I saw someone asking about a carrot, but it was some weird thing that was wet. It was like squash or something. We didn’t know what some of these items were. That was 100% authentic. Mike did not know what a cucumber was, but I’m sure if it was cut up he would know what it is. But initially looking at it it could have been anything. Mike was really funny because he does not cook at all. At least with someone like me I cook badly and I don’t know how to cook, but I try to cook stuff. Mike just didn’t know how to cook because he just didn’t want to try cooking. He was at a different level. Even someone like Stephanie, she just didn’t know how to cut stuff. There were times in the house I was worried about her because she was practicing cutting and she was cutting a round object and shaking. It would keep slipping and she would be cutting the table top. I was there going, “Please don’t cut your finger! Please don’t cut your finger!” It was all legitimate. As crazy as it sounds or may seem, it was 100% legit. Everyone felt safe when I was cutting though because I have an extra finger in case they needed it…

Q) What did you take away and learn from being on the show?

A) I spend a lot of time in the kitchen now. It sounds so stupid, but once you understand the basics…It’s amazing how so many people don’t know the basics. I have family members who cooked in school and of course my mother always cooked. Even she doesn’t know what she is doing because the way she cuts an onion is wrong. We don’t realize how many of us don’t know what we’re doing. I’m pretty sure if you polled the people who make fun of us on the show they wouldn’t know what they were doing either. So, it was just learning the basics of how to cut stuff and how to season. With a lot of bad cooks, especially in my case, we would over season. You’d throw in fifteen flavors of seasoning where someone like Chef Anne just uses salt and/or chicken broth or whatever the case is. In the first episode, the only seasoning we used on the chicken and couscous was salt and then we made a pomegranate sauce. I think I just took away learning to know when you’re food is over cooking. For me, it was understanding where the heat is on your pan and moving your pan around. It’s amazing when you cook that you don’t think to move your pan over because the heat is all on one side that your food isn’t going to cook evenly. If the water starts rippling or bubbling then it is time to put the food in. It’s just like magic in that once you know the main ten or twelve principles you can kind of do what you want. If you don’t know them then you are kind of swinging in the dark and I think that’s what a lot of us were doing beforehand.

Q) Assuming you have tried out your new cooking abilities on family and friends, what has been their feedback?

A) They love it! They love it because it is less work for them and more work for me. I’m now the official onion and pepper cutter because I know how to cut it quickly. My mother is kind of getting annoyed I’ll explain to her, “You want to cook it this way” and she say, “Listen kid, I’ve been cooking my entire life. You learned how to cook on a TV show. Don’t come to me and tell me how to make my food.” But it has been great and people love it. Now I love to cook and I’m always looking for new recipes. I’m willing to try new things and I’ve been successful so far. I’ve found a few dishes that I love and I’m building a repertoire I guess!

Q) You are a part of social media. Have you enjoyed the fan feedback you have been receiving?

A) I love to talk and I love meeting new people. So, getting the feedback has been fantastic because I love to chit-chat and find out what people think. I think life is all about getting to know people and contributing to other people. I think in the beginning this show gives people a laugh, but it becomes more than that to people. A lot of people wonder if they can be on the show and I tell them to try out because you learn a lot. I tell them to go for it because there is no shame in trying. The shame is from not trying. One of my favorite quotes is from Wayne Gretsky who said, “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.” I think people should just take shots. It’s more important to let people know to take shots. Yes, we’re silly and funny, but don’t be afraid to learn. Embrace things you are bad at just as much as things you are good at.

Q) Where can people go online to learn more about you?

A) I have two websites: http://www.sixfingermagic.com and http://www.michaelsixmuldoon.com. You can really find all of my stuff there and I constantly update. I have Twitter and Instagram as well. You can go to http://www.system6magic.com to find all the magic creations I sell. It is mostly for advanced magicians, but there are playing cards everyone would love!

Q) What would you like to say to fans of the show “Worst cooks In America?”

A) Before you knock it, try it. A lot of people are making jokes about the show. I’ve done a lot of stuff in my life and a lot of difficult stuff and this is really hard. One is learning how to cook and then immediately cooking what you just learned. Also, there is a clock and you have to share. We don’t all just get our own couscous. You have to run to the fridge and get things. If someone burns a chicken and gets another one then you might not get a chicken. You need to go get that chicken quickly! It’s a lot harder than it looks and I would love for people to cook on a twenty minute timed clock and see if they could pull it off. It’s also complicated because you learn from the chefs and they do one item at a time. They have an hour or two hours to teach you and then you have twenty minutes to cook it all at once! It’s very hard to manage it going back and forth. Don’t knock it until you try it. I wish everyone could try it. Being in the kitchen with other people is one of the things I learned. Even if they are family or strangers, cooking has this way of building a relationship with people especially when you are all struggling. We had to help each other out because there is so much going on. You don’t want the other person to win, but you don’t’ want them to fail. I don’t think anyone was on the show to be malicious and steal their way to $25,000. I respected that and we were all there to learn.