'Clash of the Grandmas' Sneak Peek: Host Cameron Mathison Previews New Food Network Show

Mandi Bierly

Nothing says the holidays are approaching like Grandma’s cooking — and some friendly competition.

On Nov. 13, Food Network will premiere its six-episode series Clash of the Grandmas, hosted by Cameron Mathison. Each week, four different grannies will enter the kitchen and compete for $10,000 in front of a rotating panel of judges that includes Monti Carlo, Nancy Fuller, Eddie Jackson, Brandi Milloy, Jamika Pessoa, Aarti Sequeira, and Jake Smollett.

“There’s pretty wild challenges that I throw at them, getting them to do basically everything except for conventional cooking,” Mathison tells Yahoo TV. “I get them to cook appetizers with a clothes iron. I think I’m pretty decent in the kitchen, and then I hear these challenges I’ve given them, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Man, I couldn’t do that.'”

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In the Thanksgiving-themed premiere, contestants must first dress up traditional stuffing ingredients to make a side dish that is anything but stuffing. Next, they have to transform Thanksgiving leftovers into an Italian dish. Finally, the two remaining contestants make their best Thanksgiving pie — on a stick. As you can see from our exclusive clip above, things don’t go smoothly for Louisiana’s Janice “Boo” Macomber, who declares one of her dishes “screwed” after she forgets to use her secret ingredient — wine — and another contestant steals it.

“They’re so great and so funny. Grandmas rock,” Mathison says. “I feel like I’ve got this special connection with grandmas from my background in soaps. It’s a funny thing, but everywhere I go, grandmas are reaching out: ‘I loved you. …’ So for me to host this show, guide them along this challenge, in a weird way, felt really normal and natural and comfortable for me. It’s high stakes. It’s funny. It’s kooky. And it’s sweet and endearing, because family members get involved.”

Yes, it sounds like we won’t want to miss the Nov. 27 episode, “Granny Family Food Night,” which features Georgia’s Aliyah “Mama Pain” Naim, grandmother of rapper T-Pain, as a competitor. “She’s just a walking soundbite machine, that one. Like look out for Grandma T-Pain,” Mathison says. “But she’s also spontaneous and everything you’d hope for in a cooking show contestant. The casting was genius. It’s not their first time at the barbecue, pardon the pun. They know how to cast these shows, and they’ve got so many different, quirky characters.”

Clash of the Grandmas premieres Nov. 13 at 10 p.m. on Food Network.