Watch this Fishers High School grad cook in Food Network competition

A Fishers-reared cook will showcase her culinary skills — or lack thereof — on national television in August.

Samantha “Sami” White, a 2012 Fishers High School graduate, will be seen as a contestant on the Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America.”

It’s the 26th season of the culinary boot camp competition and has 16 contestants vying for the $25,000 that goes to the most improved chef.

The eight-episode season was taped last summer in New York, but White — an office administrator at a Chicago women’s physical therapy center by day and a drag king performer in evenings — nearly missed out on a couple of chances to be on it.

The 29-year-old initially thought she was the target of a scam when a casting entity for the show reached out to her via social media.

“You don’t know anything about me. You don’t even know if I’m a bad cook or not,” White said. “This is fake.”

But she looked up the name of the casting organization and it seemed legit. So she set up a Zoom meeting, and on the screen she recognized the person speaking with her as a former cast member of a reality show she’d watched.

He explained he so enjoyed his experience with casting that he went to work for the company.

White had never seen “Worst Cooks in America,” but the encounter with someone with whom she was somewhat familiar spurred her to want to be cast on the show.

Also, White initially was hesitant because of this season's focus on singles and casting having pitched it as a dating-style cooking competition.

“I was like, ‘I'm queer. If this is going to be a straight-person season, I shouldn’t be a contestant,’” she said.

The show assured her the season would have a diverse cast.

More phone and Zoom interviews followed. Then she submitted a video of her preparing a signature dish — shepherd’s pie.

“I was drinking wine and talking to the camera and cooking for them,” she said. “I pretended like I had my own cooking show.”

About six weeks later, she got the call to head east for the competition.

The romance-themed season will have most of the challenges centered around amore, with chefs Anne Burrell and Jeff Mauro mentoring the contestants.

Look for French pastries, date night cuisine and dating-inspired activities. And a contestant to be eliminated each episode.

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White is one of two Chicago residents in the mix. Six contestants are from the state of New York and four are from California. Others are from Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Nevada.

All should make for entertaining viewing, she said.

“Even though we are all actually bad cooks, we're all entertainment kind of people,” she said. “A lot of us are like actors or comedians or into some kind of performing arts, or are social media influencers and what have you.”

The last bit of Hoosier representation on the show was in the form of Greenwood resident Tiffany Billingsly, who just missed the semi-finals in 2021.

More recently on Food Network, despite the praise it got for its Boomerang wings, The Block Bistro & Grill was the first to be eliminated in this season's “The Great Food Truck Race.”

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Although she knew a lot of chefs from her teen to young adult years in restaurants, White has relied on Uber Eats and the bodega next door to her home for meals.

A comedian and actor for about four years, she began performing in drag about 18 months ago, as many theaters around Chicago remained closed.

The 2023 season of "Worst Cooks in America" begins airing Aug. 6, starting with a 90-minute episode and transitioning to an hour-long episode until a double-episode finale on Sept. 10.

Contact the reporter at 317-444-6264.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Food Network's 'Worst Cooks in America' to feature Fishers' Sami White