Selena Gomez Has a Total Kitchen Fail In Her Forthcoming Holiday Cooking Special

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 30 November 2023

Tomorrow, multihyphenate Selena Gomez’s latest project, Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays, premieres on the Food Network. And we’re getting a taste (pun totally intended) of the special ahead of its airing, particularly a funny kitchen fail that Gomez had with chef Alex Guarnaschelli, People reports.

In a sneak peek, Guarnaschelli teaches Gomez how to make mozzarella sticks, asking her “You want to drop the mozzarella sticks in?” at the start of the clip.

“Sure! Should I do it with this?” Gomez asked, holding tongs. Guarnaschelli wasn’t convinced that was the best utensil to use and asked her “Hmmm. Do you have, like, a spider?”

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Clearly confused (understandably so), Gomez couldn’t find a spider, so they opted for a strainer that did the job. The Food Network chef then demonstrated how to drop the mozzarella sticks in hot oil. “Super easy,” she said as she put some breaded cheese sticks in the pot. “You can fry, like, three or four at a time.”

But Gomez, uh, put more than four in the pot. “How’s that coming out?” Guarnaschelli asked, as she realized the mix-up. She then added, wide-eyed, “You put them all in?”

“Oh, was I not supposed to?” Gomez said. The chef thankfully laughed it off and told her “No, they’ll be fine. Just stir.” The two started cracking up at Gomez’s goof as they moved onto the next task, which was making a dish with the tomato sauce.

“Pop it on the platter,” the chef said. “I like a little bed of cheese for these bad boys.” She then asked Gomez to take the mozzarella sticks out of the pot, and, as she used the strainer to take them out, they all clearly burst open while in the oil, oozing melty cheese. “They kind of look crazy, but…” Gomez said.

Guarnaschelli jokingly did the sign of the cross over the mozzarella sticks and, after another deep breath, “she feigned praying as Gomez called back from the fryer,” People reports. “Oh no!” Gomez said as the mozzarella sticks fell apart in the oil. God bless Guarnaschelli, who closed out the clip with the reassuring words “They look perfect.”

During the special, Gomez will be under the tutelage of four celebrity chefs: Guarnaschelli, Michael Symon, Claudette Zepeda, and Eric Adjepong. In addition to the ill-fated mozzarella sticks, Gomez will learn how to make roast beef, creamy mashed potatoes, classic steak and lobster, Christmas tamales, shrimp and banana grits, and a South African dish known as malva pudding, which is eaten to ring in the new year.

“The holidays have always meant so much to me,” Gomez said in a statement, per People. “It was an honor to have these amazing chefs in my kitchen to introduce some of their favorite foods and what makes the holidays special for them.”

Selena + Chef first aired on HBO Max (now simply Max), and, after its original airing tomorrow night on the Food Network, it will be available to stream on Max.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.