The Most Surprising Celebrities With Cooking Shows

Selena Gomez is not a chef. But she’s about to play one on TV.

On Thursday, May 11, the pop star becomes the latest—and, perhaps, one of the unlikeliest—face of food television when her new show, appropriately entitled Selena + Chef, premieres on HBO Max. In each episode of the new series, filmed while social distancing amid the pandemic, Selena is joined virtually by a different master chef to tackle cuisines of every variety, share invaluable tips and tricks, and deal with everything from smoking ovens to missing ingredients.

As unlikely a marriage Selena and food TV might seem, she’s far from the first celebrity to step outside their obvious realm of expertise and enter into the world of culinary arts. While some just sign up to host competition series involving food, a brave and kitchen-confident few have actually invited viewers into their own homes, sharing family recipes of the stars.