Dave Coulier knows his strengths … and his weaknesses. While the Fuller House star is a celebrated actor and comedian, cooking has never been his strong suit.
In fact, a serious lack of culinary knowledge is why Coulier, 60, agreed to be a part of the current season of the Food Network show Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition. Not surprisingly, the reality competition series, which pits bad cooks against one another, helped Michigan native improve his kitchen skills.
“I went from zero to hero. I thought that I knew how to cook going into this show, but I realized I didn’t even know how to hold the knives properly,” the actor told Us Weekly exclusively earlier this month. “I learned an incredible amount of things about cooking, prepping, tastes, and blending tastes and putting certain food combinations together. We did this all from scratch.”
The Full House alum initially had an inkling he could “do pretty well on this show,” but admitted that the feeling didn’t last long. “I had no idea what I was walking into,” he explained. “I didn’t know much of anything, really.”
The stand-up comedian added: “I’m a barbecue guy. I go out and I throw some meat on the grill, so this was a real awakening, and it was tough. It was really hard.”
In addition to Coulier, this season of Worst Cooks in America features a cast of famous faces that includes Real Housewives of New York City star Sonja Morgan, former Bachelorette contestant Wells Adams, comedian Bridget Everett and more.
“They were nuts,” Coulier told Us when asked about his competition. “They were pretty crazy. I had a great time with Bridget Everett and Brian Posehn. We made each other laugh a lot. ‘Johnny Bananas’ [whose real name is Johnny Devenanzio] is bananas. He’s completely off his rocker, and he was cooking next to me all the time, so it was like being next to the Tasmanian devil wielding a sharp knife.”
The star continued: “Robin Givens was a sweetheart, Wells Adams and I talked golf a lot and Sonja Morgan is wonderfully nuts.”
The best part of the whole experience? Now that Coulier has some culinary know-how, he’s able to comfortably whip up at least two meals for his wife, Melissa Bring, whom he married in July 2014.
“In the morning it would be a frittata, with two different kinds of mushrooms — oyster and shiitake. And then at night, it’s usually, like, a New York steak with a reduced red wine sauce and some kind of puree of either artichoke or asparagus,” he told Us. “I never thought these words would be coming out of my mouth, but I can do that stuff now. It’s really amazing.”
Worst Cooks in America airs on the Food Network Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi