Former Royals player appears on a Food Network show. Here’s how it went for him
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- Mark Canha filmed for four days on Food Network’s 100 Cooks.
- Canha made a strawberry gallate in the episode three bake sale challenge.
- Canha was eliminated after the judges judged his dessert to have fallen short.
Former Kansas City Royals outfielder Mark Canha has stepped into a new arena.
And it has nothing to do with baseball.
Canha, whose most recent major-league game was last year, traded in his bat and glove for some new gear, at least temporarily. His uniform was different, too, as he went from wearing a sleek Royals blue outfit to a smock befit for the kitchen.
In the span of a week in January, Canha was handed premier cutlery and an accessible kitchen filled with all the necessities — in front of the entire world.
“It was kind of wild,” Canha said of the experience.
Canha appeared on Food Network’s new show, “100 Cooks,” competing alongside some of the best home chefs in America. The show’s premise: Put 100 of them through a professional culinary competition hosted by former NFL standout/actor Terry Crews and judged by Alex Guarnaschelli and Nick DiGiovanni.
Canha appeared in the fledgling show’s third episode — which aired on June 21. He was vying for a cash prize worth as much as $250,000.
“I think they emailed me because I have my email link on my Instagram,” said Canha, 37, who made his MLB debut with the Athletics and went on to play for five other clubs, including KC.
“So one day I got an email from their casting department and Food Network,” he continued. “I did a little bit of digging to make sure it was real and everything. Once I found out it was real, the timing of when they were filming was kind of perfect.”
At the time, Canha was preparing for the 2026 season. He was in great shape and felt good about his chances of making a big-league roster after appearing in 46 games with the Royals in 2025. He reached a milestone last year, too, eclipsing 10 years of MLB service time.
He got a shot with the Texas Rangers in February, and the timing was perfect. Spring training would begin in March, well after the filming of his run on “100 Cooks.”
“I talked to my wife about it and she was like, I think you should do it,” Canha said.
So Canha zipped out to Burbank in California for production with the Food Network. It was a quick trip — he spent four days filming on set.
When it was time to cook, Canha was selected among nine chefs to participate in a bake-sale challenge. The contestants had 50 minutes to make a dessert of their choice. Then, the two judges would evaluate; each would buy four desserts, eliminating one.
Canha chose to make a strawberry galette. It’s a traditional French treat — similar to a pie, with a flaky exterior crust.
He completed the challenge, but the judges felt his dish fell short. As a result, he was eliminated after his first round in the kitchen.
“It was something that seemed, to me, like a simple idea,” Canha said of his choice of dish. “But not being an experienced baker, I think in retrospect, with my lack of experience, I didn’t even know that like that was probably a little too ambitious of a thing to take on, given the time.
“Baking is such a science; there are a lot of things that could go wrong.”
Canha enjoyed his time on the show but said cooking under a time constraint proved to be about as difficult as hitting a 100 mph fastball. There are nuances to both, and that intrigued him as he went through the process.
“It’s just that sort of learning environment, I think, that is really fun and cool for me,” he said.
Canha was released by the Rangers at the conclusion of spring training, but he isn’t quite ready to give up on his pro baseball career. He is trending toward retirement but will listen if a team calls.
For now, he’s enjoying his food journey. He recently took a trip to Europe, exploring different cuisines in Paris, Nice, Rome and other cities abroad.
“It was fun eating and we had the kids with us, so it was a little bit of everything,” he said. “A little bit of good food, a little bit of adventuring — you know, all of it.”
Canha is active on Instagram, too. On his account called @bigleaguefoodie, he talks about some of his favorite restaurants in various locales — including a few special places in Kansas City.
As he ponders his next move — be it in baseball, food or both — Canha hasn’t ruled out making another appearance on the Food Network.
“Yeah, I would definitely do it again,” he said. “I’d like to think it would go better the second time because I think getting one of those under your belt is just invaluable in terms of doing well in competition.”
