When Amy Decker walked into the Los Angeles soundstage for Food Network’s newest competition series debuting next month, she was competing with 99 other hopeful home cooks, bright studio lights and what she calls “absolute mayhem.”
For most contestants, the pressure of cooking on television would be intimidating enough. But Decker had already spent years navigating high-stakes environments in an entirely different world: the CIA.
Now the Alexandria resident is trading intelligence briefings and other positions in the corporate world for kitchen battles as a contestant on 100 Cooks, Food Network’s ambitious new culinary competition premiering Sunday, June 7 at 9 p.m. ET. Hosted by Terry Crews and judged by celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli and culinary creator Nick DiGiovanni, the series pits 100 home cooks from across the country against one another in a seven-week series elimination gauntlet for a chance to win up to $250,000…