Put Down the Reds, Rachael!

Last night on Larry King, Rachael Ray revealed an exciting new contest she's launching entitled "So You Think You Can Cook?"

It's a nationwide search for... well, someone just like Rachael, to show off their personality and culinary skills. No real chefs need apply. The winner will co-host the Rachael Ray show for a day, receive culinary training at the U.S. culinary institute, and get an original recipe printed in Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

Rachael's voice was so hoarse throughout the interview that by the end she basically lost it entirely. I never thought Larry King would outdo someone in the voice department.

"We just want to give a person -- a real person, not a chef or somebody specially trained to do this for a living -- a shot at showing everybody their personality and how much fun you can have with food," Ray, 39, said in a telephone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.

Ray and her producers will narrow the field of candidates to five promising cooks, who will undergo two weeks of intense competitions and challenges before a winner is announced on the air in late November.

I realize Rachael talks, and talks, and talks all the time and has to do lots and lots of interviews, but those ciggys aren't helping her. Clearing your throat is one thing, but coughing and coughing and not having the ability to speak is quite another.