(This category must not be confused with that conferred on Kylie Kwong. Hers is Worst Chef Ever aka Greatest Hack in the World.) 

I can take Bobby Chinn, even though he can come across as smarmy. I tell myself that he oozes self-confidence.

I can also take Andrew Zimmern, even though he took some getting used to. He also has the unfortunate (or opportune?) task of eating the most unappealing foods, episode after episode, so I kinda have to cut him some slack. 

The one food presenter I cannot bear, the one that makes me want to flick channels and watch a Tudung-folding program on Suria instead is Merrilees Parker on Planet Food. 

Everyone has 'that dirty girl' from their childhood. The one who, every morning at 7am, looked exactly like she did the day before after school at 1pm. The one who ate with grubby looking fingers, the one who we would have called "kian peng" if we knew that phrase back in primary school.

The one who, if she touched your lunchbox, could convince you to push the best made sandwich away. And she'd make it known she'd like you to push it in her direction. 

Well, Discovery Channel has their very own in Merrilees Parker.

When she talks about food, the ingredients, the preparation, she doesn't make you taste and smell the ingredients. She sounds much like she's actually saying, "Yeah yeah okay whatever." She sounds like she actually just wants to eat the food. And when you see the way she does, you're convinced she's not hosting a travel and food show because of the travel or culture, or of the desire to bring the flavors, sights and sounds of foreign cities into your living room.

She has this way of eating that is entirely unappetizing, handling food without respect for the craft and effort that has been put into it. She insults it with a crude stabbing of a fork, then rushes the indignant morsel through the short distance between plate and mouth, as if even that distance was too long for her greed. And her bites are always too big. Cheeks bulging, fingers barely concealing the gluttony in her face, she makes the same sound and expression every. single. time. 

In short, she is the best embodiment of the expression, "stuffing your face".

It's worse when she eats something handheld. Grabbing it in her grubby fist, she (again) rushes it to her mouth, CHOMPS into it and pulls away like a savage biting off the head of a chicken. Egg-sized bite stuffed into her cheek, she rolls her eyes back into her head and makes a little moan. Then proceeds to talk with her mouth (too) full. Yummeh.

Would it hurt to eat a little more slowly, tasting and feeling the food, appreciating the work and pride that has gone into it, one medium-sized bite at a time? There's no need to take affected bird-like bites, but as the only host in her show, she's not exactly competing with anyone to get the food. No one's there to snatch it out of her hand and deprive her of its eye-rolling pleasure. 

There is one upside to her hosting style though. If ever you needed a diet aid, she's it.