Nicole Kidman and Ellen DeGeneres feature in excruciating TV cooking segment

The cooking segment culminated with the Australian actress removing the chef's food from her mouth

Live cooking segments on television can be awkward at the best of times, from impromptu burning to the classically cringe: ‘Here’s what I made earlier’.

However, a recent segment on The Ellen Show culminated with Nicole Kidman criticising the chef Giada De Laurentiis’ food before practically spitting it out and De Laurentiis with her head in her hands asking why she “even bothers” with these very cooking segments.

On Wednesday’s show, Kidman and host Ellen DeGeneres joined the Italian-American TV chef for a lesson in how to make artichocke arancini balls and clementine and fennel pizza.

Things got off to an awkward start when De Laurentiis asked Degeneres if she had much experience with “any kind of balls before” leading to what looked like some side-eye from Kidman and a reminder it was a “family-friendly show”. The chef then lamented DeGeneres for failing to construct a perfect arancini ball, saying it looked more like “dog food”.

Swiftly leaving that recipe aside, the trio moved on to making the focaccia. During which time, DeGeneres told the studio audience her producer, Andy, was asking her to “move things on a bit”.

After also failing to make the pizza, DeGeneres and Kidman tried it both visibly struggling to chew on the apparently hard dough while also laughing hysterically.

“It’s a little tough,” Kidman remarked. “I know you’re not meant to criticise but it’s a little tough,” she said before removing the food from her mouth.

“Nicole, it’s been sitting there for like five hours. I hate doing these things for that reason,” an exasperated De Laurentiis replied before reminding the audience about her new show on the Food Network which was the “only reason” she was on the show.

Watch the whole six minutes above, if you can manage it.