‘Worst Cooks In America’ Winner Ari Robinson Auditioned for ‘America’s Got Talent’ Weeks Before Her Arrest for the Murder of Her Adoptive Daughter (Exclusive Details)

Ari Robinson was working to take the next step in her career, just weeks before she and her husband Jerry were arrested for the murder of their three-year-old adopted daughter Victoria.

The Worst Cooks in America Season 20 winner— who is currently sitting behind bars in South Carolina after being charged with “Homicide by Child Abuse” for Victoria’s death earlier this month— had recently auditioned to be on America’s Got Talent. That audition happened right before Victoria’s death and the Robinsons’ arrests, according to one of the last episodes of the couple’s Double A Shenanigans podcast.

During that same podcast episode, Ari– who is an aspiring comic– and Jerry also discussed how their lives had changed since adopting Victoria and her two brothers.

“I auditioned for ‘America’s Got Talent,'” Ari said in the episode, which was posted last month. “I don’t know how much I can tell y’all. I don’t know if I got through, like all the way through yet. I don’t know yet if I’m going to LA to audition in front of the judges. But it’s going pretty well in the audition process right now…I’ve been talking to some producers and stuff…I’m allowed to tell people I auditioned but I think that’s pretty much what I can tell y’all.

“That has been having me very, very busy because it is a process…that has been taking up some time, but [it’s] definitely time worth it, because this is ‘America’s Got Talent,’ people. And I want to be on ‘America’s Got Talent!’ Like, literally, when I started with comic, my very first goal that I wrote down was to be on ‘America’s Got Talent.'”

At the time, Ari seemed confident that she would progress in the audition process.

“This is looking like the year that my dreams will come true!” she said. 

Later in the episode, the couple talks about adopting Victoria and her siblings.

“We have three new babies. Last December we found out that we were approved and we were gonna be able to adopt all three of them,” Ari said. “We were going to be able to bring them all back together because they were separated. The two boys were at one house and the girl [Victoria] was at another house.”

The couple discuss how they created new Christmas traditions for the kids, and how the kids were thrilled to finally have a mother and a father. 

As The Ashley previously reported, Ari and Jerry were arrested in Simpsonville, South Carolina, on January 19 for the January 14 death of Victoria. The two are accused of “inflicting a series of blunt force injuries” which resulted in Victoria’s death. She was pronounced dead after being transferred to the hospital. 

Since her arrest, Ari’s teaching certificate has been suspended by the South Carolina Board of Education.

“The SCDE has reason to believe that, due to the serious nature of this allegation of misconduct, Ms. Robinson may pose a threat to the health, safety and welfare of students who may be under her instruction and that emergency action is required,” the suspension document read. 

In the time since Ari’s arrest was announced in the press, her YouTube channel— which contained videos featuring Victoria— has been shut down. Her Facebook page was also shut down, but her Twitter and Instagram accounts remained active at press time. 

The Food Network recently yanked down Ari’s season of ‘Worst Cooks in America’ from its streaming platforms, including Discovery+ and the Food Network website. Season 20 debuted June 21 and concluded August 2, with Ari winning the competition and taking home $25,000.

RELATED STORY: Food Network Removes ‘Worst Cooks in America’ Season 20 From All Platforms After Winner Ari Robinson is Charged with “Homicide By Child Abuse”

(Photos: Food Network, Twitter, Instagram)

16 Comments

  1. Sadly, this happens more than we know I think. CPS takes kids from mothers/fathers because of their addiction, or whatever the case may be, and they end up with far worse families!! Some families, sadly, just do it for the monthly paycheck that comes along with the kids. That’s why you sometimes see some families adopt 3 4 and 5 children!! It’s so sad!! This story just makes me want to vomit and cry all at the same time!! How could someone do this to a poor helpless child!!? Makes you just want to hug your kids and never let go! This POS and her husband will get what’s coming to them in prison!!!


    1. I absolutely agree with you! I think in many cases they are taken from a far better home, albeit even if the parent is abusing drugs, and put in a household where they end up dead. I’m not one for drug use but, a close friend of mine was in a lot of pain and taking Norco (albeit not from a doctor) to be able to move, and is a wonderful mother. Her doctor saw it come back on a test and called on her. Her kids were taken from her and placed in Foster care temporarily. Her daughter ended up being molested in the fosters family care in the short time she was there and is pretty much traumatized at this point by the separation. My friend feeds, bathes, and takes care of her children and is a fantastic very involved mother that plays with them and shows them love and attention. She needs medication to function. Big deal. She can’t get it from her doctor so yes, she’s gotten it illegally. Anyway- I’ve seen cases like hers too and I think there seriously needs to be some stipulations on certain cases.


      1. Omg, that’s such a sad story!! It’s exactly the situation I was referring to! The kids were happy, healthy and living a great life and were snatched away and traumatized by the situation!! My heart seriously breaks for that little girl!! That dr. Should’ve sat her down and talked to her before acting impulsive and calling CPS right away!! I get his concern but there’s other ways to go about it! That just brings me back to the type of people that they allow to be foster parents!! They say they’re helping but where were they when that poor baby was going through that?! I can’t imagine, as a parent, knowing my child was suffering and not being able to help them!!! Please tell me she got her children back?!?


  2. I am so sad for that poor girl and her brothers. Obviously I am speculating here, but imagine being a child who has had a terrible start and separated from your siblings. Then you find someone is going to take you AND your brothers and look after you all and then you end up being put into a situation like this. Heartbreaking.


  3. I can stomach a lot of things but abusing and murdering innocent children makes me want to cry and beat the living shit out of the abusers all at the same time. When she was on Worst Cooks in America she discussed her kids like she was making a PR announcement. It almost felt manipulative at points. “Why do you want to be on WCIA?” (Cue fake sniff and scrunchy face) “Why for my children, I just want to give my children a better life! I’m doing this for them!” You say that and then you are doing God knows what to those kids behind closed doors. Sweet little Victoria never had a chance and that crushes my soul.😔


  4. Sick bitch. She can be the prison pod comic now. Making that poor little girl wear braids like that is almost abuse in itself 😂 when I did a month in jail when I was 21 in 2002, I let some girls put cornrows in my hair, and holy shit do they HURT!! Especially when trying to sleep, cause they’re hard and lumpy. Poor baby girl, I don’t even want to let my mind wander to what happened. Kids probably got taken by a drug addicted mother, and look how that turned out. Sadly, the poor baby would’ve been better off with her mom (if she’s still alive.)


        1. You really don’t know how to read the room do you? Putting a child’s hair in braids is child abuse? Or is your problem the TYPE? As in cornrows commonly worn by people of color? Careful your white privilege and racism is showing. But I’ve known you were dumb since your comment denying Covid was a big deal. Loved your “whatever.” It was basically saying you don’t give a shit about other people’s cultures. Well guess what? No one on here gives a shit about you. If the Ashley was smart, they’d block your dumbass.


          1. The little girl was white. When white people adopt black children and try and make them ‘look white’ people scream that transracial adoption is wrong and they aren’t respecting the child’s culture. The same should apply when it is a white child/black family.


          2. Jesus God, Leah eh… Emma, relax! She said the cornrows or plaits or braids (in my native language we call all these styles braids, so I can’t translate it well) hurt her terribly when she got them. It was just an attempt to be light-hearted (which is understandable, because what else do you say when everyone feel like poop because of this news?). Since we’re sharing braid stories… At 14, I had my hair braided on the scalp and loose on the end, like half-braided. The amount of scalp skin that came off after two weeks made me decide never to attempt this style ever again.


          3. I don’t give a shit out of other peoples cultures? Yeah, OK. And, yeah I admit I didn’t know or realize how bad COVID was at the time because my area was totally untouched by it, and I knew nobody who even knew anyone who had it. That has changed, as have my views on COVID. But for you to jump on my ass and say I don’t respect other people’s cultures because I made a comment on how those braids HURT?! At this point, you’d find an issue with anything I say. Jesus Christ.


        2. Lmao, all u idiots who gave me a thumbs down, if you actually looked at the photo u would see that they are tiny “pony tails” pulled back. Not braids, corn rows or ‘plaits.’

          And the fact that you get up in arms over hairstyles and not the poor baby’s death is repulsive. Shame on you


          1. Take another look genius. Al the pictures on IG of those ridiculous styles on Victoria show a little girl with welts on her neck, red marks on her scalp, bald patches on her hairline and the poor baby’s face not looking at the camera. She’s looking down, her body language is she’s wounded. Those hair styling sessions were torture for her. Sit down trash.

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