Former Westborough resident competes in Netflix cooking show

By Maureen Sullivan Assistant Editor

WESTBOROUGH - Susan Macdougall Keating is a New Englander at heart.

Although she lives in Miami now, Keating prefers the snow and cold.

She also prefers the heat of a kitchen to the weather and lifestyle of southern Florida.

“It’s a party town,” said the former Westborough resident.

Her own lifestyle comprises of gardening, amateur painting and cooking. It’s her passion for cooking that landed her on a new competition show, “Cook at All Costs,” that’s streaming worldwide via Netflix.

In this kitchen contest, home cooks bid on ingredients to create dishes that will impress celebrity guest judges — and win the cash left in their bank.

“It’s like ‘Chopped,’ where you get mystery ingredients, but it’s only for home cooks,” said Keating.

She loves using a slow cooker to make roasts and stews.

“I like the rhythm of cooking,” she said.

A native of Canada and a Westborough High School alumnus, Keating has been cooking, canning and pickling since childhood.

“I’m very frugal. I’m always making things,” she said. “I love it, I just enjoy it. It’s nurturing and very connecting.”

Getting on the show

After operating her own flower and lifestyle business, Sweet Pea Gardens, out of Surry, Maine, for 20 years, Keating sold her business and moved to New York City, where she freelanced with florists for a few years.

Keating made a name for herself as a floral and lifestyle maven over the years; she has been featured in Martha Stewart Living, Garden Design, Country Living, Flower and many other magazines.

She has now added painting to her skill set. Keating credited her late mother, Maggie Macdougall, who was a nurse at UMass Memorial and was known for her paintings.

Keating’s college roommate sent her a casting ad for the new Netflix program featuring home cooks.

“She said, ‘You should apply,’” said Keating. “I rolled from the gut and sent the application.”

Keating was accepted after a process that lasted several months.

“I had to answer 60 questions, do a video interview, a screen test, and then two more videos — a five-minute video, and a longer one where you cook and present a dish,” said Keating. “It took a long time.”

She was among 24 chosen out of a pool of several thousand. In April 2022, she learned that she would be competing in the “American Diner” episode with celebrity chef and restaurateur Richard Blais as the judge and celebrity chef and restaurateur Jordan Andino as the host.

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