List of Holiday Baking Championship episodes
This is a list of episodes for The Holiday Baking Championship.
Season 1
There are 8 professional and home bakers competing in a 6-episode baking tournament. One person is eliminated every week until the final episode where the final three compete in a single, all-day round for the grand prize of $50,000.
Contestants
1st - Erin Campbell, Baker and Manager from Palmdale, California
2nd/3rd - Bill Lipscomb, Culinary Instructor from Atlanta, Georgia
2nd/3rd - Naylet Larochelle, Home Baker & Psychologist from Miami, Florida
4th - Terra Nelson, Culinary Instructor from Louisville, Kentucky
5th - David Bondarchuck, Caterer from Denver, Colorado
6th - Dante Marasco, U.S. Navy Cook from Annapolis, Maryland
7th - Punky Egan, Certified Master Baker from Madison, Wisconsin
8th - Stephanie Hart, Bakery Owner from Chicago, Illinois
Episodes
| Ep. # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Cookie Madness" | November 9, 2014 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make holiday cookies in 1 hour. Each contestant picked a gift-wrapped box and had to make a certain type of cookie depending on the tool found inside. (Cookie press = spritz cookie, rolling pin = rolled cookie, ice cream scoop = drop cookie, & spatula = layered cookie).
Winner: Erin Campbell (Her advantage was being able to substitute a flavor profile in the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants must bake a dozen cookies incorporating bittersweet chocolate, a dozen cookies incorporating fresh oranges, and a dozen cookies incorporating toffee bits, all in 90 minutes. Erin used her pre-heat advantage to replace fresh oranges with peppermint. Mid-round twist is for everyone to add raspberry jam into one batch of their cookies. Winner: Naylet Larochelle Eliminated: Stephanie Hart |
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| 2 | "Classic Holiday Flavors" | November 16, 2014 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make an eggnog swirled treat in 1 hour.
Winner: Terra Nelson (Her advantage was exclusive use of a spice grinder in the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants have 1 hour to make a dessert featuring at least 3 classic holiday spices and 2 different kinds of sugar. All except for Terra had to grind their spices by hand. Winner: Bill Lipscomb Eliminated: Punky Egan |
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| 3 | "It's Not the Holidays Without Pie" | November 23, 2014 |
| Preliminary Heat: Create any dessert, except for pie, with a ready-made pie crust in 30 minutes.
Winner: Erin Campbell (Her advantage is a 10 minute head start in the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants have 2 hours to make 3 different pies that are inspired by home memories and traditions. End-of-the-round twist is having the contestants choose only their 2 best pies to present to the judges. Winner: David Bondarchuck Eliminated: Dante Marasco |
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| 4 | "The Great Holiday Cake-Over" | November 30, 2014 |
| Preliminary Heat: Each contestant got a wrapped package with a fruitcake inside. They had 45 minutes to reinvent their holiday fruitcake into a different dessert.
Winner: Erin Campbell (Her advantage is 10 minutes of help from Duff Goldman at any point in the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants are shown a Yule Log ("Bûche de Noël") cake and told they have 2 hours to create a dessert inspired by it. Winner: Terra Nelson Eliminated: David Bondarchuck |
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| 5 | "Great Holiday Traditions" | December 7, 2014 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a peppermint and hot chocolate dessert in 45 minutes.
Winner: Erin Campbell (Her advantage is exclusive use of a waffle iron and pancake griddle for the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants have 2 hours to make a breakfast feast featuring 3 sweet, baked dishes. Winner: Naylet Larochelle Eliminated: Terra Nelson |
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| 6 | "Gingerbread Worlds" | December 14, 2014 |
| Main Heat: The final three contestants have 10 hours to create a gingerbread display based on a favorite holiday memory, and incorporate three ginger infused baked items. Mid-round challenge is to add marzipan decorations.
Winner of $50,000: Erin Campbell Runners-up: Bill Lipscomb and Naylet Larochelle |
(Note: There's no pre-heat here. It's just one long, main round where the winner takes it all.) |
Elimination Table
| Place | Contestant | Episode | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||
| 1 | Erin | HIGH‡ | LOW | IN‡ | IN‡ | LOW‡ | WINNER | |||||||
| 2 | Bill | HIGH | WIN | IN | HIGH | IN | RUNNER-UP | |||||||
| Naylet | WIN | IN | HIGH | LOW | WIN | RUNNER-UP | ||||||||
| 4 | Terra | LOW | IN‡ | LOW | WIN | ELIM | ||||||||
| 5 | David | IN | HIGH | WIN | ELIM | |||||||||
| 6 | Dante | IN | HIGH | ELIM | ||||||||||
| 7 | Punky | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||
| 8 | Stephanie | ELIM | ||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This baker won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This baker was a finalist.
- (ELIM) This baker was eliminated.
- (IN) This baker never had the best dish or the worst.
- (HIGH) This baker had one of the best dish.
- (WIN) This baker had the best dish in the main challenge.
- ‡ This baker had the best dish in the pre-heat challenge.
- (LOW) This baker was last to be called safe.
Season 2
There are 10 contestants competing in an 8-episode baking tournament. In this season there's mid-round twists in several of the second rounds (in the form of an extra ingredient the contestants had to add to their confection). One person is eliminated every week until the final episode where the final three compete for the grand prize of $50,000.
Contestants
1st - Maeve Schulz, Bakery Owner from San Diego, CA
2nd/3rd - Adalberto Diaz, Pastry Chef & Instructor from Salt Lake City, UT
2nd/3rd - Steve Konopelski, Chef and Inn Co-Owner from Denton, MD
4th - Haley Miller, Bakery Owner from Beaver Dam, KY
5th - Melody Larsen, Head Pastry Chef from Mesa, AZ
6th - Padua Player, Executive Pastry Chef from Washington DC
7th - Briana Johnson, Social Worker & Home Cook from Dallas, TX
8th - Susan Steffan, Bed & Breakfast Owner from Galena, IL
9th - John Marasco , Fire fighter in Thousand Oaks, CA
10th - Joe Settepani, Pastry Sous Chef from Staten Island, NY
^Note : John Marasco's brother, Dante, competed in season 1 but was eliminated in the third episode.
Episodes
| Ep. # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "We're Nuts for the Holidays" | November 1, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Each baker chose a nutcracker from a table with a tag that had a type of nut written on it. They had 90 minutes to make a nut & chocolate confection with their chosen nut. (Steve & Briana got pecans, Melody & John got almonds, Adalberto & Susan got Brazil nuts, Joe & Maeve got hazelnuts, Padua & Haley got walnuts.)
Winner: Padua Player (His advantage was getting special tools, cookie cutters, and stencils for the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants had to bake a decorated pie in 2 hours. Winner: Susan Steffan Eliminated: Joe Settepani |
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| 2 | "Holiday Craftiness" | November 8, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a baked dessert featuring candy canes in 1 hour.
Winner: Susan Steffan (Her advantage was getting special decorations for her wreath in the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to create an edible wreath dessert. Mid-round twist is to incorporate oranges into the dessert. Winner: Steve Konopelski Eliminated: John Marasco |
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| 3 | "Stuffing Is the Best Part" | November 15, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a holiday whoopie pie in 1 hour. Each contestant had to choose a turkey baster filled with a "decorating theme" (Melody & Padua got "turkey", Susan & Maeve got "pumpkin", Steve & Briana got "pilgrim", Haley & Adalberto got "fall foliage").
Winner: Steve Konopelski (His advantage was first choice of candy for the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 2 hours to make a cake stuffed with candy; they had a table of various candy choices from M&Ms to strawberry hard candies. Winner: Melody Larsen Eliminated: Susan Steffan |
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| 4 | "Thanksgiving's Just Around the Corner" | November 22, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a dessert with canned cranberry sauce in 1 hour.
Winner: Padua Player (His advantage is the ability to assign a fall ingredient to each contestant in the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to make a dessert with assigned fall fruits and vegetables. For winning the pre-heat, Padua chose apples for himself and gave butternut squash to Adalberto, pomegranates to Steve, carrots to Briana, sweet potato to Melody, corn to Maeve, and figs to Haley. Mid-round twist is to incorporate flavored marshmallows into the desserts (marshmallow flavors were coconut, chocolate, coffee, and salted caramel). Winner: Adalberto Diaz Eliminated: Briana Johnson |
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| 5 | "Ginger and Spice and Everything Nice" | November 29, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a dozen mini desserts, in 1 hour, with ginger as the main ingredient.
Winner: Steve Konopelski (His advantage was a 10 minute head start in the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to bake three different types of cookies, 1 dozen each, based on family traditions. Mid-round twist has each contestant using a specific tool on one of their cookies (meat crusher, muffin tin, and candy thermometer.) Winner: Melody Larsen Eliminated: Padua Player |
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| 6 | "World Class Classics" | December 6, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make an updated version of 2 traditional Hanukkah treats: rugelach and coconut macaroons. They had 75 minutes to bake.
Winner: Haley Miller (Her advantage is 10 minutes of help from season 1 winner, Erin Campbell.) Main Heat: The contestants had 2 hours to make a holiday croquembouche. Winner: Maeve Schulz Eliminated: Melody Larsen |
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| 7 | "Re-Gifting" | December 13, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a dessert from a candy apple in 75 minutes. Each contestant had to use a type of candy apple inside a gift wrapped box (Steve got a milk chocolate & coconut apple, Maeve got a white chocolate & cinnamon chip apple, Adalberto got a white chocolate & dried cherry apple, and Haley got a dark chocolate & almond apple).
Winner: Adalberto Diaz (His advantage is revealed in the middle of the next round as a liquor assignment.) Main Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to make a confection using three items from a gift basket (pears, pretzels, and chocolate caramels). Mid-round twist is to incorporate a specific liquor into the desserts. Since Adalberto won the pre-heat, he got to choose brandy for himself, then assigned coffee liquor to Maeve, orange liquor to Steve, and raspberry liquor to Haley. Winner: Adalberto Diaz Eliminated: Haley Miller |
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| 8 | "Holiday Hoopla" | December 20, 2015 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make two dozen holiday cookies in 3 hours and decorate a cookie tree.
Winner: Maeve Schulz (Her advantage was the ability to assign the cake themes in the final round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 5 hours to make a festive cake based on a holiday activity. (Maeve chose "sleigh ride", then assigned "singing carols" to Steve, and assigned "tree trimming" to Adalberto). Winner of $50,000: Maeve Schulz Runners-up: Adalberto Diaz and Steve Konopelski |
Elimination Table
| Place | Contestant | Episode | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Maeve | IN | LOW | IN | IN | HIGH | WIN | LOW | WINNER‡ | ||||||||
| 2 | Adalberto | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | LOW | IN | WIN‡ | RUNNER-UP | ||||||||
| Steve | LOW | WIN | IN‡ | IN | IN‡ | HIGH | LOW | RUNNER-UP | |||||||||
| 4 | Haley | IN | IN | HIGH | LOW | IN | LOW‡ | ELIM | |||||||||
| 5 | Melody | IN | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | ELIM | ||||||||||
| 6 | Padua | IN‡ | IN | IN | IN‡ | ELIM | |||||||||||
| 7 | Briana | IN | IN | LOW | ELIM | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Susan | WIN | HIGH‡ | ELIM | |||||||||||||
| 9 | John | LOW | ELIM | ||||||||||||||
| 10 | Joe | ELIM | |||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This baker won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This baker was a finalist.
- (WIN) This baker had the best dish in the main challenge.
- ‡ This baker had the best dish in the pre-heat challenge.
- (HIGH) This baker had one of the best dishes.
- (LOW) This baker was last to be called safe.
- (ELIM) This baker was eliminated.
Season 3
There are 9 contestants competing in a 7-episode baking tournament. One person is eliminated every week until the final episode where the final three compete for the grand prize of $50,000. At the end of this season, there's a Holiday Baking Championship special episode where the three past season winners compete against three child bakers from the Kids Baking Championship.
Contestants
1st - Jason Smith, Cafeteria Manager from Grayson, Kentucky
2nd - Cheryl Storms, Bakery Owner from Oakland, California
3rd - Shawne Bryan, Executive Pastry Chef from Miami, Florida
4th - Matt Marotto, Executive Pastry Chef from Gutenberg, New Jersey
5th - Amber Croom, Pastry Chef from Vail, Colorado
6th - Vincenzo Vaccaro, Bakery Owner from Queens, New York
7th - Patti Curfman, Bakery Owner from Stayton, Oregon
8th - Maddie Carlos, Bakery Owner from Anoka, Minnesota
9th - Keli Fayard, Executive Pastry Chef from Charlotte, North Carolina
Episodes
| Ep. # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Signs of the Season" | November 6, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a dessert inspired by a hot holiday drink in 1 hour. The contestants chose their beverage theme from unlabelled coffee cups. (Maddie = Irish cream latte, Jason = pumpkin spice latte, Cheryl = hot cocoa, Matt = peppermint mocha, Amber = mulled cider, Vincenzo = hazelnut latte, Keli = chai latte, Shawne = eggnog cappuccino, Patti = cinnamon mocha.)
Winner: Matt Marotto (His advantage is first choice of the bundt pans for the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants have 2 hours to bake a filled bundt cake decorated like a wreath. Mid-round twist is to add "cookie leaves" on the cake wreath. Winner: Cheryl Storms Eliminated: Keli Fayard |
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| 2 | "Grandma's Thanksgiving Favorites" | November 13, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: : Make two types of holiday cookies in 45 minutes. One of them must be a sandwich cookie.
Winner: Vincenzo Vaccaro (His advantage is 10 minutes of help from Grandma Norma, 3rd place contestant from 'Clash of the Grandmas'.) Main Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to make a Thanksgiving pie by hand (no electric appliances allowed). Mid-round twist is to make an extra mini-pie in a different flavor. Winner: Vincenzo Vaccaro Eliminated: Maddie Carlos |
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| 3 | "Thanksgiving Joy" | November 20, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a Thanksgiving trifle in 45 minutes.
Winner: Jason Smith (His advantage is a 10 minute head start in the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to bake three cupcakes that resemble three different foods found in a Thanksgiving meal. Mid-round twist is to incorporate cranberries into one of the cupcakes. Winner: Cheryl Storms Eliminated: Patti Curfman |
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| 4 | "Hearth and Home" | November 27, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a dessert in 45 minutes that highlights toasted marshmallows.
Winner: Amber Croom (Her advantage is exclusive use of sparkly decorations including edible gold & silver leaf.) Main Heat: The contestants had 2 hours to update and "bling out" the classic Yule Log cake. Mid-round twist is to add a crunch element to their Yule Log dessert. Winner: Jason Smith Eliminated: Vincenzo Vaccaro |
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| 5 | "Sweet Surprises" | December 4, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make an ugly Christmas sweater dessert in 1 hour.
Winner: Matt Marotto (His advantage is a selection of special molds and cutters for the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants had to create an edible gift box filled with baked goods in 2 hours. Mid-round twist is to incorporate popcorn into their treats. Winner: Matt Marotto Eliminated: Amber Croom |
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| 6 | "Christmas Morning" | December 11, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a dessert shaped like a holiday stocking.
Winner: Jason Smith (His advantage is pre-tempered chocolate revealed partway into the next round.) Main Heat: The contestants had to create a Christmas tree made of cream puffs. Mid-round twist is to make and add a chocolate tree topper. For winning the first round, Jason was the only one who got to use pre-tempered chocolate to make the topper and other decorations. Winner: Jason Smith Eliminated: Matt Marotto |
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| 7 | "Live From the North Pole" | December 18, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make one sweet and one savory snack for Santa's "overlooked North Pole friends" in 90 minutes. Each friend was a different animal plushy in a jack-in-the-box chosen by the contestants. (Jason got "reindeer", Shawne got "polar bear", and Cheryl got "penguin").
Winner: Shawne Bryan (His advantage is assigning the cake theme for his competitors in the final round) Main Heat: The final three must create a North Pole inspired cake using an wintery theme in 5 hours. As the winner of the pre-heat, Shawne chose the theme of "Snowman Family Christmas" then gave "Elves in the Workshop" to Jason, and "Santa's Sleigh Ride" to Cheryl. . Winner of $50,000: Jason Smith Runners-up: Cheryl Storms and Shawne Bryan |
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| 8 | Special: "Adults vs. Kids"1 | December 25, 2016 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a rich, decadent holiday dessert in 1 hour.
Winner: Jane Haviland (Her advantage is to pick each team for the second round.) Main Heat: Teams of two (one adult, one child) must create three different desserts to fill a little football dome model in 2 hours. Pairing up are: Jane Haviland & Maeve Schulz, Matthew Merrill & Erin Campbell, Jackson Fujimori & Jason Smith. Mid-round twist is to incorporate sprinkles into one of the treats. Winners of $10,000: Jackson Fujimori & Jason Smith Eliminated: Jane Haviland & Maeve Schulz-Rochford and Matthew Merrill & Erin Campbell |
^Note 1 : Episode 8 was a special episode. Kids Baking Championship "fan favorite" contestants (S2 Matthew Merrill, S2 Jane Haviland, S1 Jackson Fujimori) vs. the three 'Holiday Baking Championship' winners (S1 winner Erin Campbell, S2 winner Maeve Schulz-Rochford, & this season's winner Jason Smith). They competed for a chance at $10,000.
Elimination Table
| Place | Contestant | Episode | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Jason | IN | IN | HIGH‡ | WIN | LOW | WIN‡ | WINNER2 | ||||||||
| 2 | Cheryl | WIN | HIGH | WIN | IN | IN | HIGH | RUNNER-UP | ||||||||
| Shawne | IN | LOW | IN | IN | IN | LOW | RUNNER-UP‡ | |||||||||
| 4 | Matt | IN‡ | IN | LOW | LOW | WIN‡ | ELIM | |||||||||
| 5 | Amber | IN | HIGH | IN | HIGH‡ | ELIM | ||||||||||
| 6 | Vincenzo | IN | WIN‡ | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||
| 7 | Patti | LOW | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Maddie | HIGH | ELIM | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Keli | ELIM | ||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This baker won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This baker was a finalist.
- (WIN) This baker had the best dish in the main challenge.
- ‡ This baker had the best dish in the pre-heat challenge.
- (HIGH) This baker had one of the best dishes.
- (LOW) This baker was last to be called safe.
- (ELIM) This baker was eliminated.
^Note 2 : Jason Smith was the first home cook to win Holiday Baking Championship. He later went on to win Season 13 of Food Network Star.
Season 4
As with the previous season, 9 contestants compete in a 7-episode baking tournament. One person is eliminated every week until the final episode where the final three compete for the $50,000 grand prize. There was an additional special episode that aired on Christmas Day bringing up runner up contestants from previous seasons for a one-episode showdown.
Contestants
- 1st - Jennifer Barney, Bakery Owner from La Crosse, Wisconsin
- 2nd/3rd - Stephany Buswell, Pastry Arts Instructor from Santa Cruz, California
- 2nd/3rd - Joshua Livsey, Executive Pastry Chef from Boston, Massachusetts
- 4th - Ian Barthley, Culinary Arts Teacher from Upper Marlboro, Maryland
- 5th - Amy Strickland, Stay-at-home mom from Lake City, FL1
- 6th - Andra Chisholm, Head Baker, Daytona State College, from Daytona Beach, Florida
- 7th - Aristo Camburako, Executive Chef from Kansas City, Missouri
- 8th - Pablo Sanchez, Executive Pastry Chef from Atlanta, Georgia
- 9th - Aveed Dai, Home Baker from Chicago, Illinois
^Note 1 : Amy Strickland also appeared in Season 2 of Halloween Baking Championship; she was forced to withdraw from that competition due to stress concerns since she was 6 months pregnant.
Episodes
| Ep. # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Holiday Party Delights” | November 6, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a candy cane dessert in 90 minutes. Each baker chose a candy cane from a table. (Amy got green apple flavor, Ian got salted caramel flavor, Stephany got raspberry flavor, Pablo got caramel macchiato flavor, Jennifer got cherry flavor, Aveed got orange flavor, Aristo got blueberry flavor, Andra got hot cocoa flavor, Joshua got pineapple flavor.)
Winner: Aveed Dai (Her advantage was getting shelled peanuts in the second round, while the others had to remove shells from their peanuts.) Main Heat: The contestants had 2 hours to make a dessert inspired by a holiday cocktail they blindly picked from a table. (Ian got apple martini, Joshua got champagne cocktail, Aveed got hot buttered rum, Stephany got mulled wine, Amy got amaretto sour, Aristo got cider punch, Jennifer got cranberry julep, Pablo pomegranate cosmopolitan, and Andra got a hot toddy). Mid-round twist is to incorporate salted peanuts (still in their shell) into their dish. Winner: Joshua Livsey Eliminated: Aveed Dai |
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| 2 | "Season of Sharing" | November 13, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: : Working in teams of 2, they'll have to make a dozen seasonally-shaped hand pies in 90 minutes. The autumn cookie cutters they pick out of a bag determines who gets paired up with who: Stephany & Jennifer, Arista & Andra, Joshua & Ian, Pablo & Amy.
Winner: Joshua Livsey & Ian Barthley (Their advantage in the Main Heat was to choose the teams) Main Heat: The contestants had to pair up again to create a holiday dessert duo inspired by classic holiday flavor combinations. They had 90 minutes to bake. Ian picked Stephany (pecan & caramel), Joshua picked Jennifer (chocolate & orange), Pablo got paired with Arista (cranberry & ginger), and Andra got paired with Amy (peppermint & chocolate). Mid-round twist is to incorporate eggnog into their desserts. Winner: Jennifer Barney Eliminated: Pablo Sanchez |
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| 3 | "Thanksgiving Genius" | November 20, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: Make a Thanksgiving dessert in 1 hour using a mystery canned item. (Joshua got canned plum, Stephany got pumpkin, Aristo got apricot, Ian got cranberry, Andra got peaches, Jennifer got mandarin oranges, and Amy got pineapple).
Winner: Amy Strickland (Her advantage was the ability to switch dessert combinations with another baker) Main Heat: The bakers have 90 minutes to create a new Turkey Day sensation by combining two traditional desserts (written and stuffed into decorative gourds). For winning the pre-heat, Amy traded 'blueberry cobbler & chocolate mousse' for Andra's 'pumpkin pie & brownies'. Jennifer got 'lemon bar & pecan pie'. Aristo got 'apple crumble & crème brûlée', Joshua got 's'mores & apple pie', Ian got 'grasshopper pie & blondie', and Stephany got 'tiramisu & bread pudding'. Mid-round twist is to incorporate sweet potatoes into their sweet treats. Winner: Stephany Buswell Eliminated: Aristo Camburako |
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| 4 | "A New Holiday Spin" | November 27, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: The contestants have 1 hour to use yellow cake mix to make anything but a cake.
Winner: Ian Barthley (His advantage is a ten minute head start in the second round.) Main Heat: The bakers have 90 minutes to put a festive spin on a non-holiday dessert (thanks to his advantage, Ian has the full 90 minutes while the rest only have 80 minutes). The contestants picked sealed holiday cards to see what dessert they'd have to transform: Ian got 'coconut cream pie', Stephany got 'strawberry shortcake', Jennifer got 'fruit tart', Joshua got 'birthday cake', Andra got 'banana pudding', and Amy got a 'red white & blueberry trifle'. Mid-round twist is to add fresh cherries into their desserts. Winner: Stephany Buswell Eliminated: Andra Chisholm |
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| 5 | "Comfort and Joy" | December 4, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: Create a holiday flambé dessert in 1 hour.
Winner: Joshua Livsey (His advantage was assigning cheeses in the second round.) Main Heat: The contestants had 2 hours to take a holiday cheese board and turn it into an unusual cheesecake. Joshua picked goat cheese and he assigned feta to Stephany, blue cheese to Ian, cheddar to Amy, and Brie cheese to Jennifer. Mid-round twist is to pick a cheese board accompaniment and incorporate it into their cheesecake (Amy grabbed almonds, Stephany grabbed pistachios, Joshua grabbed balsamic vinegar, Ian grabbed dates, and Jennifer grabbed fig jam). Winner: Joshua Livsey Eliminated: Amy Strickland |
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| 6 | "Tradition! Tradition!" | December 11, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: Bake a dozen Hanukkah jelly doughnuts, in 90 minutes, featuring two flavor combination picked blind from Hannukah gelt. (Joshua got 'blueberry & chili', Stephany got 'pear & basil', Ian got 'strawberry & ginger', Jennifer got 'apricot & citrus'.)
Winner: Jennifer Barney (Her advantage is exclusive use of special ingredients and molded pans to use in the second round) Main Heat: The contestants had 2 hours to reinvent the fruitcake. Mid-round twist requires all the bakers to make butterscotch from scratch and add it to their desserts. Winner: Joshua Livsey Eliminated: Ian Barthley |
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| 7 | "Twelve Days of Christmas" | December 18, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: In 90 minutes, combine two last-minute holiday gifts into one dessert. (Stephany got 'butter cookies & popcorn', Joshua got 'Irish cream & peppermint bark', Jennifer got 'Pinot Noir & chocolate caramel pecan clusters'.)
Winner: Stephany Buswell (Her advantage is three chances at picking a theme in the second round, with the ability to discard her first two choices and give them to her competitors.) Main Heat: The final three bakers have five hours to create a dessert inspired by a line from the song "Twelve Days of Christmas". Stephany had twelve numbered panels to choose from (the song lines did not correspond with the numbers). Door 7 had "12 drummers drumming" and was given to Joshua. Door 1 had "6 geese a'laying" and was given to Jennifer. On her last pick, Door 4, Stephany ended up with "8 maids a'milking". Mid-round twist is to make a dozen petit fours presents to go with the main dessert. Winner of $50,000: Jennifer Barney Runners-up: Stephany Buswell and Joshua Livsey |
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| 8 | Special: "Runners Up Redemption"2 | December 25, 2017 |
| Preliminary Heat: Baking teams must use real children's letters to Santa to inspire a holiday dessert. It must be made in 90 minutes. (Steve Konopelski & Adalberto Diaz got a letter asking for a 'deep fryer', Cheryl Storms & Shawne Bryan got a letter asking for 'roller skates', Bill Lipscomb & Naylet Larochelle got a letter asking for a 'science kit'.)
Winner: Bill & Naylet (Their advantage was picking the flavor of their cupcakes in the second round, which no other team could use.) Main Heat: Teams had 2 1/2 hours to bake cupcakes and assemble them into one giant edible holiday tree. Bill & Naylet chose eggnog flavor for their cupcakes. Mid-round twist is to bake a dozen cookie ornaments to go on their cupcake tree. Winners of $10,000: Cheryl Storms & Shawne Bryan Eliminated: Bill Lipscomb & Naylet Larochelle and Steve Konopelski & Adalberto Diaz |
^Note 2 : Episode 8 was a special episode. Six runner-up competitors from previous season finales returned to battle it out for a chance to win $10,000 (They were paired up into teams of two representing their respective seasons: Bill Lipscomb and Naylet Larochelle from season 1, Steve Konopelski and Adalberto Diaz from season 2, Cheryl Storms and Shawne Bryan from season 3).
Elimination Table
| Place | Contestant | Episode | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Jennifer | IN | WIN | IN | HIGH | LOW | HIGH‡ | WINNER | ||||||||
| 2 | Joshua | WIN | IN‡ | IN | HIGH | WIN‡ | WIN | RUNNER UP | ||||||||
| Stephany | HIGH | IN | WIN | WIN | HIGH | LOW | RUNNER UP‡ | |||||||||
| 4 | Ian | IN | IN‡ | HIGH | LOW‡ | IN | ELIM | |||||||||
| 5 | Amy | IN | IN | IN‡ | LOW | ELIM | ||||||||||
| 6 | Andra | LOW | LOW | LOW | ELIM | |||||||||||
| 7 | Aristo | HIGH | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Pablo | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Aveed | ELIM‡ | ||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This baker won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This baker was a finalist.
- (WIN) This baker had the best dish in the main challenge.
- ‡ This baker had the best dish in the pre-heat challenge.
- (HIGH) This baker had one of the best dishes.
- (LOW) This baker was last to be called safe.
- (ELIM) This baker was eliminated.
Season 5
As with the previous season, 9 contestants compete in a 7-episode baking tournament where one contestant is sent home every week until the final three remain. However unlike previous seasons, the prize money has been halved this year; the winner gets $25,000 as well as a spot in Food Network Magazine and their own video on foodnetwork.com.
Contestants
- 1st - Douglas Phillips, Baking and Pastry Instructor from Ayer, Massachusetts
- 2nd/3rd - Lerome Campbell, Pastry Chef from Naples, Florida
- 2nd/3rd - Sarah Lucia Tafur, Bakery Owner from Miami, Florida
- 4th - Chantal Thomas, Bakery Owner from Windsor, Connecticut
- 5th - Dan Raymond, Pastry Shop Owner from Castleton, New York
- 6th - Julia Perugini, Self-taught Baker from Maricopa, Arizona
- 7th - Sherry Clarke, Home Baker from East Lyme, Connecticut
- 8th - Nolan Schooley, Pastry Chef from Sanford, Michigan
- 9th - Jamie Decena, Executive Pastry Chef from Chula Vista, California
^Note 1 : Julia Perugini was previously featured as a competitor on Christmas Cookie Challenge.
Episodes
| Ep. # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Holiday Essentials" | November 5, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: The contestants were challenged to make a pumpkin spice dessert in 90 minutes.
Winner: Lerome Campbell (His advantage was to switch his dessert with another contestant in the next round) Main Heat: The bakers had 2 hours to make yule log mashups. For his advantage, Lerome traded his "peppermint swirl cheesecake" for Julia's "Linzer cookie". Douglas got "ginger molasses cookie". Dan got "chocolate cheesecake". Sherry got "pecan pie". Chantal got "sweet potato pie". Sarah got "pinwheel cookie". Jamie got "pumpkin cheesecake". Nolan got "apple pie". Mid-round twist is to add brandy to their dessert mashup. Winner: Douglas Phillips Eliminated: Jamie Decena |
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| 2 | "Plenty of Gratitude" | November 12, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat:In a team challenge, the contestants had to make four different pies in the same sheet pan, all in 2 hours. The teams were chosen by matching up pie servers: Sarah & Dan, Chantal & Lerome, Julia & Nolan, and Douglas & Sherry
Winner: Chantal Thomas & Lerome Campbell (Their advantage was first choice of cake flavor in the next round) Main Heat: The bakers had 2 hours to make stuffed cakes. Chantal & Lerome chose to stuff their cakes with "pear". Douglas chose "cherry". Dan chose "apple". Sherry chose "apple". Julia chose "blood orange". Nolan chose "cherry". Sarah chose "blood orange". Mid-round twist was to add mint into their cakes. Winner: Douglas Phillips Eliminated: Nolan Schooley |
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| 3 | "Turkey Day Delights" | November 19, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to pair a fall ingredient with cranberry. Sarah got rosemary. Julia got chocolate. Dan got pistachio. Sherry got ginger. Chantal got pumpkin. Douglas got lime. Lerome got fig.
Winner: Sarah Lucia Tafur (Her advantage was 10 minutes of help from Duff Goldman) Main Heat: The bakers had 90 minutes to create a sweet treat that paired coffee with an unusual flavored coffee syrup. Chantal grabbed pomegranate syrup. Sarah grabbed peanut butter syrup. Douglas grabbed root beer syrup. Sherry grabbed green apple syrup. Lerome grabbed shortbread syrup. Julia grabbed blueberry syrup. Dan grabbed blackberry syrup. Mid-round twist is to add biscotti into the recipe. Winner: Lerome Campbell Eliminated: Sherry Clarke |
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| 4 | "Holiday Artistry" | November 26, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: The contestants had 90 minutes to make a cream puff family. Douglas had to make a Santa family. Sarah had to make a gingerbread man family. Lerome had to make a snowman family. Don had to make a penguin family. Julia had to make an elf family. Chantal had to make a reindeer family.
Winner: Douglas Phillips (His advantage was a ten minute head start in addition to the original 2 hours) Main Heat: The bakers had 2 hours to make a hand-painted holiday eggnog cake. Mid-round twist is to add a separate edible holly decoration without using fondant or gum-paste. Winner: Dan Raymond Eliminated: Julia Perugini |
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| 5 | "Light and Inspiring" | December 3, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: They had 90 minutes to make two dozen specially flavored rugelach. The bakers grabbed Hannukah gift boxes with their mandatory flavor inside; Doug got chai, Lerome got grapefruit, Chantal got guava paste, Sarah got cardamom, and Dan got peanut butter.
Winner: Sarah Lucia Tafur (Her advantage being able to switch one of her second round ingredients for another contestant's ingredients) Main Heat: Each contestant had 90 minutes to create a tiramisu using two favorite ingredients of their judge of choice. Picking blindly from a wall of numbered panels, Sarah chose Duff's favorites: dates & speculoos. Doug chose Lorraine's favorites: vanilla & matcha. Chantal chose Nancy's favorites: bourbon & apple butter. Dan chose Nancy's favorites: coconut & hazelnut. Lerome chose Lorraine's favorites: coffee & ginger. Sarah opted not to use her advantage and didn't switch any ingredients. Mid-round twist was to add host Jesse Palmer's favorite ingredient: maple syrup. Winner: Lerome Campbell Eliminated: Dan Raymond |
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| 6 | "New Family Classics" | December 10, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: The bakers had 90 minutes to update a holiday chocolate dish with regular pantry ingredients. Chantal added 'strawberry jelly' and 'dried apricots' to chocolate cake. Sarah added 'olive oil' and 'balsamic vinegar' to chocolate chip cookies. Doug added 'oats' and 'coconut' to chocolate cream pie. Lerome added 'potato chips' and 'red wine' to chocolate trifle.
Winner: Chantal Thomas (Her advantage was to assign ingredients to everyone in the second round) Main Heat: Everyone had 90 minutes to transform two fruitcake ingredients (one nut, and one fruit) into a new dessert. Chantal's advantage allowed her to choose first so she picked hazelnuts and candied orange. She gave Sarah almonds and candied cherries. She gave Doug walnuts and dried pineapple. She gave Lerome pecans and candied lemon. Mid-round twist was to incorporate actual fruitcake into their desert. Winner: Douglas Phillips Eliminated: Chantal Thomas |
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| 7 | "Gifts of Greatness" | December 17, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: The contestants had to make two dozen edible ornaments in 2 hours.
Winner: Lerome Campbell (His advantage was exclusive use of a cake flavor in the final round) Main Heat: The final three had 5 hours to create a holiday gift cake with a surprise inside. Lerome chose chocolate cake as his cake flavor advantage. Winner of $25,000: Douglas Phillips Runners-up: Lerome Campbell and Sarah Lucia Tafur |
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| 8 | Special: "Homecoming Special"2 | December 24, 2018 |
| Preliminary Heat: Returning champions were paired up and they had to make holiday eclair light strings in 90 minutes. Maeve and Jason were paired up (Holiday). Jen (Holiday) and Jordan (Spring) were paired up. Michelle (Halloween) and Nacho (Spring) were paired up.
Winners: Jennifer & Jordan (Their advantage was assigning cake colors and ingredients in the next round.) Main Heat: Working in the same teams, the contestants had five hours to make silver or gold cakes, and include a special ingredient specific to them. Jen & Jordan chose "silver" and "25-year-old balsamic", they assigned "gold" and "saffron" to Jason & Maeve, and gave "silver" and "Manuka honey" to Michelle & Nacho. Mid-round twist is to make a dozen cupcakes in the opposite color and it had to be a different flavor from their cakes. Winners of $10,000: Jennifer Barney & Jordan Pilarski Eliminated: Jason Smith & Maeve Rochford and Michelle Antonishek & Nacho Aguirre |
^Note 2 : In Episode 8, six past baking champions (from the various baking spin-offs) return in a "best of the best" competition. The judges (Nancy, Duff, Lorraine) also served as hosts. The contestants were: Maeve Rochford (s02), Jason Smith (s03), and Jen Barney (s04) from Holiday Baking Championship, Jordan Pilarski (s03) and Nacho Aguirre (s04) from Spring Baking Championship, and Michelle Antonishek (s02) from Halloween Baking Championship
Elimination Table
| Place | Contestant | Episode | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Douglas | WIN | WIN | HIGH | IN‡ | LOW | WIN | WINNER | ||||||||
| 2 | Lerome | IN‡ | IN‡ | WIN | LOW | WIN | LOW | RUNNER-UP‡ | ||||||||
| Sarah | IN | IN | IN‡ | HIGH | HIGH‡ | LOW | RUNNER-UP | |||||||||
| 4 | Chantal | HIGH | HIGH‡ | LOW | IN | IN | ELIM‡ | |||||||||
| 5 | Dan | IN | LOW | IN | WIN | ELIM | ||||||||||
| 6 | Julia | IN | IN | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||
| 7 | Sherry | LOW | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Nolan | IN | ELIM | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Jamie | ELIM | ||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This baker won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This baker was a finalist.
- (WIN) This baker had the best dish in the main challenge.
- ‡ This baker had the best dish in the pre-heat challenge.
- (HIGH) This baker had one of the best dishes.
- (LOW) This baker was last to be called safe.
- (ELIM) This baker was eliminated.
^Note 3 : In Episode 2 there was a teams event causing two people to win the advantage.
Season 6
Contestants
- Geoffrey Blount, Baking and Pastry Arts Instructor from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- Jennifer Clifford, Pastry Chef from Moultonborough, New Hampshire
- Kobe Doan, Home Baker from Boston, Massachusetts
- Janet Letendre, Home Bakery Owner from Malakwa, British Columbia
- Devon Maciver, Home Baker from Claremont, California
- Dwight Penney, Executive Pastry Chef from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Maria Short, Bakery Owner from Hilo, Hawaii
- Cedrick Simpson, Pastry Chef from Atlanta, Georgia
- Sarah Wallace, Bakery General Manager from Boston, Massachusetts
- Melissa Yanc, Bakery Owner from Healdsburg, California
Episodes
Elimination Table
| Place | Contestant | Episode | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Melissa | LOW | WIN‡ | IN | HIGH | IN | IN | WIN | WINNER | ||||||||||
| 2 | Jennifer | HIGH | IN | WIN | WIN | HIGH | WIN | LOW | RUNNER-UP | ||||||||||
| 3 | Sarah | IN‡ | IN | LOW | IN‡ | WIN | HIGH | HIGH‡ | RUNNER-UP‡ | ||||||||||
| 4 | Geoffrey | IN | IN | HIGH | IN | IN‡ | LOW | ELIM | |||||||||||
| 5 | Dwight | IN | HIGH | IN‡ | IN | LOW | ELIM‡ | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Janet | IN | IN | IN | LOW | ELIM | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Cedrick | IN | IN | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Kobe | WIN | LOW | ELIM | |||||||||||||||
| 9 | Maria | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Devon | ELIM | |||||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This baker won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This baker was a finalist.
- (WIN) This baker had the best dish in the main challenge.
- ‡ This baker had the best dish in the pre-heat challenge.
- (HIGH) This baker had one of the best dishes.
- (LOW) This baker was last to be called safe.
- (ELIM) This baker was eliminated.
Specials
Christmas in July (2019)
Four bakers, and self-professed holiday fanatics, compete in a special summer episode of the holiday baking championship[1] where the winner got $10,000. The host was Jesse Palmer and the judges were the same as always: Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman, Lorraine Pascale.
Contestants
TyNesha Hills - Pastry Chef from Philadelphia, PA
Jonathan Ramirez - Bakery Owner from Fredericton, Canada
Jennifer Jacobs - Bakery Owner from Clearwater, FL
Alessandro Caria - Home Baker from Windermere, FL
| Ep. # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Christmas In July" | July 8, 2019 |
| Preliminary Heat: Contestants had 2 hours to make a dozen melted snowman desserts. They rushed to grab hats off prop snowmen with desserts written on the back. Jennifer had to make cupcakes. TyNesha had to make cookies. Jonathan had to make bars. Alessandro had to make brownies.
Winner: TyNesha Hills (Her advantage was first pick of the flavor profile in the second round) Main Heat: The bakers had five hours to make a Christmas ice cream cake. They grabbed holiday mugs with different holiday flavors on it that they had to highlight in their cake. For her advantage, TyNesha got to pick cinnamon. Jonathan got eggnog, Jennifer got peppermint, and Alessandro got pumpkin. Mid-round twist was to add an ice cream mix-in to put into their ice cream cake. Jonathan got shredded coconut, Alessandro got granola, TyNesha got pistachios, and Jennifer got toffee. Winner of $10,000: Alessandro Caria Eliminated: TyNesha Hills, Jonathan Ramirez, and Jennifer Jacobs |