Blue Ribbon Baking Championship

A fun, light, baking competition hosted by wonderful culinary and comedic talent. I found it thoroughly entertaining. I don't understand how some reviewers can only criticize Sandra's wardrobe? I thought she was apropos and looked like her beautiful self. Jason Biggs is adorable and the White House chef is a great touch. The hosts seem to gel well and bring a nice vibe.

This show is about being good at all aspects of baking and holds true to its campy theme. It amazes me that so many people can win hundreds of competitions with their recipes. I have much to learn on the baking front and this show is a well put together and entertaining exhibition of talented bakers across the country.

Sandra Lee sucks. She has nothing of value to add. Bring in another Judge who has experience. Take her out and this show would be 100% better. Otherwise this was ok. The whole fair set up was unbelievable. But otherwise it could be fun. I watch the whole season but frustrated witj everything Sandr Lee said. Judge Bill Yosses had the only experienced value added critics. And Jason Biggs added a fun and realistic perspective. PLEASE remove Sandra Lee!

What I liked when Sandra Lee wasn't part of it was how normal all of the contestants were. It was fun and I would like to watch another season but won't if Sandra Lee is a part of it. Have I said how much Sandra Lee ruins this show?

Ok I love cooking shows like Master Chef, British Bake Off, Chopped and all the lesser ones that can be fun even though they are God-Awful like the recent Ciao House and Next-Level Chef.

As a general rule, I hate State Fair themed things, so keep that in mind as you read this. It's a stretch on so many of the challenges to stay within the confines of this theme. Some of them seem repetitive.

The contestants are the usual suspects: Sweet -looking- but-tough -competitor grandma, insecure young professional in another field, older gentleman in his second-act career, Mom, Gay perfectionist, exhausting optimist /deprecating jokester who is constantly "up"....

Finally, to the meat of the matter: co-host Sandra Lee. I think you're either a fan, or you aren't. For those who don't know, her claim to fame is not as a chef or baker or even homemaker, but as "Semi-Homemade" food network host. On that program, she took store- bought ready-made items to "create" a dish. Often ridiculous, it was really fun to hate-watch. The best part was the end where she made a cocktail. She's still awkward af as she was back in the day, stiff and somewhat plastic- but on this show, her appearance is jarring. She is still a very attractive woman, but whatever work/ fillers she's had are not flattering and appear to affect her ability to express herself. That's not even the worst part- her outfits! Is she dressed up for Halloween? Her wardrobe is atrocious! Why?? It is so distracting. I am not even listening to half the show, so sidetracked am I with the absurd get-ups. Her co-host, Jason Biggs, does the best he can. I remember him vaguely- was he on a sitcom? Not sure it had anything to do with food, but he does a decent job here.

If you want something to pass the time until the BBO returns, this will do. Please - someone tell Sandra to fire the stylist!

I mainly gave this show a try because I recently watched The Escorts staring John Biggs and I was interested to see what else John Biggs had been in besides American Pie. Unfortunately John's character in this show is quite different to the bumbling, unlucky and shy guy you see in the American Pie movies and instead he comes across as a more mature guy who's jokes don't always land, but that's probably partly because the producers wanted to keep this show PG rated. However this does show that there might be more opportunities for John Biggs to play different characters in the future.

But boning...oops I mean John Biggs aside I enjoyed this show because straight away you get the impression that all the competitors including the guy who goes out first can bake really well and even when you get to the last show and it's a bit obvious who is the best baker the show also gives the impression that the other 2 finalists are still a force to be reckoned with. I also enjoyed this show because every round makes it seem like they are baking new and exciting things which always look and sound delicious.

But I think the prizes could have been better for each round though for example the $100,000 prize for winning the whole show is very tasty but in each show is a first and second round and all that the winners if these rounds get is a ribbon. Instead they could have given the winner of the first round $500 and then in the 2nd round 3rd place could have got $1,000, 2nd could have got $2,000 and 3rd could have got $3,000.

In one episode you also get to see the bakers making cakes for 50 fair goers and I would have liked to have seen more rounds like this but overall I had fun watching this show and I hope I don't have too long for a 2nd season.

So let me just preface this review by saying that being from the UK I'm a big fan of GBBO. I've watched it since it began back in 2010 so i was going to be hard pushed to find anything that beat the show's format. That said I was interested to watch a lighter hearted version. I enjoyed the baking aspect and could even forgive the judges lacking any chemistry. Then Sandra Lee with her flailing arms and hands and then finally Jason Biggs as the lack lustre and not at all funny host. I remember him from his American Pie days and perhaps had expectations that this humour would carry though. However I was willing to overlook all of this.

But oh my goodness that constant background music from beginning to end, even when the contestants bakes were being judged was so irritating to me, to the point where I had to turn on subtitles on and mute the sound.

It honestly completely ruined the full "viewing" pleasure for me. To have background music almost CONSTANTLY isn't necessary and the tunes were over the place.

So yes this I my main big reason for marking it down. Take that away and I may have enjoyed it a little more.