Most episodes have two rounds. The first round is the "Preliminary Heat", also called "The Thriller" challenge in season 7 and later. The bakers are first told of their themes [2] and get varying cook times to create a small dessert. The person who wins the first round gets an advantage in the next round, which varies by episode and season. For example, the advantage may be exclusive choice of ingredients or themes, assigning these to other contestants, or immunity from elimination.
The second round is the "Main Heat", also called "The Killer" challenge in season 7 and later. The contestants get a longer time to bake a larger dessert, which must include a new theme and/or ingredients that might be chosen by the contestants or assigned to them. The lowest-ranked baker in this round is eliminated every episode except for the last one. In the finale, the final three or four contestants compete in a winner-take-all final round. The winner gets $25,000 and in some seasons are given a feature article in Food Network Magazine.
From season 6 onward, every season has an overarching theme that relates to the theme of each challenge. For example, season 6 features a haunted house theme, with each challenge being associated with a different room in the house.
Host and judges
Unlike its sister show Holiday Baking Championship , the panel of judges has changed frequently in the series (with the exception of Carla Hall, who has been on the show since it began in 2015).
The first season was hosted by Richard Blais with chefs Carla Hall, Ron Ben-Israel, and Sherry Yard serving as judges. The second season saw Carla Hall as the only returning chef/judge. She was joined by Food Network personality Sandra Lee and Damiano Carrara to help judge, and comedian Jeff Dunham as the host. For seasons three through five, the show was hosted by John Henson. Lorraine Pascale and Zac Young joined Carla Hall as judges for the third and fourth seasons, while Katie Lee replaced Pascale for season five. [3] For the sixth season, Henson did not return to the show (likely due to difficulties owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which was ongoing at the time). As a result, Carla Hall served as both a judge and a host for that season; she was accompanied by Zac Young and Stephanie Boswell as judges. [4] John Henson returned to serve as host in 2021 for season seven and Carla Hall, Zac Young and Stephanie Boswell returned as judges. [5] They have all remained in these roles through season ten.
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