Next Great Baker

Last updated
Next Great Baker
Cake boss next great baker.jpg
Also known asCake Boss: Next Great Baker
Presented by Buddy Valastro
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes41 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time42 minutes
Original release
Network TLC
ReleaseDecember 6, 2010 (2010-12-06) 
August 19, 2014 (2014-08-19) [1]
Related
Cake Boss
Kitchen Boss
Ultimate Cake Off

Next Great Baker (also known as Cake Boss: Next Great Baker) is an American television series that airs on TLC, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of his own reality series, Cake Boss . The show features contestants participating in challenges that test their edible art baking and decorating skills. Each week, a contestant will be eliminated; the last contestant standing will win a grand prize package that varies by season. Other prizes for winning a challenge or the week's competition are also offered during the series. [2]

Contents

Gameplay

Each round has three stages:

  1. Baker's challenge: Each contestant has to meet a challenge set by Buddy the Cake Boss, such as making a pastry, baking a cake or, as in the first-season finale, filling buckets of grease. The winner of this challenge receives a special bonus, revealed after the challenge.
  2. Elimination challenge: Each contestant has a set amount of time over two days — usually three hours on the first day and the remaining time on the second — to make a cake to specifications set by Buddy.
  3. Final elimination: Buddy and the judges (the judge from the Baker's challenge and a client) decide which three cakes are the best and which two cakes that are the worst. After the decisions are made, the contestants (who were waiting in the bakers' lounge) enter the judging room. Contestants determined "safe" are then dismissed. Then, the three contestants with the best cakes are announced, with the one with the best cake in the challenge singled out. The remaining contestants have the worst cakes in the challenge; one of these will be told to leave the competition, transported away by Danny (an employee of Carlo's Bakery and Buddy's close friend) inside a box truck marked "Not the Next Great Baker".

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 8December 6, 2010 (2010-12-06)January 24, 2011 (2011-01-24)
2 11November 28, 2011 (2011-11-28)January 30, 2012 (2012-01-30)
3 12November 26, 2012 (2012-11-26)February 11, 2013 (2013-02-11)
4 10June 24, 2014 (2014-06-24)August 19, 2014 (2014-08-19)

Season 1

The first season of Next Great Baker was taped inside a special kitchen studio set up at the Hudson County Community College Culinary Arts Institute in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was televised from December 6, 2010 to January 24, 2011 on TLC. Dana Herbert, the last contestant standing out of a field of ten contestants, won $50,000 cash, a Chevrolet Cruze and an apprenticeship at Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. Following his win, Dana was featured in some episodes of Cake Boss, but he had had his own bakery before his appearance on the show.

Season 2

The second season of Next Great Baker was set at the new Carlo's Bakery facility at Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, and was televised from November 28, 2011 to January 30, 2012 on TLC. Marissa Lopez, the last contestant standing out of a field of 13 contestants, won $100,000 cash and a four-page spread in Brides magazine, [3] along with an opportunity to work beside Buddy in the bakery. [4] As of 2020, she is the manager of Carlo's Bakery Ridgewood, New Jersey. [5]

Season 3

Season 3 premiered on Monday, November 26, 2012. [6] 13 contestants compete for $100,000, a spread in redbook magazine and to work with Buddy. The winner was Ashley Holt. She now owns her own bakery called Sugar Monster. She previously worked at Buddy's bakery and appears on Buddy's other show, Cake Boss from Season 5. She announced her withdrawal from the bakery on Season 6. (Ep. 28: Up, Up and Away)

Season 4

Season 4 premiered on Tuesday, June 24, 2014. [7] This season, contestants competed in pairs. [8] Ten pairs total vied for a $100,000 grand prize and an opportunity to work for Buddy Valastro at the new Carlo's Bakery at Las Vegas's The Venetian. Chocolatier Jacques Torres and Magnolia Bakery chief Bobbie Lloyd were permanent judges for season four alongside Buddy. [9] Co-workers Al Watson and Lia Weber were the winners. [10]

Versions

Country/RegionNameNetwork(s)Winners
Arab World Arab Baker
حلواني العرب
Dubai TV
MBC 1
SBC TV
Abu Dhabi TV
  • Season 1, 2004: Iraq: Yousef Amer
  • Season 2, 2008: Egypt: Chef Kadry
  • Season 3, 2019: Lebanon: Michel Assaf
  • Season 4,2020: Egypt: Ahmed Selim
  • Season 5,2021: Egypt: Massoud El Sherbini
  • Season 6,2023: Kuwait: Mohamed Hassan
Brazil Batalha dos Confeiteiros
Battle of the Bakers
RecordTV
Discovery Home & Health
Batalha dos Cozinheiros
Battle of the Cooks
Season 1, 2016: André Neto & Adelino Bilhalva
Hispanic America (orthographic projection).svg Latin America
(Except Brazil)
El desafío de Buddy: Latinoamérica
Buddy's Challenge: Latin America
Discovery Home & Health
  • Season 1, 2014: Catalina Moroni
  • Season 2, 2015: Daniela Galarza
  • Season 3, 2016: Current season
United States Next Great Baker TLC

Related Research Articles

Food Network Challenge is a competitive cooking television series that aired on the Food Network. In each episode, professional chefs vie in a timed competition in their professional specialty. The winner receives a check for $10,000 and a gold medal. The first run of the series started in 2005 as a number of specials, before becoming a regular series that launched in 2007 and ended in 2011.

Cake Boss is an American reality television series, which originally aired on the cable television network TLC. The series premiered on April 19, 2009, and has spawned four spin-offs: Next Great Baker, Kitchen Boss, Bake You Rich, and Bakery Boss.

<i>Ultimate Cake Off</i> Television series

Ultimate Cake Off is an American television series that aired on TLC. The show is based on professional cake artists that go "head-to-head" in constructing cakes over five feet tall with the assistance of a team of chefs, designers etc. for a money prize. Season one of the series, hosted by Michael Schulson, premiered on August 3, 2009. Season two, hosted by George Duran, premiered on February 1, 2010. Professional bakers Margaret Braun and Leigh Grode join the hosts as judges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo's Bake Shop</span> Bakeries of the United States

Carlo's Bake Shop, commonly known as Carlo's Bakery and also known as Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop, is a bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, owned by Buddy Valastro. The bakery has gained public attention as the setting of the TLC television series, Cake Boss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Valastro</span> American pastry chef

Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Jr. is an American baker, reality television personality, and businessman. He has taken his small, family-owned bake shop, Carlo's Bakery, and turned it into a baking and restaurant empire. Valastro is best known as the star of the reality television series Cake Boss, which ran on the TLC cable channel from April 2009 until April 2020. He has also starred in Next Great Baker (2010), Kitchen Boss (2011), Buddy's Bakery Rescue (2013), Bake You Rich (2013), Bakery Boss (2013), Buddy vs. Duff (2019), Buddy vs. Christmas (2020) Buddy Valastro's Cake Dynasty (2023-present) and Legends of The Fork (2023-present)

The first season of Next Great Baker was televised from December 6, 2010, to January 24, 2011, on TLC. During this season, the last contestant standing would win $50,000 cash, a Chevrolet Cruze and an apprenticeship at Buddy's bakery, Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Kitchen Boss is an American television series that airs on TLC, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of Cake Boss. The weekday series debuted January 25, 2011, with a second season debuting January 31, 2012.

The second season of Next Great Baker was televised from November 28, 2011 to January 30, 2012 on TLC. This season was set at the new Carlo's Bake Shop facility at Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The third season of Next Great Baker aired from November 26, 2012, to February 11, 2013. Like the previous season, this season was set at the Carlo's Bake Shop facility at Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. Unlike the previous two seasons, the finale for this season took place outside of the greater New York City area – in this case, in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Venetian Las Vegas.

<i>The Great British Bake Off</i> series 1 First series of The Great British Bake Off

The first series of The Great British Bake Off first aired on BBC Two on 17 August 2010. Ten home bakers took part in a bake-off to test their baking skills as they battled to be designated the best amateur baker. Each week the programme bakers participated in three challenges in a particular discipline, with some being eliminated at the end of each episode. The rounds of the competition took place in various locations across the UK following a theme, for example, the episode on puddings took place in Bakewell, bread baking would take place near Sandwich. This first series had a voiceover by Stephen Noonan; for the subsequent series this role was taken by the on-screen presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. The competition was won by Edd Kimber.

The third series of The Great British Bake Off began airing on Tuesday 14 August 2012. The series was filmed at Harptree Court in East Harptree, Somerset.

The fourth season of Next Great Baker premiered on June 24, 2014. Unlike other previous seasons, the teams competed in teams of two. Other changes from the previous seasons include the addition of Jacques Torres and Bobbie Lloyd as judges, the addition of the final showdown, and the opportunity to work at Buddy's Las Vegas cake shop. However, some aspects of the show were similar, including having ten competitors as in season 1, and the $100,000 prize awarded in each of the previous seasons remained.

Next Great Baker: Latin America was a Latin American television series that airs on Discovery Home & Health: Latin America, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of his own reality series, Cake Boss. In the show, eight contestants participated in challenges that tested their baking and decorating skills. Each week, a contestant was eliminated; the last contestant standing won a grand prize of US$50,000. Other prizes for winning a challenge or the week's competition are also offered during the series.

Batalha dos Confeiteiros is a Brazilian television series based on Next Great Baker, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of his own reality series, Cake Boss. The series premiered Wednesday, 30 September 2015 at 10:30 p.m. on RecordTV.

The fourth season of The Great Kiwi Bake Off return to Parihoa Farm in Muriwai, Auckland. This season premiered on Thursday 25 August at 7.30pm on TVNZ 1 and streams on TVNZ+; with Comedian Pax Assadi who joined Hayley Sproull as co-host and chef, restaurateur, writer, and food consultant Peter Gordon, alongside Jordan Rondel, an author and co-founder of international cakery The Caker took over the judging roles.

<i>The Great British Bake Off</i> series 13 Season of television series

The thirteenth series of The Great British Bake Off began on 13 September 2022. It is again presented by Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas and judged by Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. The bakers competing in the series were announced on 2 September 2022. The series was filmed at Welford Park, an estate near Newbury, Berkshire which was previously used for the programme from 2014 to 2019.

References

  1. "NEXT GREAT BAKER, THE (TLC)" . Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  2. Stanhope, Kate (June 24, 2010). "Cake Boss Gets Competitive with New Spinoff Series". TVGuide.com. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  3. Elgart, Corina (November 29, 2011). "Lots of Perks and a Bit of Baking". TLC . Retrieved December 23, 2011.
  4. "It's Go Time!". Next Great Baker. Season 2. Episode 1. November 28, 2011. 06:31 minutes in. TLC. The winner is gonna get to work with me, to learn what it's like to be at Carlo's Bakery, and I'm gonna teach you all my tricks.
  5. "Seeing Double". Cake Boss. Season 6. Episode 6. June 10, 2013. TLC.
  6. "Season Three of TLC's 'Next Great Baker' to Premiere Monday, November 26". TV By the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  7. "'Next Great Baker' Season Four to Premiere Tuesday, June 24 on TLC". TV By the Numbers. April 30, 2014. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  8. Nededog, Jethro (April 30, 2014). "TLC's 'Next Great Baker' Returns for Season 4 in June With a Few Twists (Exclusive)". The Wrap . Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  9. Acken, Lori (June 20, 2014). "We talk Next Great Baker Season 4 with new judge Jacques Torres". ChannelGuideMagBlog.com. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  10. "Vegas Showstoppers". Cake Boss: Next Great Baker: Episode Info. MSN TV. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.