Blue Ribbon Baking Championship Review – Netflix’s version of Bake-Off is… fine

Episode Guide

Welcome to the Fair
Best Fruit Forward
Surprise Bakes & Cakes
SuperBake It to Make It!
All’s Fair in Love and Chocolate
Eyes on the Pies
A Fair to Remember
Crowning the Champion

Netflix have a plethora of competitions on their platform and the summer months, when more people are outside enjoying the weather and a lot of the TV schedule has dried up, is the perfect time to slip into these easy-going series. Blue Ribbon Baking Championship is no exception. It’s certainly not going to break any boundaries, nor does it do anything particularly different to the norm, but like a simple homecooked apple pie, it does hit a good sweet spot. And I guess that leads nicely onto the next point.

Netflix have enlisted American Pie star Jason Biggs for this state-faired baking competition. He’s joined by Sandra Lee, a blue-ribbon winner and dubbed the “queen of the fair”. She’s also a best-selling author too. Joining this duo is White House pastry chef Bill Yosses.

In essence, Blue Ribbon Baking Championship is the USA’s answer to The Great British Bake-off. It doesn’t touch the UK version in terms of quality (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Brit) but it does a pretty good job emulating the style and tone of the UK’s favourite baking show.

Here, the set-up is pretty much the same but with a few tweaks here and there. 8 blue-ribbon winners from across America’s state fairs come together to determine once and for all who America’s best baker is. The big difference here is there’s not just bragging rights as the winner will take home a cool $100,000 and the coveted Grand Blue Ribbon too. There’s a lot riding on this.

With the judges and host set, each episode takes a different theme and splits the competition up into two challenges. These can range from reimagining classic fair pies and cakes, across to miniaturized classics and dealing with chocolate. There’s even one episode where two challenges are combined together into a mega-challenge, testing the bakers as they’re forced to prepare two dishes at once.

At the end of each episode, a competitor goes home. The usual roulette of contestants are eventually whittled down to the final 3, and the last challenge tests all our bakers as they undertake a fitting challenge using the theme of “past, present and future”. Along the way, we get plenty of backstory for the different contestants and there’s actually a careful dose of editing here to make sure no one contestant gets more focus than others, at least early on anyway.

The episodes are edited in the usual way you’d expect overall, with little hand-drawn animations on plates depicting the design of different dishes. There’s lots of busywork in the kitchen, along with the judges wandering around and talking to the flustered contestants. Expect some waterworks too, and there’s some money shots of different finished projects, with the extreme close-ups showing off the intricate designs in all their glory.

As this is an American production, the humour is predictably over the top and it can be pretty hit or miss at times. Hearing Jason Biggs shouting “sweet rolls” at the top of his lungs four times, only to pretend he needs to clear his throat is toe-curlingly cringe. But hey, it may just be my humour too so you’ll have to judge it for yourself. The point is, this is going to be hit or miss.

Beyond the humour though, Blue Ribbon Baking Championship is… fine. It’s not a showstopping hit, nor is it a complete disaster either. It’s an inoffensive rip-off of Bake-Off and you’ll undoubtedly be craving the return of the UK version after blasting through this one in a couple of servings. If you’re looking for something light and easy, this one’s certainly worth checking out.

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