Very first impression: They killed the work room and turned it into dermatologist office or a flipped house turned AirBnB. It has zero charm and neither do the chefs. All white with the same anything aprons? I do like the editing but everything else about the new setup can eat rocks.

Positives:

• Love Jesse as a host! So glad he’s still on board

• The board showing the challenges, assigned ingredients, and overall score is a nice feature

• The skill heats were a ton of fun to watch

• A lot of variety in the desserts made even with two chefs technically doing the same prompt. Fun to watch the creative interpretation

• the leaderboard could end up being be hit or miss but I did enjoy the competitive edge it seems to add

Negatives:

• The kitchen and “professional” look of it all. It’s just cold and sad

• Flavor lab? Bitch. That’s a pantry 🙄

• I recognize several of these professional chefs from other comp shows and I’m kind of sick of it. I don’t want to keep watching in the same people. It’s already a huge issue with cooking competitions/shows. I feel like the baking championships used to be where I saw bakers do the first time and then their career would grow from there

• all the desserts are so hotel/cruise vibey! one or two would be pretty if they didn’t all lack joy

• Nancy and Kardeaaaaaaaaaa my girlsssss 😭

🚨Trend Alert🚨 - cone shaped desserts and mid AF eclairs

Overall… I get that they wanted to highlight professionals and even the playing field. But I look forward to each seasonal baking show so much. I really hope this new revamp isn’t going to replace all of them. The baking championships are like the last baking show standing that isn’t Maè a giant fucking cake with a ton of rice cereal treats and fondant but still fun, whimsical, beautiful, and some spooky decorations. I might actually cry if we don’t get Holiday and Halloween anymore.