There’s a new food competition in town. Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart pits six amateur bakers against each other, with guidance and encouragement from the one and only Martha Stewart, who will be serving as mentor for the contestants.
According to the show’s casting call from last year, it’s “part exclusive culinary retreat, part baking boot camp and part summer camp-inspired competition with a cash prize.” The new food competition will feature six cream-of-the-crop baking “campers” vying for the top prize of $25,000 worth of state-of-the-art kitchen appliances that would make any home cook swoon.
This is how it works: in each episode, the bakers will be participating in challenges and contests – outdoors – in two rounds. The winner of the first round each time gets one-on-one mentoring time with Stewart in the celebrity chef’s kitchen – at her house! From S’mores to pies, the bakers are in for interesting times, considering all baking is being done outdoors, in which they’ll have to contend with thunderstorms, insects, and sweaty conditions. Not elegant, but fun for viewers to watch. After each episode, the contestant who has wowed the judges the least goes home, and the last baker standing by the very end gets the grand prize.
Of course, where there’s a cooking competition, there has to be a panel of judges and Bakeaway Camp With Martha Stewart is no different. The program’s judges will feature chef Carla Hall and food television personality Dan Langan. Former New York Giants football player and Bachelor Jesse Palmer will serve as host.
One contestant, television producer Jessica Lugo, recently spoke with NorthJersey.com about her time spent on the show saying, “The experience was amazing. It was a trial of my baking skills, as well as dealing with the natural elements. A bout with a swarm of bees stands out as a particularly stressful experience on the show.”
Filmed in summer 2019 near Stewart’s Westchester County home in New York, the competition program, Lugo feels, is just the lighthearted entertainment we need. “It’s entertaining,” she said. “It’s not the typical baking show because we’re dealing with creatures and each other, running around the campsite while trying to bake. It’s fun and quirky, and we all need a little bit of fun and laughter right now.”
While this outdoor, camp-style baker’s competition is outside of Stewart’s usual more dignified and elegant lane, she’s clearly up for the challenge. After all, she was nominated in 2017 for an Emmy for her role in VH1’s Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party. Simply the opportunity to work alongside her in her home kitchen is a huge motivation for each contestant.
Courtney White, Food Network president, is delighted to have Stewart on board. “Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart is unlike anything viewers have seen before,” White said in a statement, “with Martha personally guiding and mentoring these home bakers through challenges as well as the most unpredictable outdoor elements. Their skills, ingenuity, tenacity and fortitude will all be tested in this ultimate baking camp.”
Premiering Monday, May 11 at 9:00PM EST on Food Network, perhaps baker Jessica Lugo is right: Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart may be just what we need right now.
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