Nailed It: Terrible Bakers with Heart

This weekend I binged the new Netflix baking show Nailed It.  I had read about it a few weeks ago, and I decided to give it a shot because I'm a big fan of the host, Nicole Byer.  Her Facebook sitcom Loosely Exactly Nicole is a hilarious treat (check out my earlier post about it).  And her podcast Why Won't You Date Me?, in which she asks guests to look at her dating profile and help her figure out why she doesn't have a boyfriend, is filthy in the best way possible.  Nailed It's 1st season of 6 episodes features host Nicole along with French pastry chef Jacques Torres and a rotating roster of guest judges, the best of which is Sylvia Weinstock, a little old lady who has trouble reading the tele-prompter and wanders off set during breaks from judging.  The format of the show is simple: 3 amateur bakers (some VERY amateur) compete in 2 challenges.  The winner of the 1st challenge gets a small prize, and they get to wear a gold bedazzled chef's hat during the 2nd challenge.  The winner of the 2nd challenge gets $10,000.  To add a fun twist, each contestant gets a "Panic" button, where they can get a judge to help them for 3 minutes during the 2nd challenge.  Also, the worst chef in the 1st challenge gets an extra button: a "Freeze" button, which allows them to make the other 2 contestants stop baking for 3 minutes, or my personal favorite the Nicole button, where the host walks up to the other 2 contestants and annoys them for 3 minutes, to give the other baker a better shot.  In one episode Nicole went up to a baker and made a truly horrible high-pitched noise in their face for about 30 seconds straight, which had me almost falling on the floor with laughter. 

Nicole is clearly the standout here, but Jacques is fun too.  He has a surprisingly good sense of humor, not at all what you'd expect from an upscale French chef.  The challenges are ridiculously hard, even for an experienced baker.  The bakers are tasked with making such ridiculous creations as a cake shaped like a shark eating a surfer, an erupting volcano cake, and a Donald Trump cake.  The challenges basically set the contestants up to fail, and the show usually becomes a contest to see who makes the worst creation.  But everyone is a good sport about the whole process.  The judges watch the bakers from afar and laugh at all the mistakes that they're making, but the bakers laugh at themselves as well, so it's okay.  Some of the standout bad creations are a princess cake with a princess that looks more like a zombie girl from hell, and a shark cake with a deformed shark missing most of its teeth.  The most memorable contestant is retired cop Sal, who never looks at the recipe and gives up about halfway through the final challenge, instead going to sit with the judges and chat.  Nailed It also includes many bizarre and silly moments, which prove that the entire production is kind of a work-in-progress.  But everyone involved is just going along with it and having as much fun as possible.  Nicole constantly flirst with stage-hand Wes, who never brings out the winner's trophy in time for Nicole to present it, she pulls out giant chopsticks to eat the contestants' sushi cakes (with a straight face), and the guest judge for the final episode leaves in the middle of the challenge due to a babysitting issue (really).  Nailed It is a fun little show which made me laugh out loud several times during each episode.  It's perfect for a weekend binge, check it out!