Like most streaming services, HBO Max has a wide array of titles for their subscribers to tune into. Looking at their current streaming charts in the U.S., for instance, while the long-awaited IT prequel IT: Welcome to Derry remains #1, a spot it snagged since its premiere on October 26, 2025, the festive cooking show Holiday Baking Championship is climbing the charts. Currently, the Food Network competition show that started back in 2014 is at the #6 spot on the platform, and it’s a true celebration of sweet treats and the holiday spirit.
What Is ‘Holiday Baking Championship’ About?
Hosted by The Bachelor‘s very own Jesse Palmer, Holiday Baking Championship follows 12 amateur and professional bakers as they cook impressive, mouth-watering desserts and are evaluated by beloved judges and chefs Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown. In each episode, bakers take part in two challenges: a shorter “Preliminary Heat” and a longer “Main Heat.” Winners are declared in both challenges, while one person is eliminated after the Main Heat at the end of every episode. By the end of the season, one lucky winner takes home a cash prize of $25,000, a feature in Food Network Magazine and the title of Holiday Baking Champion.
In Season 12 of the show, which premiered earlier this month on November 3, 2025, Palmer announced a twist: for the first time in the show’s history, the contestants are split up into two teams, Naughty and Nice. With the new twist, contestants are encouraged to taste each other’s work, and work together as a team to make the best and most delicious desserts possible. Of course, having teams also turns up the heat on the contestants’ competitive side, which surely makes for entertaining TV.
‘Holiday Baking Competition’ Is the Perfect Watch for This Time of the Year
As the temperatures start to lower in the fall and winter, viewers are looking to snuggle in and watch good TV more than ever. And while that might mean a nail-biting episode of Welcome to Derry, Holiday Baking Competition feels like the perfect must-watch too. Not only is the series all about the holiday spirit, with the contestants cooking in their own winter wonderland kitchen, but the themes of the challenges and the flavors they use are all fall and holiday spirit too. So expect lots of cinnamon, hot chocolate, pumpkin pies, and all the classic fall flavors that will have you craving a sweet treat.
Plus, the show, much like the beloved The Great British Bake Off, is an all-around feel-good show. While eliminations every week are an inevitable part of the deal, Holiday Baking Competition is designed to have viewers smiling, rooting for the contestants, and cheering them on for their wins. Among the judges, for example, there’s no assigned “bad cop” or villain. Sure, the trio do give their honest feedback, but the overall takeaway from them is always encouraging and uplifting, rather than just tearing the contests down.
With that said, as more episodes of Season 12 of Holiday Baking Competition continue to release every Monday moving forward, HBO Max subscribers should surely give the show a whirl. After all, with only two episodes out so far, the series is already climbing the charts and coming for Welcome to Derry‘s title. Plus, Seasons 10 and 11 are also available to stream on the platform at any time. Holiday Baking Competition is a feel-good show that will leave viewers in the holiday spirit, craving a sweet treat and perhaps even inspired to make their own fall dessert recipes at home.
- Release Date
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November 9, 2014
- Network
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Food Network
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