Netflix is jumping on board the baking reality show fad big time with two favourites – Nailed It! and Sugar Rush. Only have time to watch one? Or maybe you reserve your Netflix hours for only the best of baking shows. Read on as I compare Nailed It! vs Sugar Rush.
First things first. Sugar Rush features your usual professionals – bakers, caterers, sous chefs, you know the deal. But the competitors on Nailed It! are amateurs and hobbyists. This makes the point of each show really different.
The point of Sugar Rush is to see beautiful, highly technical, and great-tasting desserts. The point of Nailed It! is to laugh while the competitors struggle to create desserts way beyond their ability.
The formats of the competitions are set up quite differently as well. Nailed It! contains just two rounds, neither of which have any relevance to the other. Round 1 features a smaller dessert and its winner receives a baking-related prize.
Round 2 is a cake round. The winner of round 2 receives 10,000 dollars, which is shot at them through a money gun. Because why not?
Sugar Rush has three rounds during each of which one baking partnership is eliminated so there are only two teams left in the final round. Bakers have 3 hours for round 1 (cupcakes) and round 2 (confections), and any time leftover gets added to their additional 3 hours for the final round (cakes).
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Both shows strive to have an atmosphere of fun, but Nailed It! takes it a few steps further, often coming off as pretty kooky. Nailed It!’s host, Nicole Byer is a boisterous comedian whose job is to keep the energy extremely high, and to annoy bakers when losers use their handicap in the second round.
This brings me to the quirks of Nailed It!. Handicaps for losers of the first round include sending the host to annoy another competitor, asking for advice from the professional judges, and having the French judge – Jacques Torres – speak French when other bakers ask him questions. Throw in some hilarious challenges (including a Donald Trump bust cake) and Nailed It! provides some high-energy entertainment.
Sugar Rush is a classic baking competition show. The judges are knowledgeable (with a few debatable guest judges) and get along well with the host. The rapport between the host and judges makes the show feel comfortable and light-hearted. Because of the calibre of the judges and the competitors, you’re going to learn a lot more about baking on Sugar Rush.
I prefer Sugar Rush over Nailed It!, simply because I get to see more baking on Sugar Rush. I watch professionals in action and learn about the different techniques for making quality desserts. Sugar Rush could be considered more boring than Nailed It! for some, but it is also more true to a baking competition.
If you want to be thoroughly entertained in that cringe-worthy way, watch Nailed It!. If you want to see some good old baking, watch Sugar Rush.
Have you seen both of these shows? Which one do you prefer?
Heather
This is super interesting to read! I’ve only ever watched Sugar Rush, but I’m definitely considering Nailed it! now. Thanks for posting this!