In some fantastic news, The Great British Bake Off is opening everyone’s favorite white tent to nine amateur bakers from America in The Great American Baking Show. The spinoff series, a reboot of the previous American iteration that was on ABC, has a new home on The Roku Channel, following in the footsteps of the streamer’s recent The Great American Baking Show Celebrity Holiday that debuted last December.
With this new installment of the show, viewers get to watch as a tech entrepreneur, a digital illustrator, a Spanish tutor and more do what they can to be crowned the ultimate star baker, and impress the legendary judges from The Great British Bake Off, Paul Hollywood and Pure Leith.
So just who are the bakers under the tent? Meet the nine contestants of The Great American Baking Show.
The Great American Baking Show contestants
Martin Sorge
Martin Sorge is a resident of Chicago and is the former executive director of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce. He currently runs his own consulting firm. Sorge's Instagram leads us to believe he may have a leg up in the competition when it comes to Bread Week, as he's posted several pictures of his homemade loaves on the platform.
Nirali Chauhan
Also from Chicago is Nirali Chauhan. She actually found time to bake while being a med school student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. While she has several baked goods displayed across her Instagram account, we noticed she tends to post a lot of cookies.
Sarah Chang
Rounding out the Chicagoans is Sarah Chang. She also is in pursuit of a profession in the medical field as a nursing student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. When speaking with Block Club Chicago about her and fellow Chicago contestants, she stated, "I hope that we represent the city really well."
Stacie Nakamoto
Dr. Stacie Nakamoto is a biochemist and faculty member at UCLA. She is also the co-host of The Bakers' Notebook, a home-baking podcast. Her social media shows a bit of everything, signaling she's well-versed in the realm of baking.
Dyana O'Brien
Dyana O'Brien boasts of being a "bulldog mama" and "rockabilly singer." (For those wondering, rockabilly is a rock and roll style of music that blends dynamics of country music — think Elvis). She also may be a favorite during Bread Week as her Instagram is full of loaf creations.
Susan Simpson
The wife, mother and grandmother is no novice to baking competitions. In 2021, she was the winner of the Sweet Bread/Rolls category in the Adult Division of the Virtual National Festival of Breads. Simpson's Instagram is a testament to the wealth of experience she brings to the competition.
Karis Stucker
Karis Stucker shared with The Charlotte Observer that she partially credits The Great British Bake Off for teaching her the baking skills she possesses today. She was an avid watcher of the show with her mom. In addition to operating her own cakery, she also runs a private Spanish tutoring business. Even if we didn't know Stucker runs a cakery, her social media certainly tells the story of her cake-making expertise.
Jonathan Gottfried
Jonathan Gottfried is a tech entrepreneur and self-professed "hacker." He is the co-founder of an official student hackathon league that helps "cultivate communities and teach computer science skills to more than 500,000 developers" across the globe. Checking out his Instagram, we were immediately drawn to his impressive mirror glaze skills.
Sean Liu
Sean Liu is a digital illustrator which seemingly gives him an advantage when it comes to the presentation of his desserts. Even his Instagram account showcasing his baked goods is nothing short of impressive when it comes to aesthetics.
The Great American Baking Show judges
Paul Hollywood
Paul Hollywood became a household name as a judge of The Great British Bake Off. He's been a staple of the show since 2010. Hollywood has also been seen in The Great American Baking Show Celebrity Holiday and Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds.
Prue Leith
Prue Leith is also well-known for her time on The Great British Bake Off, having joined the show in 2017. Before then, she served as a judge on the Great British Menu and can be seen on My Kitchen Rules and Junior Bake Off.
The Great American Baking Show hosts
Ellie Kemper
Ellie Kemper is a familiar face to those who love The Office, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt or Bridesmaids. Respectively she starred in each as Erin, Kimmy and Becca. Kemper was most recently seen in Home Sweet Home Alone and co-hosted The Great American Baking Show Celebrity Holiday.
Zach Cherry
Zach Cherry was the other host of The Great American Baking Show Celebrity Holiday. Prior to this, he was flexing his acting chops in things like Severance and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The new episodes of The Great American Baking Show stream exclusively on The Roku Channel.
