Great American Baking Show's Zach Cherry's Advice On Winning The Holiday Special - Exclusive Interview

Following a few years' hiatus, in May 2023, audiences were treated to a brand-new season of "The Great American Baking Show," now streaming on The Roku Channel. The show, a spin-off of the beloved "Great British Bake Off," has been around since the early 2010s, but if you've yet to give it a watch, you'll find all the elements you may already love about "GBBO" with a little American flair. As one of the show's new hosts, Zach Cherry (who took on the role alongside Ellie Kemper), told us in a recent exclusive interview, the Americanized show has the same judges, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and takes place in the same tent that "GBBO" fans will recognize.

While Cherry's first season hosting the show has wrapped up, the 2023 celebrity holiday special premieres Nov. 10. It's a quick, bite-sized serving of "The Great American Baking Show" with a bit of holiday fun added in, plus some hilarious celebrity guests showing off their baking chops (or lack thereof). Here's what Cherry had to say about the special, his experience on the show thus far, and some of his favorite holiday memories.

You first appeared on "The Great American Baking Show" earlier this year, with the show's sixth season. How did the hosting opportunity come about? Why was this a project you wanted to work on?

I imagined that I would have a lot of fun, and it turned out I was 100% right. I am such a fan of the show. It always seems like they're having fun. You get to try great, tasty baked goods. I really nailed it on my prediction.

Did you have any baking knowledge prior to this, or did the role come with a learning curve?

I had a little bit of baking knowledge. Let's say I dabble. I can do a pie. I can do some basic brownies — nothing like anything that the contestants do on the show. There was a learning curve in terms of pronouncing French words. That was a legit major learning curve. I had to learn a lot of new things, like "coulis" and "choux" and all sorts of baking-specific terms.

Now that the show has moved over to The Roku Channel, some fans are discovering it for the first time. Maybe they're more familiar with "The Great British Bake Off." What would you tell them to expect?

I would say to expect pretty much the same thing, but with a few more Americans. Our show does try to capture the same vibe, and Paul and Prue, the same judges, are there. They bring a lot of experience and familiarity to people who are fans of the British series. Then, they brought a bunch of Americans over into the same tent and let us do our American version of that thing.

So you film there? Is it actually the same tent?

Yes, we film just outside of London and it's the very same "Great British Tent," I guess you could call it. I don't know if there's official name for the tent, but yes, same tent.

How did it feel for you stepping into this hosting role, knowing that fans, as far as "Great British Bake Off" goes, can be pretty passionate about the hosts? Was there any pressure?

A little bit. I am familiar with the passion of the fan base. The fact that it was a fresh start for the American version made [me] feel a little less pressure. I also truly felt very comfortable having [Hollywood] and [Leith] there. They were so helpful in helping me figure out the spirit of the show. That made it a lot easier once I showed up.

For the celebrity holiday special, what does the filming process look like? It's crammed into just an hour for viewers, but how does it play out in reality? Is there a lot of downtime? What goes on when people are waiting for things to proof?

The main difference between the celebrity episode and a regular episode is that there is a lot more energy and yelling and comedy bits happening during the celebrity episode. You have a tent full of comedians who aren't bakers, so, in their downtime, what they know how to do is try and make each other laugh, and try and make us laugh. There's a chaotic energy. Other than that, it's pretty similar. They have basically the same amount of time for the challenges and they get to work.

For this year's holiday special, what was your initial impression of the celebrity contestants?

My initial impression was that they were a lot of fun and they also were ... I was surprised at how energetic they were. They had just flown over. I was exhausted having come across an ocean to get there. We get up early to start the show. We're in a tent — it can get hot in there — but they were just like, "Go, go, go!"

They may have been the first group to sprint into the tent. Traditionally, the contestants walk slowly and calmly to get into the tent and [this group], as soon as they were allowed, sprinted there. I was really blown away by the energy.

At the start, who did you think would be the most impressive or least impressive competitors? Were you surprised by anyone's baking skills?

I have learned now that I cannot tell going in. You can tell who is going to take it more seriously. I could tell pretty early on that Joel McHale ... He did his bakes and he did take it seriously, but he was also a bit of a chaos agent. That doesn't necessarily mean that the bakes won't turn out great. It is hard to predict who will have success and who won't. You can't even trust [the competitors] necessarily, because, a lot of times, someone will come in feeling really confident, and then they might struggle, and the people who are a little unsure will do really great. It's hard to tell.

If you had to pick one bake from this competition to take home and eat, what would you have picked?

The technical challenge was — and it's been a while since I've tried to pronounce it so I might be rusty; here comes that learning curve — called a "sufganiyot," and it was sort of like a jelly donut. I'm a big jelly donut fan, so that would be one that I would love to take home.

If you were on the competing side and you were in the showstopper challenge, where everyone had to make a cake based off of a favorite childhood toy or gift, what do you think you would've made?

I have a very fond memory of a childhood gift. It was Christmas. I was a big video game fan at the time, so I'm assuming I'm going to get a video game because I asked for one. I'm opening up all my presents — no video game, no video game. Finally, I get to the last present and it's a box of Cheerios, and I'm like, "Oh, okay, thank you." I'm a very polite little boy. I don't want to be like, "Why did you get me Cheerios?"

I go up to my room and I am pretty distraught. Then, a few minutes later, my parents were like, "Why don't you open the box of Cheerios?" I opened the box of Cheerios and the video game was inside. They had been doing a little prank on me.

Maybe I would try and do a cake shaped like a box of Cheerios. Then, when you cut into it, there's something else hidden inside. I don't think I could pull that off, but I would attempt it.

More generally, what's your favorite holiday bake or treat, whether or not you're the one to actually make it? What do you look forward to during the holiday season?

There are two for me that come to mind. My family had a Thanksgiving tradition. We would make these cookies that were shaped like turkeys. We would decorate them with a Reese's Cup for the wing, and then candy corns for the feathers, and a chocolate chip for the eyes, and a little Twizzler for the gobbler. That was always a fun thing to do together as a family.

Then, on Christmas, my mom would always make a strawberry dump cake. I think it's called that because you dump all the ingredients in. We haven't baked that on the show, so I haven't updated my knowledge on it, but those are two favorites of mine.

Who's your favorite judge? Hollywood or Leith?

I can't [say]. It depends on the situation. If I need someone to drive me in a racecar, I have to go with [Hollywood]. I love them both. They're both great to work with.

Were you surprised by who ended up winning the celebrity holiday special?

I was a little surprised. I was and I wasn't, because it's hard to tell. The winner was not super confident going in, and so that's always a surprise.

From your experience hosting the show so far, do you feel there's a secret to winning?

The secret to winning is practicing the bakes that you're allowed to practice, so the signatures and the showstoppers. Being really prepared and practicing them in the amount of time that you will have seems to be really important. The other really important hint is, when you need to proof something, you have to proof it longer than you think you have to proof it. That seems to be a recurring thing that comes up on the show.

"The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday" is available to stream for free on The Roku Channel starting Nov. 10.

This interview has been edited for clarity.