The Celebs On Great American Baking Show's Holiday Special Seriously Wowed Zach Cherry – Exclusive

Earlier this year, Zach Cherry began hosting "The Great American Baking Show" with the series' new launch on The Roku Channel. Since then, he's had the opportunity to watch bakers in the competition display some seriously impressive skills. The show is a spin-off of "The Great British Bake Off," complete with the same judges, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. It's also filmed in the same tent that viewers know and love. As such, the format is the same, too, with bakers competing in three challenges per episode.

"GBBO" has frequently hosted one-episode specials that follow the same format, particularly around the holidays. These specials feature returning bakers and/or celebrities completing the same three challenges but with festive flair. "The Great American Baking Show" was no different this 2023 holiday season, hosting celebrities for the holiday special. The cast includes "Community"'s Joel McHale, "Broad City"'s Arturo Castro, "Saturday Night Live"'s Ego Nwodim, the NBA's DeAndre Jordan, Phoebe Robinson from "Everything's Trash," and comedian Heather McMahan. As such, Cherry had the opportunity to compare the show's normal-season contestants with the celebrity contestants. He told us in a recent exclusive Mashed interview that, in short, he was seriously impressed — but not necessarily by the baking.

Cherry noted that, yes, the celebrity bakers that appear on "The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Special" aren't really bakers. Some come in with no baking knowledge whatsoever while others consider themselves fair home bakers. In the 2023 holiday special, most of the celebrities are comedians. Whether or not they can bake, they definitely know how to laugh. That all adds up to what Cherry called a "chaotic energy" and it was that energy that seriously wowed him while hosting.

Cherry said, "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."

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