Here's What Fans Think About This Surprising Spring Baking Championship Decision

Viewers following the current season of Spring Baking Championship on Food Network tuned in Monday, March 29 fully expecting to find out who would make it to the final five. Instead, the judges decided to keep all six remaining contestants. This surprising result at the end of the sixth episode of season seven left fans on Reddit scratching their heads.

Going into last Monday's episode, fans knew the theme for the week, "Spring Flower Fiesta," would make for especially difficult challenges (via Food Network). For the main heat, bakers would need to figure out how to incorporate the flavors of certain flowers into their cakes: hibiscus, rose, jasmine, or elderflower. A preview of the episode on FoodSided warned that it might be difficult to get a flower flavor right. Elderflower should be workable, but rose and jasmine could pose problems.

At the end of the latest episode of Spring Baking Championship, contestant Derek Corsino was on the verge of elimination. Redditors said one of Corsino's rivals put him in a tough spot by making him incorporate jasmine into his cake. The flower's flavor was so subtle, Corsino had to go light on other ingredients. While his cake looked wonderful, the taste was off. "Bakers have been eliminated for similar 'problems' with their bakes," said Redditor Emmie618, who started the discussion. If Corsino was the clear loser in the latest episode of Spring Baking Championship, then why did the judges give him a free pass?

If Derek Corsino wasn't going to be eliminated in episode six, then it might have been Veruska Samanez. "The 'reasoning' (given) that these are good bakers makes no sense to me because I've seen very good bakers eliminated in the past for very minor flaws in their bake," Emmie618 wrote in her Reddit post.

Another Redditor chimed in with a theory. "Derek's name was at the bottom of the Spring Board, so it seemed like they really didn't want to send him home since he's been a favorite from the beginning, but didn't want to 'lie' and send Veruska home if she wasn't the worst of the day." Some of the other Redditors wondered whether the judges thought another baker assigning Corsino jasmine as a flavor was unfair. "I think the reason there was a pass this week is more so because they realized this made this more of a 'target the best baker' show than a 'find the best baker' show," one person wrote.

The baffling decision to eliminate no one in episode six raised a number of questions. Will judges need to remove two bakers in one of the upcoming episodes? And why keep Corsino and pass up the opportunity to have an all-female final five? The Reddit community thinks Corsino must be a shoe-in for the finale now. Stay tuned. More will be revealed this Monday, April 5 at 9 pm EST on the Food Network.