Why Some Buddy Vs Duff Fans Think The Show Is 'Rigged'

Another episode of "Buddy vs. Duff" has aired. Another bubbling of discontent has frothed from a fanbase that disagrees with the result.

Early this morning, Duff Goldman shared the cakes his team made based off of The Nutcracker on Instagram. In exquisite detail, the team carved out a Nutcracker Prince, the owl, the Christmas Tree, and a remarkable seven headed rat king. As incredible as these cakes were, though, they also lost.

While Goldman made no reference to the results in his post, the comments seethed with indignation on his behalf. "You totally should have won!!!" one reads. As does another. And another. This isn't unusual, however. In the Santa's Workshop episode, similar complaints filled the comments section for that week's Instagram post. 

However, with the repeated losses, some now suggest there were nefarious reasons behind Buddy Valastro's victory. One, for example, wrote "Your team is off the charts and we all know why you lost but Team Duff is awesome and a true winner in my eyes." A second comment suggested that it "Seems like the judges just want to make it as close as possible for the finale." The question, then, is whether a food Network reality television show would alter the outcome of a competition to enforce a preferred narrative.

It would be easy to dismiss such thoughts as simply stemming from the imagination of an aggrieved fanbase. After all, in the case of Santa's Workshop, many made the point that Buddy Valastro won because he stuck closer to the premise than Duff Goldman did.

However, this is not the first season of "Buddy vs. Duff" to raise questions about its scoring. After Season 2 concluded, Reality Blurred wrote a review covering what they considered a suspect scoring system. Namely, in that season, Valastro one by 1.5 points despite losing the majority of the episodes because the times he did win, he won by larger margins. Yet the judges never explained the rationale behind the numbers they give.

"How did Duff only get three more points than Buddy during the amusement park challenge, for example?" the piece asks. "Buddy's carousel was impressive for a carousel, but it was a carousel, not a cake."

This led to the conclusion that the show wanted Goldman to consistently win while giving the overall victory to Valastro. That way, everyone wins. Whether any of these feelings are actually true or merely reflect an obtuse judging process is impossible to say. Admittedly, fans will always think these shows are rigged when their contestant loses.