Easy-Bake Battle: The Home Cooking Competition

I was so excited to see this show in my Netflix recommended. The Easy Bake oven was something I dreamed of having as a kid! I also thought it would be such a neat concept to see how different people adapt to and cook fabulous dishes in the easy bake oven.

The reveal in the final moments of the first episode left me disappointedd. They basically called it an upgraded easy bake. No honey, that's just an oven! I don't get why they would call it that. It's not even a baking show. It's a cooking show, so the title seems really bait-y.

I kind of agree with another reviewer that there is some favoritism going on.

The only redeeming quality is the main judge. He is nice, calm, caring, and funny. This is kind of rare these days. Many hosts on cooking/ baking shows are over-the-top and obnoxious, but I really like his energy!

I wouldn't really recommend this show, but if you got nothing to watch and don't want to really follow what's playing, then this is an okay show for background noise.

Who are these people? World travelers, Instagramers, beauty execs, luxury real estate sellers, influencers? Not your regular everyday people, contestants fond of throwing out information that comes across as elitist. Another reviewer mentioned favoritism and I agree. The host seems very biased. Still it was an enjoyable watch, some good dishes were created and some helpful tips shared. Hopefully, there is a more economically diverse contestant search next time and from all over the country. If you are spending $25,000 per week per winner, let's see different regions. I don't think California based shows are quite in touch with the rest of the country. Personally I'd like to see a church lady cook off show, epic local dishes made by competitive church ladies. Maybe a grandma or grandpa competitive cook off. Let's see some older people represented.

As a food show I liked it hence the 7 coz I'm honestly just here for the light hearted but tense fun of cooking plus seeing all the dishes (plus points that they do this VERY close-ups of the dishes, made me hungry)...but the overall premise is a wasted potential.

-There's no use of the easy bake oven toy. It's a large oven that the cooks have a limited time to use. Idk how the toy oven works so on a technical standpoint I cannot tell if it's actually a large version of the toy oven or is it just an oven with one temperature.

-The champion tier is unfair, basically if you are in the first group you can actually have a chance to win more money but for the last group even if they win the initial $25k they aren't given any chances at all to double it.

-Generic feel. They could've made this fun like Nailed it. Use the easy bake oven toy or utilize unusual machines to cook like cooking using an iron, which they did do but only once. Imagine if they actually made that their 1st cooking segment? Would've made the show more fun and creative.

-Questionable requirements. I'm honestly confused about their criteria. They encourage using hacks for quick and easy cooking, which I appreciate as I find it informative being able to see what can be done with a canned soup or leftover chicken (similar to Best Leftovers Ever! Show but that one also didn't really bring their premise to justice) but what is actually needed to win? You have cooks who make a simple dish more complicated while some make a complicated dish in an easier way... both styles have won.

Anyway as a generic food show I liked the dishes and what not so I'm generous with the rating but overall I don't think they really delivered on their premise. IF they actually get a season 2 I'd still watch it but would be so great if they revamped the whole thing.

I mean just say that you don't care about the food and you just wanna give the win to the whitest trash dish out of the line up . The judges in some rounds made comments which were just because they had to cut . In an episode literally they shot down innovation saying it is too risky . Lmao. What is food without innovation and risk . The judging is a joke . Some cooking hacks were usefull , and that's all I got out of this .

On the bright side the participants were people who weren't great cooks to begin with and got a stage to challenge themselves . They challenges were intersting and some really interesting dishes came out of it given the time frame .

Watch it or skip it ?

A 100% skip .

First off, I love antoni. Huge fan of him from queer eye and he's equally great in this. But the concept/rules of this show are just unfair. The winner of each episode continues on and battles against 2 new people. But the champion now has a HUGE unfair advantage. They know the rules, what the judge likes, the tools in the kitchen, how to navigate the kitchen, etc... They also get more chances to win money vs someone who might eventually beat them/join in a later episode. So, while this was a good easy watching show it was also frustrating seeing someone have such an advantage every episode. If they make more of this they need to tweak the rules.