It’s been 2.5 years since ABC aired a season of The Great American Baking Show, the American version of The Great British Bake-Off.
A sixth season is now finally happening, but not on ABC: The Roku Channel announced this week that it had picked up the series.
The Roku Channel is no be confused with the device, but is instead a free streaming service like Tubi, Pluto, or Freevee.
It may be best known for buying Quibi’s library after Quibi shut down. So thanks to the Roku Channel, we can now watch fun shows like Lesley Jordan’s Squeaky Clean and incredible documentary series like Shape of Pasta for free.
The Roku Channel is where The Great American Baking Show will soon live. It announced that this week as one of its new Roku Originals.
In addition to the regular-person season, Roku has also ordered a holiday edition, but with celebrities competing for charity.
While the show will continue to be produced by Love Productions, the biggest change is that Paul Hollywood will be joined as judge by Prue Leith; together, they’ve judged the last five seasons of GBBO together.
That effectively means Sherry Yard is out of the U.S. version; she’d judged the last two seasons of the show on ABC. (The American version has had a lot of turnover, with five different hosts and four different judges in just five seasons. And season three was pulled off the air mid-season.)
There’s no word on who will host The Great American Baking Show when it returns.
But the judging change more closely aligns the show with the British version, just with American contestants, and that could really improve the American version.
It’s always been good, just not as good as The Great British Bake-Off was in its prime.
Great American Baking Show season 6 is now casting
Love Productions is currently casting for season six of The Great American Baking Show.
The application—which is due May 9, so get those applications in!—says filming will last “for approximately 4 weeks during late July through August 2022” in the UK.
That means it probably won’t debut until later this year.
Also this week, Roku also announced other new reality series, including:
- A renewal of Quibi’s Chrissy’s Court, starring Chrissy Teigen
- Honest Renovations with Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis
- Emeril Cooks and Emeril Tailgates with—guess who?!—Emeril Lagasse
- Martha Cooks, Martha Holidays, and Martha Gardens with—guess who?!—Martha Stewart,
- Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street’s Cooking School and Milk Street’s My Family Recipe
I cannot wait. LOVE this show.