https://www.netflix.com/search?q=zumbo&jbv=80204927
For my final food review, I will be reviewing the show Zumbo’s Just Desserts, on Netflix. The show takes place in Australia, where pastry chefs are chosen to compete on the show. In the show, there would be two types of challenges. The first type of challenge was called Sweet Sensation, in which the contestants were given a task in which they had the freedom to make their own dessert based on the theme of the task. They would be given 3 hours to complete this challenge. An example of one of the tasks was that the contestants had to create a unique children’s birthday cake.
The show is hosted by Pastry Chef Adriano Zumbo, his co-host Rachel Khoo, and Gigi Falanga as an assistant. After each round, the competitors brought their desserts to the judging table and they were judged by their dessert’s presentation and taste. The season has 10 episodes and each episode had a different task to complete and different judges to judge. Each judge would have scored the contestants’ desserts out of ten. Going back to the children’s cake task for that specific episode, the judges were kids. Each kid tried a slice of the contestant’s cake and they gave them a rating.
After the points are tallied up, the two contestants with the lowest rating score would face off in the Zumbo Test. This was the second challenge of the show and for this challenge they would have to replicate Pastry Chef’s Zumbo’s complicated pastry. The contestant only had the looks of the pastry and its description to determine the steps they would take to make it. The person who would rate low in this challenge would lose this test. This would result in the low rated contestant leaving the contest. In the last episode, there were 2 contestants left and both had to go through the Sweet sensation round and the Zumbo test to be the winner. The winner of the show got $10,000.
I binge-watched the show in one day and by the end of the season, I was craving sweets. Each episode was 45 minutes long and jam-packed with intensity and color. Whenever the contestants desert would have a mishap, I would start to fidget around. I was feeling their stress through my TV. Whenever they would show their desserts to the judges, I would judge them, too and at times I would guess who I thought would be eliminated by the end of the episode. Sometimes I was right. Personally, I would not do a baking competition because seeing the contestant’s stress made me stress more. However, I will continue watching baking competition shows and also I recommend you watch this show.
Hey Melanie, I like the way you described the premise of the show. Zumbo’s Just Desserts sounds interesting and fun. I can relate to the stress you can experience when watching a show that revolves around competition. That’s usually a sign that it is a good show.
Hi Melanie, I love watching singing, lego, baking, and cooking shows with my family because they are so suspenseful and exciting. This baking completion show sound very interesting especially from the fact that the judges are kids. This is something completely new and sounds really fun.
Hey Melanie, I have been looking for another show to binge. I really enjoy watching cooking videos especially when its about competitions. I used to watch hells kitchen which is similar except there is more screaming. I will definitely look more into this show.
Melanie, I like baking competitions too – although they can be very stressful – especially when they are up against the clock or when the contestants have disasters. I can’t remember the name of the cake competition I used to watch, but what stuck with me most was how mean the judges could be. I hated that!