Season 13 of Holiday Baking Championship premiered on Food Network on Monday, November 2, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The new season features a change to the judging panel, with Molly Yeh joining Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown, while Nancy Fuller is not returning to the panel this year.
The competition is set in a North Pole setting dubbed Santa Village. Host Jesse Palmer leads twelve bakers through various challenges for a chance to win a $25,000 prize. Each weekly winner also receives a $1,000 Ghirardelli prize package. The season begins with the bakers split into two teams, the Elf Squad and the Reindeer Crew, though these teams dissolve after episode two, leaving the bakers to compete individually for the remainder of the season.
The first four episodes include challenges involving employee profile desserts, stained-glass cakes, peppermint desserts, red velvet desserts, snow globe trifles, and holiday desserts built on chocolate chip cookies. The schedule for upcoming episodes includes Monday, November 9, Monday, November 16, Monday, November 23, and Monday, November 30.
The twelve participating bakers include Andy de la Cruz of West Covina, California; Audri Fleming of Dallas, Texas; Christina Schumacher of Shelton, Connecticut; Curtis Lamar Scott of Atlanta, Georgia; Dyana OBrien of Sacramento, California; Fin Belson of New York City; Hailey Lemberger of Washington, D.C.; Isabell Manibusan of Los Angeles, California; Jean Andrew of Logan, Utah; Jeremy JerBear Intille of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Jessie Lopez of Houston, Texas; and Montanna Brumfield of Palm Coast, Florida.
Food Network has not announced the total number of episodes in the season or when the finale will air. While the show airs on Food Network, the network has not specified where Season 13 will be available for streaming.
