Why “Nailed It” is a fresh take on baking competitions

If you’re not watching “Nailed It!” on Netflix, then you’re missing out. The show is a completely new take on the classic baking competition show.

The show stars different amateur bakers every episode. On each episode, the novice bakers are given difficult baking tasks that even seasoned professionals would sweat doing.

“Unlike most competitive baking shows, which traffic in professional or semiprofessional bakers, ‘Nailed It!’ is a gorgeous, glorious cast of bad home bakers of every stripe and color. All are aspirational; the best could generously be described as ‘amateur’ or perhaps ‘practiced.’ It’s the show born of the Pinterest fail,” wrote Bonnie Tsui about the show.

Throughout the episodes, I couldn’t stop laughing, something that I don’t exactly find myself doing during the likes of Cupcake Wars or any other Food Network competitions.

In one episode, the bakers are challenged to recreate a cake of President Donald Trump. What results is really the stuff of nightmares. I mean, honestly the bloodshot eyes really make it.

The final thing that I found to be really special about the show is the moral behind it. You wouldn’t expect such a fun show to have such a deep message, but this one does. At its core, Nailed It! is really about how it’s okay to make mistakes.

Contestants are challenged to recreate a princess-tower cake in the second episode of the series. One contestant presents a cake that shocks the judges. Picture this: a collapsed tower of underbaked cake and a terrifying princess with giant, glaring white eyes.

“I don’t mean to laugh, but your princess is terrifying,” Byer said to the contestant.

The mistakes aren’t limited to the contestants, though. In one episode, host Nicole Byers realizes she’s been pronouncing a contestant’s name wrong. The mispronunciation goes on for the first 40 minutes of the episode. Despite the mess up, the clips weren’t edited out. Instead, they have fun with the situation. Something that could have easily been left out was turned into a funny, learning moment on the show.

Despite the mistakes, one contestant is still always awarded the $10,000 as the judges congratulate them on a job well done.

Overall, Nailed It! is not only entertaining, but surprisingly thoughtful.