Nailed It! - General Discussion

[Guest]

It's baaaaaack! All S2 episodes are on Netflix now.

[JessDVD]

We watched the first four last night. Highlights:

Ron Ben-Israel!!!! Waylynn Lucas! Experts in addition to Jacques. I thought that was interesting, since the other two had relative no-names (at least as far as pastry is concerned) for the guest judge. It's not like this is high art but it would be nice to have two choices for the 3-minute Staples easy button.

This season seems to have embraced the camp even more than the last season, like it's a TV show about filming a TV show almost. All the appearances of the producer guy whose name is not coming forth in my short-term memory. I don't recall last season having as many demos at the judges' table either. Nicole: "Which one of you will be cashing a check for slightly less than ten thousand dollars because of taxes..."

Variety of tasks made it more interesting. Pancakes, the stadium snack bar, the gingerbread houses. The winner's gingerbread house looked really nice.

Unicorn cakes were a hot mess. I couldn't believe that BOTH of the women had such non-baked (not even under-, just non-) cakes. Like I get that baking is not everyone's thing and you don't know what you don't know, but how do you NOT know to do the toothpick test?

I think what I really like about this show is that nobody is taking anything all that seriously and so it's all just a lot more fun (from my perspective, anyway). Sometimes the traditional cake shows or really any competitive reality show centered around food, especially the guest judges, can be all, this is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Nailed It! has been nominated for a TCA award!

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN REALITY

[stan4]

I like this show because this is me every time I try to bake something.  It tastes fine (usually great) but looks like some giant hot mess.

 

It's weird.  I can cook very well and I was a scientist/researcher who worked in a lab (I get precise measurements, timing, etc).

[stan4]

This episode I did that thing where you laugh so much you cry and then you hurt yourself because your abdomen cramps and you can't breathe. 

 

Good stuff.

[starri]

On 6/30/2018 at 12:15 PM, JessDVD said:

Unicorn cakes were a hot mess. I couldn't believe that BOTH of the women had such non-baked (not even under-, just non-) cakes. Like I get that baking is not everyone's thing and you don't know what you don't know, but how do you NOT know to do the toothpick test?

The entire episode was hilarious.  First from the guy mixing up salt and sugar, and then turning around and winning by being the only one who managed to actually make a cake.

[hurrrz]

I wonder if they went by instructions on the unicorn cakes and just stuck to (very low balled) time estimates on the recipe. I also wonder if they have cooling time that's not counted, because frosted case need that, 45-60 minutes to cool? 

 

I'd love to be a contestant on this show though. It looks like a lot of fun. 

[starri]

Goodness gracious, Jacques lost a lot of weight between filming the regular season and the Queer Eye minisode.

[Noirprncess]

Yes, the unicorn cakes were a hot mess.  Lol.  I actually was scared for the judges since they had to taste those underbaked cakes.

The salt/sugar mix up was... Yikes!

[spankydoll]

Just found this show on Netflix and LOVING it! When I saw the hideous Pinterest cake pops I was in. All of the judges are good sports. I wish that they would have Mary from British Baking Challenge on as a guest judge as I would pay good money to see her navigate these messes.

The woman in heels looks like a moron. Women on MasterChef and Food Network Star make the same mistake and is damages their credibility because it looks like they have poor judgement. You're not on The Bachelor - just wear your tennies!

[HunterHunted]

On 6/30/2018 at 11:15 AM, JessDVD said:

All the appearances of the producer guy whose name is not coming forth in my short-term memory.

Wes. Weston Bahr

[spankydoll]

Not understanding the PieCakeIn at all.

[Unusual Suspect]

I found the zoo episode hard to watch. Carving those watermelons with such horrible knife skills? Stressed me right out.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Nicole Byer & Jacques Torres discuss S2 of Nailed It!

[stan4]

I think the biggest issue is not their incompetence but the very short time they're given to do this.  If the baking time is 20 minutes, 45 minutes to find supplies, mix, bake, decorate, etc, is a bit ambitious.

[zobot81]

this show is amazing and i don't even care.

i love it i love it i love it so much.

ok!  goo-bayyyeee!!!

[Rammchick]

Watching the unicorn cake episode, all I could think of was the lyrics from "MacArthur Park":  "Someone left the cake out in the rain."

Hilarious show.

[BetterButter]

Nailed It! Is Coming Back This Holiday Season

[JustCurious]

What happened to Wes in the last 2 episodes of season 2? He wasn't at the end to give out the trophy for the snake cake episode and he wasn't there for the queer eye special. Oh please don't tell me he quit?

[dmmetler]

I’ve tried to make a snake cake. I’m kind of surprised no one used a bundt pan or a springform pan with an insert. A coiled cobra or a snake that isn’t periscoping is pretty easy, and if you did that for the base, and worked on the head while the cake was baking, you could at least get a decent looking snake on the plate, even if not exactly like the original. Oh, and rolled fondant or fruit roll ups make a decent cobra hood :)

[PrePreBabylonia]

I have only caught the first one - Evan (Mr. Chuckles!) was a standout. Hilarious. Much better than I expected. The show I mean, not Evan! Really enjoyed all of the contestants.

[starri]

[BetterButter]

[ombelico]

On 7/12/2018 at 9:13 AM, stan4 said:

I think the biggest issue is not their incompetence but the very short time they're given to do this.  If the baking time is 20 minutes, 45 minutes to find supplies, mix, bake, decorate, etc, is a bit ambitious.

Agree - I find the show funny and enjoyable, but there's a part of me that is continually annoyed that they are given such a short amount of time to do the projects. It's just unrealistic to expect people to decorate an elaborate, multi-tier cake in an hour and a half, which also includes the time to bake and cool the cakes, let alone decorate them.

[ombelico]

On 3/12/2018 at 1:16 PM, ruffy666 said:

I mean, I get that this is mostly a comedy show, but 2 hours is pretty ridic.  I'd like to see Jacques make the entire cake, start to finish, in 2 hours.  All the comments about not giving cakes enough time to cool down kind of bug me because it seems so unrealistic given the time constraint!

I'd like to know if the producers tell the contestants about the blast chiller beforehand. It's not something that any home cook would have in their kitchen, and therefore I think it's not really fair to expect these contestants to know that they are supposed to put their cakes in there after baking in order to cool off. Most of them probably know that you are supposed to let a cake cool before frosting it, but if you've only got such a limited amount of time, you're going to feel pressed to start frosting ASAP, especially if you don't know that you're supposed to take advantage of the chiller to cool the cakes down. I get that the producers are going for the maximum comedy value, and there have definitely been some hilarious moments, but I also don't like the idea of setting up the contestants to fail.

[ombelico]

On 3/22/2018 at 2:45 PM, biakbiak said:

I thought the emoji cakes was probably the easiest first challenge.

Same here, by far the easiest. To stay with the Japanese theme, I would have made the first challenge to make 1-2 of the sushi rolls, and have something else (say, a bowl of ramen made out of cake) for the second.

[ajsnaves]

Surprised nobody else has started this yet.  I am about half way through the season, and loving it as much as the earlier eps.  My one issue is that it seems like they are giving them shorter completion times this season.  90 minutes is not a long time to make a ski mountain or robot cake.  I am shocked that it seems people don’t use the panics right away and ask HOW to do this?

Question: What are they mixing with the cake to make cake pops? Butter Cream or Butter Cream Froating? (Is there a difference?)

I would love it is Sylvia Weinstock were a permanent judge.  I don’t know if they have enough stuff to tide her over though.

[starri]

I’m just glad they accepted she was going to steal and leaned into it. 

The one I have to take points off for is the crafting episode. That was incredibly boring. 

[JessDVD]

I watched these! The crafting one was really boring. I appreciated that they did all areas of the holiday season, from Jesus Christmas to winter to Hanukkah and so on. Someone should tell Nicole she already got the job, she doesn't have to keep auditioning for it. Jacques Torres lost some weight and about 20 years in the process. I almost didn't recognize him.

As far as I know, not being a cake artist myself, but having watched various cake shows for the last 10 years, the words buttercream and buttercream frosting are interchangeable and refer to a specific type of frosting, made with butter. As opposed to whipped cream/whipped topping, or fondant, or etc. I've never made a cake pop but I'm pretty sure you mix crumbled cake and buttercream until it's mold-able into ball shapes.

The short time bugs me too. I know that nobody is expecting them to actually come up with a decent product and the prize is more awarded for "least awful" than "best", plus the contestants are less than amateur and probably don't have the stamina for a standard cake show time period of several hours, but it'll be 45 minutes for something that surely took Jacques over 2 hours, maybe we could meet in the middle???

[beeblebrox]

The crying Marine Corps veteran gave me major Chopped vibes and total cringe. 

[ChefLadyperson]

I enjoyed this season. Agree that time given is setting the bakers up for failure. That said, I think a lot of the fun is seeing how they pivot to try to get something under the dome. 

One HUGE quibble, playing off JessDVD's comment about the interchangability of buttercream/frosting etc.: On the NYE ep with Jason Mantzoukas and his egg allergy, the bakers are told to use "royal icing." A standard ingredient in royal icing is egg white or meringue powder (made with egg white). I was terrified that Jason would have an allergic reaction. 

[ombelico]

19 minutes ago, ChefLadyperson said:

I enjoyed this season. Agree that time given is setting the bakers up for failure. That said, I think a lot of the fun is seeing how they pivot to try to get something under the dome. 

One HUGE quibble, playing off JessDVD's comment about the interchangability of buttercream/frosting etc.: On the NYE ep with Jason Mantzoukas and his egg allergy, the bakers are told to use "royal icing." A standard ingredient in royal icing is egg white or meringue powder (made with egg white). I was terrified that Jason would have an allergic reaction. 

Maybe he's only allergic to egg yolks? Even so, if that's the case I'd be worried given the skill set of some of the contestants that there would still be an errant bit of yolk in the egg whites. It doesn't seem like it should have been that hard to give them a recipe for vegan cake frosting, though.

My favorite tip: "It's best to use a spoon instead of a stunt Jesus to cover cake pops in chocolate."

[starri]

14 minutes ago, ombelico said:

My favorite tip: "It's best to use a spoon instead of a stunt Jesus to cover cake pops in chocolate."

That was truly the best moment of the entire season.

[Unusual Suspect]

"How is this dry and wet and the same time?" Lol, I was dying. I'd missed Ron Funches.

[starri]

Also, goodness gracious, Wes with the haircut.

[biakbiak]

22 hours ago, ChefLadyperson said:

was terrified that Jason would have an allergic reaction. 

Maybe it really was an elaborate way to murder him as he suggested! My friend and I real life ship Jason and Nicole because she has been great in his podcast and they were lovely here.

[Unusual Suspect]

20 hours ago, starri said:

Also, goodness gracious, Wes with the haircut.

Not gonna lie, post haircut Wes ... *fans self*.

The DIY episode is not doing it for me. No Wes, no Jacques being adorable, time restrictions seem even more arbitrary, just not my thing.

[starri]

15 minutes ago, Unusual Suspect said:

The DIY episode is not doing it for me. No Wes, no Jacques being adorable, time restrictions seem even more arbitrary, just not my thing.

Also, the contestants were kind of annoying.  Like, there's usually one in all the episodes that is, but I don't think I liked a single of those guys.

[JTM]

On 12/22/2018 at 1:44 PM, ChefLadyperson said:

On the NYE ep with Jason Mantzoukas and his egg allergy, the bakers are told to use "royal icing." A standard ingredient in royal icing is egg white or meringue powder (made with egg white). I was terrified that Jason would have an allergic reaction. 

They made the eggless version, which uses corn syrup instead of egg.

[Darian]

I had watched an episode or two back when it first came out and it didn't catch my attention. Figured I'd go back and watch, but never did. Until the holiday shows came out and I am binging those. So much fun, and I love Nicole. 

[ruffy666]

On 12/22/2018 at 2:43 PM, Unusual Suspect said:

"How is this dry and wet and the same time?" Lol, I was dying. I'd missed Ron Funches.

Oh man, Jacques saying "don't swallow!" in the background had me rolling.  He said it like an actual warning and not a joke which made it 10x funnier to me.

[JessDVD]

My phone told me yesterday that Nailed It Mexico is now available. It's dubbed in English but we're watching it in Spanish because we were in Costa Rica last month and some of my college Spanish emerged by the end of the week. With English subtitles so my husband has a clue what's going on.

My favorite part so far was the lady who didn't know how to use a can opener.

No Nicole but the camp is still there.

[starri]

Season 3 on May 17th.

[starri]

Rice Krispie Treats were a very popular desperation move this season.

[aradia22]

I love Nicole Byer from Girl Code and I like her podcast (though I don't listen to it too often because it can make me sad) but I didn't think I would like this show. I like extreme competence on my reality competition shows. Project Runway, Top Chef, etc. I don't care if someone is the nicest. I root for the person who is the best and most technically skilled. Also, I grew up on all those Food Network cake competitions and other wedding cake baking shows before they got too extra (and the quality of bakers went downhill) so I have high standards.

But this show is hilarious. I love how much of a mess it is. I think what really works (at least right now in season 1) is that Nicole is an incredible host and the contestants aren't as thirsty and hungry for attention. The problem with so many other shows is that the contestants seem to think this is their ticket to fame. I'm sure it'll get harder to find contestants as the series continues but for now I'm enjoying it. 

I'm howling with laughter at this show. Cackling.

[aradia22]

So I'm pretty sure they aren't airing episodes in the order they were filmed. At least for season 1. Because "Big in Japan" feels like something they filmed earlier before they had established a rhythm. It's not just that one of the contestants (Dana) is really extra. Everything just feels a little more awkward. Like, they didn't realize it was better to focus on Nicole. And it feels weirdly formal instead of fun and loose. The judges don't seem to get each other's jokes or be having much fun with each other.

But then the bit was Wes seems to show that this at least wasn't filmed first so maybe it was having one weird contestant and one awkward judge that threw everything off.

[aradia22]

Episode: In Your Face!

I would not have guessed that Kyle was straight. Also, did they run out of celebrity baking/chef judges already? You can't run out of guests before Bronwen Weber shows up.

Also, I'm surprised at how political it got but then it's Netflix so maybe they care less about potentially alienating people. 

[aradia22]

Random but Ron Ben-Israel was there the day I had jury duty. He dressed a lot more casually but looked exactly the same.

[Cheezwiz]

Started watching Season 3. Sometimes Nicole is a bit much, but I'm always charmed by Jacques Torres, and the guest hosts they bring on (needs MORE Sylvia Weinstock! But maybe they're afraid she'll walk off with too much stuff). This show is nice stress reliever because it's so light-hearted and everyone is in on the joke. Obviously even the most experienced bakers couldn't pull these designs off with the ridiculous time constraints!

I love that the contestants improvise and push through even the worst disasters so that they have something to show during the reveal. And even if their designs fail, they still have a shot at winning if the end product tastes good. The attempts at creating figurines out of modeling chococolate make me laugh the hardest - especially if heads or limbs fall off during reveals. 

Just watched Episode 3 where they had to fashion T-Rex dinosaur heads. I was rolling on the floor - the dinos they created were sooo adorably mangled!

[Fukui San]

So I just found out that there's a Mexican version of Nailed It! on Netflix. It's dubbed into English, and it's a pretty good clone of the US version. The same beats. Only real difference is that I don't think their "Wes" is a character. The host is a male and the expert is a female. Pretty fun if you're craving more Nailed It!

Watching the 2nd episode now. The guest judge is a Luchadore named Psycho Clown, and they're making Lucha Libre cake pops.