Copyright Parade
Every year, Food Network fans kick off the holiday season with the long-running Holiday Baking Championship, cheering contestants on as they create festive treats for judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown. But what happens when the cameras stop rolling? Here’s where all of the past winners are now! Related: Food Network’s Katie Lee Biegel Shares ‘Honest’ Feelings About ‘The Kitchen’ Ending Holiday Baking Championship has gotten bigger and better every year since it premiered over a decade ago in 2014. Originally starting with eight bakers competing over six weeks and later expanding to feature 12 bakers over eight episodes, home bakers and professionals alike battle it out for $25,000 and other perks over the years, including $1000 preheat prizes and features in Food Network magazine. Bachelor and Bachelorette host Jesse Palmer stepped in to lead Holiday Baking Championship in 2017, later explaining why he was so happy to have the opportunity. “As a big-time foodie, it’s a dream job,” he told Sports Illustrated in 2018. And as a former athlete, he recognizes the similarities between the high-pressure baking competition and football. Related: Chef Guy Fieri Talks Food Network Star ‘Beef’ and ‘Offending’ a Culinary Legend “This show really felt like a sport. It is a competition,” he said. “There are winners and losers, cash prizes and a title at the end of the show. I’m the play-by-play sideline reporter and color analyst.” He also confessed that while the competitors look extra festive on camera, the show is filmed months in advance to be ready for the holiday season. “We shoot that show in New Orleans, [for] about 10 days in July,” he explained. “So it’s the dead of summer, and we’re putting on winter outfits and sweaters, filming from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.” 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 In 2024, Season 11 winner Steven Levitt admitted that the process of baking and filming meant more to him than any prize. “For me, it’s not about winning, although that’s nice,” he told Village Report. “I love the process of it. I love being there. I like the clock ticking. I like the baking. I love the cameras and the producers and all the background people. I love all of that.” Here’s what each of the former Holiday Baking Championship winners are up to after taking home the title, ahead of the Season 12 premiere on Nov. 3, 2025! Steven Levitt, Season 11 A home baker from Aurora, Ontario, Canada, named Steven Levitt took home the win for Season 11 in 2024. As a two-time finalist on The Great Canadian Baking Show, it was a thrill to finally win — a moment he didn’t expect when his last bake started going awry. “Partway through the final bake, I was convinced there was zero chance. I had so many things going wrong,” he told Village Report. That’s when he decided to let go and “just have fun.” “‘For the rest of the day, they can’t send me home, it’s the last time I’m baking here. I’m going to enjoy it,’” he recalled thinking to himself. After taking home the $25,000 prize, fans wondered if the home baker would consider going pro and opening a bakery. While he has no plans for that, he’d be happy to return to the small screen. “If they ever called me and said, ‘We’d love to have you back. What would you think about being a host?’ Well, that I would do in a heartbeat because that … for me would be the most fun.” Ashley Landerman, Season 10 In 2023, an executive bakery owner from New Braunfels, TX, named Ashley Landerman won Holiday Baking Championship’s 10th season. She was a familiar face on Food Network, having already won Christmas Cookie Challenge in 2019. Landerman is still running her bakery, 2tarts, with her sister April Ryan, and her ice cream stand, Scoop Street, with her husband. She reflected on her big win one year later in 2024, calling it “a crazy, challenging, fun, once in a lifetime ride” on Instagram. Dru Tevis, Season 9 In 2022, a professionally trained pastry chef from Delaware named Dru Tevis became the season 9 winner of Holiday Baking Championship. After learning the ropes at the French Culinary Institute in New York, he blew the judges away and took home the win. However, nobody knew he won — not even his husband, Chase Cline — until the episode aired months later. “It was hardest when I first got home,” he told Delaware Live. “It got easier as we got closer to the end. Honestly, the fact that I won made it easier to keep the secret since I knew the payoff would be good.” He reflected on the win after the finale aired in December, writing, “Dirty. Exhausted. Emotionally & Physically Spent. And STILL SMILING. We baked our butts off for 17 challenges, and I am so proud of everything the four of us managed to achieve. We all walked out of that final bake PROUD… I am so thankful to have had this entire epic journey with these 3 incredible people.” Tevis, who was the director of the pastry program for Rehoboth Beach-based SoDel Concepts before the show, now owns a bakery and pop-up called Brûlé Bakery, which he started in 2025. Adam Monette, Season 8 In 2021, a high school culinary instructor from St. Albans, VT, named Adam Monette became the winner of Season 8. “I was very emotional when (host Jesse Palmer) called my name because I realized a dream,” he told Burlington Free Press. “The realization of competing against 12 other chefs from around the country and coming out on top is overwhelming! I was and continue to be grateful for the opportunity.” Though he’s still teaching at the tech center and his life is “still very much the same,” he made some lifelong friends. “I certainly didn’t know what to expect, having never been on TV before…The overall experience was very positive…” he shared after the show. “All the competitors really got along, and we had a lot of fun… and we all keep in touch.” He also had “a dream” of opening “a small restaurant or cafe,” which came true in 2025, when he opened Cafe Monette in St. Albans. Julianna Jung, Season 7 Julianna Jung, a home baker from Champaign, Illinois, won Season 7 of the show in 2020. “I was very intimidated,” Jung told FOX Illinois of the beginning of her Food Network journey. “I don’t know what these bakers can do. I don’t know their backgrounds. I don’t know what these cameramen are trying to get a shot of.” At the time, Jung had no plans to leave her healthcare industry career behind to do baking full-time. “Honestly, I actually really enjoy my career, and I absolutely love baking as my hobby, not as my job,” she said. “I don’t know how I would feel if it was my full-time job, because that would completely change how I view baking.” Though Jung has been relatively private since then, she did appear on Tayler Onion’s Hang Time podcast in 2025 to talk about her career and baking for fun. Melissa Yanc, Season 6 Melissa Yanc, a bakery owner from Healdsburg, CA, took home the gold in 2019 during Season 6, and she’s had a lot of success since! In 2020, Yanc opened Quail and Condor, a bakery that the New York Times named one of the 22 Best Bakeries in the U.S. “When the article came out — we had no idea, for one thing. And two, it just kind of flipped everything,” Yanc told Sonoma Mag in 2025. “(Now) it’s just like, we can’t make enough.” In 2022, she grew her empire by adding another bakery and coffee bar called Troubadour Bread and Bistro to the mix. Yanc made a comeback on Food Network in 2025, when she appeared on season 5, episode 8 of Alex Vs America. Douglas Phillips, Season 5 In 2018, a baking and pastry Instructor from Ayer, MA, named Douglas Phillips became the Season 5 champion. “When they called my name, I really couldn’t believe it,” he told WTAP. “I know that the other two competitors were very, very talented… I’m still reeling from that announcement.” These days, Phillips is a culinary merchandising specialist at Lawrence Foods Inc., and he still does a lot of baking and showing off his scrumptious creations on Instagram. Jennifer Barney, Season 4 Jennifer Barney, a bakery owner from La Crosse, WI, won Holiday Baking Championship’s 4th season in 2017. Just one year earlier, she’d opened a home bakery, but her success exploded after winning the show. Barney opened a brick-and-mortar bakery and appeared on many more Food Network shows (winning three), including Pillsbury Bakers’ Plus Creative Decorating Competition, Food Network Canada’s The Big Bake, a 5 Champion Homecoming Special Edition, and Holiday Wars. “In terms of my growth and the growth of the business, they were huge,” she told The Business News in 2025. “During the first competition, we were on the front page of the local newspaper every day, and people came out of the woodwork wanting to help me with my business – it was beautiful.” Jason Smith, Season 3 Jason Smith, a cafeteria manager from Grayson, KY, won Season 3 of the show in 2016. “It was so amazing to showcase my cake of that magnitude of size. It was a show-stopping piece,” he told Herald Dispatch about his winning cake in 2016. “When I won, it was a feeling I had never felt before in my life… My legs went weak,” he added. “The last thing that crossed my mind was, ‘Don’t pass out!’” The former home baker has become a huge success since. Not only has he won Food Network Star and competed on FreeVee’s The GOAT, but he’s also begun judging several Food Network shows, including Best Baker in America, Christmas Cookie Challenge, and Holiday Wars. Maeve Schulz, Season 2 In 2015, Maeve Schulz won Season 2 of Holiday Baking Championship. The San Diego, CA bakery owner told the Movie Maven Speaks blog that competing on the show made her “a stronger chef and further inspired me to do better, try harder and reach for more.” Related: Food Network’s Chef Maeve Dishes on Her Go-To Dessert and Why You Should Eat for Your Emotions “I’m so honored that I got to meet the people that I did,” she added. “If it wasn’t for the show, I would have never met these amazing people.” These days, Schulz is still working hard as the Executive Chef of Sugar & Scribe Bakery in San Diego. Erin Campbell, Season 1 A baker and cake shop manager from Palmdale, CA, named Erin Campbell was the very first winner of Holiday Baking Championship during Season 1 in 2014.
