With a new life and fresh ideas, Sandra Lee makes a TV comeback with a Netflix food competition show
Cookbook author and TV personality Sandra Lee is a co-host and judge on a new Netflix competition series called “Blue Ribbon Baking Championship" out Friday
Corn dogs, funnel cakes and fried Oreos may come to mind when you think of state fair food, but fairgrounds are also the place where bakers test out their creations by entering competitions.
The sense of community and creativity found at state and county fairs is especially meaningful to Sandra Lee, a cookbook author and TV personality known for the Food Network shows “Semi-Homemade Cooking" and “Sandra's Money Saving Meals." Lee won a blue ribbon at the Los Angeles County Fair in 1992 for display and design. (Her TV shows also featured segments with tablescape and arts and craft ideas inspired by each meal, so it tracks.) Next, she's taking state fairs to a global streaming audience with “Blue Ribbon Baking Championship," out Friday on Netflix.
On the show, 10 talented pastry chefs compete in bake offs for a blue ribbon prize and a shot at $100,000. Lee co-hosts with “American Pie” actor Jason Biggs, who she says is a talented baker: “He’s got a banana bread recipe that is unbelievable." She's also a judge alongside former White House pastry chef, Bill Yosses, and award-winning baker, Bryan Ford.
The venture is a part of Lee's new chapter both professionally and personally. She battled breast cancer in 2015 and ended a 14-year relationship with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019. Lee's beloved uncle Bill was battling cancer himself at that time and she moved from New York to California during COVID-19 to help him.
“I really cleaned house of my life over the last decade, which was extremely painful and very hard to do," said Lee over Zoom from her Malibu
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