Saturday Night Live veteran Cheri Oteri traded her comedy stage for a very different challenge – and a hot oven – on Roku’s *Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday*.
“The most chaotic parts were definitely within our stations,” Oteri, 63, exclusively told *Us Weekly* on Tuesday. “Everybody was working independently, and the first day, our first competition, we were making three completely different things.”
Oteri found herself competing against Baron Davis, Oliver Hudson, and Janelle James on the latest episode, currently streaming on Hulu. As tradition dictates, each celebrity contestant faced the task of creating three distinct baked goods before a winner was crowned.
The signature round proved particularly demanding due to the three-part challenge. “Most of the time, it’s not just one thing, except for those technical challenges,” Oteri explained. “We had one where we were making pistachio rings to create a Christmas tree, and the judge, Prue Leith, wasn’t giving us any time guidance – just ‘till golden brown.’”
Despite struggling to achieve that perfectly golden brown with the dark pistachio flour, Oteri finished second-to-last in the technical challenge as judges Leith, 85, and Paul Hollywood grappled with cutting into the cookie layers.
“I messed mine up, but you have to cook all your circles separately, and they all need to be a specific length and measured,” she recalled. “I sat outside my oven, staring intently, waiting for them to cook. You don’t realize how difficult it is to get golden brown with a darker flour.”
Despite her initial nervousness – admitting she “thought I was in over my head” on her first day – Oteri gained a newfound appreciation for baking. “I was really surprised how difficult it was,” she stated. “I never used electric measuring tools to weigh things, and you have to account for the bowl you’re measuring into, which is a lot of math!”
The competition also allowed her to forge friendships with her fellow contestants, Baron Davis, Oliver Hudson, and Janelle James. “They were awesome, and we laughed and we really bonded,” Oteri said of their downtime. “We went back to our hotel at night and we all sat around and it was a lot of fun.”
*Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday* is currently streaming on Roku.