Roku Renews ‘Great American Baking Show’ and Sets 2 New Specials, Orders Holiday Edition of ‘Honest Renovations’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Roku is expanding its original food and home content through big investments into its “The Great American Baking Show” and “Honest Renovations” franchises, with an early Season 3 renewal for “Baking Show” and new seasonal specials ordered for both series.

Hosted by Casey Wilson (who took over for Ellie Kemper after the first season) and Zach Cherry in the tent made famous in “The Great British Bake-Off,” “The Great American Baking Show” features iconic judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith.

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Here are the upcoming specials set for “Baking Show,” including two new editions and the return of “Celebrity Holiday Special”:

• “The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday Special” will return for its third iteration with the deliciously entertaining holiday treat of celebrities in competition for charity.

• “The Great American Baking Show: Big Game Special” will invite viewers to join fan-favorite athletes and celebrity football fans in the iconic tent, as they prepare special bakes for America’s biggest sporting event of the year.

• “The Great American Baking Show: Sweet Summer Special” will feature celebrities and comedians competing to make the best sweets and treats of summer.

“Honest Renovations” features Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis going into the “homes of deserving families to pull them out of their ruts and purify their spaces,” per Roku. “Through an honest look at the lives of these parents and young families, Jessica and Lizzy bring life-changing renovations that not only transform the home, but the families as well.”

In the new holiday special, “Honest Renovations: A Holiday Makeover,” Alba and Mathis will meet the Pauls, a family of 10, and help transform their home just in time for their annual holiday party.

The second seasons of both “Great American Baking Show” and “Honest Renovations” are set to debut on The Roku Channel later this year. Per Roku, the first seasons of both series opened as the top on-demand titles on The Roku Channel during their respective opening weekends.

Overseen by Olivia LaRoche, head of alternative originals for Roku, “Great American Baking Show” and “Honest Renovations” are staples in Roku’s plan to build more original lifestyle content on the Roku Channel that appeal to the audience already watching the home and food titles Roku licenses.

“It’s discoverability through curation and attracting fans of a particular genre of programming to a unique destination,” David Eilenberg, head of content across all of Roku Media, tells Variety. “It just makes any individual show that much more discoverable.”

Eilenberg says the choice to invest in seasonal specials of “Great American Baking Show” and “Honest Renovations,” rather than just new seasons of the respective main series, stems from Roku’s desire to feed viewers that comfort food content year-round and keep them streaming on the service more consistently.

“I think once people fall in love with a franchise, they want to be in dialogue with it, they want it to feel current and they want to have touch points, not just once a year or once every 18 months, but throughout the year,” Eilenberg said. “‘Great American Baking Show’ and ‘Honest Renovations,’ those lend themselves to specials as well as full series and so we’re leaning into that programming model with both franchises.”

“Great American Baking Show” hails from Love Productions with Richard McKerrow, Letty Kavanagh, Kieran Smith, Jeremy Finn and Adam Cooper serving as executive producers.

“What could be sweeter than more of ‘The Great American Baking Show’? We can’t wait to return to the iconic tent to meet the next batch of bakers and to put your favorite celebrities and athletes to the test,” Cherry and Wilson said. “Hosting ‘The Great American Baking Show’ has already been so much fun—we can’t wait to show viewers what we’re baking up for season three and these brand-new specials only on The Roku Channel.”

“Honest Renovations” and the upcoming “Holiday Makeover” special are executive produced by Alba, Mathis, Dunia McNeily, Oly Obst, Lucilla D’Agostino, Jordana Starr, Michael Matsumoto and Andrea Richter. The franchise is produced by 3 Arts Entertainment, MGM, Summit House Entertainment and Rahmath Productions.

“Over the past two seasons, we have had the honor of meeting so many special families who welcomed us into their homes and trusted us to transform their spaces,” Alba and Mathis said.” “The holidays are our favorite time of year, when lasting memories are made amongst family and friends, so we couldn’t be more thrilled to spread some of that cheer in our upcoming special, ‘Honest Renovations: A Holiday Makeover.’”

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