Where failure is celebrated
NAILED IT: REALITY COOKING SHOW WHERE BAD BAKERS ARE MEANT TO CREATE BAD BAKES
In this format ‘bad’ contestants have been normalised as the butt of the joke.
It’s not your grandma’s baking show. In fact, it’s not really a baking show at all. Nailed It! on Netflix has become a cult phenomenon thanks to its incredible humanity – because for once you are allowed to laugh at failures without malice.
In life we are programmed to see failures not as means to growth, but rather shortcomings. And when you fall short, laughter directed at you comes with a sense of shame – because you didn’t measure up. You weren’t good enough.
Nailed It!, which started streaming last year on Netflix, provided the perfect antithesis. It’s a reality cooking show where bad bakers are meant to create bad bakes, and serve it to judges. The best of the worst is then awarded $10 000 (about R140 000).
Along the way, the show highlights their shortcomings in a way where they know they are in on the joke. In fact, contestants get to have fun with the fact that they don’t know what’s going on.
In each episode the introductory videos of contestants, many say that they want to go on the show to see if they can improve their kitchen skills. It’s a rare thing when you think about traditional reality cooking tropes.
In this format “bad” contestants have been normalised as the butt of the joke. They are there merely for comic relief as the star bakers excel in the competition to eventually win. Never is their quest to better themselves highlighted, rather their failures.
Nailed It! is in its essence an effervescent drink of positivity, thanks to host Nicole Byer and head judge Jacques Torres, who celebrates each contestant’s mistakes.
The show’s format is simple. During two challenges three contestants need to recreate two baked items that are expertly decorated.
Torres is usually the one who narrates how you’d get the perfect result when contestants do the exact opposite. When the time is up for each challenge Torres, Byer and a guest judge get to see (and taste) the result. Instead of mocking there is always something highlighted that the contestant did well (even in the case where a contestant replaced sugar with salt).
Heading into the festive season, this is the sort of programming you need. The fallacy of Christmas movies and shows where princes arrive on white horses, and dreams come true is part of the false narrative that brings us down.
Nailed It! has a clear message – don’t take everything too seriously. On top of that Byer’s incredible wit, cameos by Wes the AD and guest judges like Maya Rudolph create comedy gold that is light-hearted and nourishing for the soul. Here shortcomings get celebrated. And it’s about time.
Byer herself has admitted that the show is incredibly popular among children, and that is the greatest gift of all this festive season – teaching young people that failing is not bad. Sometimes failing helps you win.