Stream It or Skip It: ‘Sugar Rush’ on Netflix, A Zany Baking Competition With Zumbo

Netflix has successfully elbowed into the baking competition genre with Aussie import Zumbo’s Just Desserts and the irreverently zany Nailed It! Netflix’s Sugar Rush is the latest addition to the genre, but is it sweet enough to win you over?

SUGAR RUSH: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As a synthetic bass line thumps, a smiling host (Hunter Marsh) declares, “This is Sugar Rush! The baking competition where time is the most important ingredient.” Soon we see a quick cut of delectable deserts being iced, finished, and spun around for us to see.

The Gist: The concept behind Netflix’s Sugar Rush is fairly simple. It’s a baking competition show in which four teams compete against each other over three elimination rounds to determine a winner. The first round they must bake cupcakes, the second calls upon them to conjure a spectacular confection, and the final round is the cake round.

The twist here is that the teams are allotted three hours for the first two challenges, and if they finish under time, those extra bonus minutes are applied to the cake round. Since cakes take a huge amount of time to bake, cool, frost, and decorate, all that extra time is of the essence. However, in the rush to bank extra time for the final round, contestants might be tempted to rush their earlier bakes, and that could lead to shoddy workmanship.

Sugar Rush has the same bright candy colored production palate of Netflix’s other breakout baking hits, Zumbo’s Just Desserts and Nailed It! It also marks the return of Adriano Zumbo. He and Sprinkles cupcake queen Candace Nelson are the show’s judges.

Our Take: I have to admit, I was skeptical of Sugar Rush at first. The intro is a little corny and I’m a bit tired of the ubiquitous baking competition show format — Nailed It! and The Great British Baking Show are the only ones I still like binging. However, by the tenth minute of the episode, I was hooked. Once I met the contestants, saw their creative concoctions, and got into the rhythm of the show, I was delighted. Sugar Rush is a frenzied shot of white chocolate-dipped dessert, and I want more.

Sugar Rush reminded me of a way more professional version of Nailed It! Whereas the Nicole Byer/Jacques Torres show delights in giving novice bakers Sisyphus-like baking tasks for laughs, Sugar Rush is pushing professional bakers to put real joy and creativity into their designs. It’s not the baking that stymies these contestants, but the pressure of being creative under the pressure of a time constraint.

Like Nailed It!, Sugar Rush is funny. I found myself laughing aloud a few times, not over any massive fails, but the sweet chemistry and all-too-honest friction between teammates in the confessionals. Plus, the desserts here look delectable. All in all, I’m psyched to go home and binge the rest of the eight episode-long season over the weekend.

Sex and Skin: The only hint of randiness comes when uber-girly teammates Bonnie and Breanna realize that a fondant decoration is looking a little too much like…well, they wouldn’t even say it out loud. IT’S NOT THAT KIND OF PARTY, OKAY?

Parting Shot: The final shot of the episode is your typical reality fare. The winners are triumphant and the losers are trying to hold their head up high.

Sleeper Star: I would be happy if one eliminated contestant, Mo, the Queen of Confessionals, and her almost dazed husband Marvin, came back every week. She was fun, and very willing to call out Marvin when he tactfully tried to critique her process.

Most Pilot-y Line: The most gloriously cringe-worthy line came from Mo herself, hocking her business “Eat Mo Cakes” thusly: “I always tell customers eat no cake if it ain’t Mo Cake.” Marvin helped her with the end of that line. (Reader, I love them.)

Our Call: Stream It! Sugar Rush is going to be your next favorite reality binge.

Stream Sugar Rush on Netflix