Asheville baker competes on Food Network “Holiday Baking Championship”

An Asheville resident is in the ultimate battle of sugar and spice and everything nice.

Gingerbreader Linda Carney will compete on Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown.” The episode, titled “Best in Show,” will air at 9 p.m. Nov. 15 on Food Network and Discovery+.

Host Jesse Palmer and judges Nacho Aguirre, Kardea Brown and Breegan Jane will witness three teams of gingerbread artists and baking assistants attempt to create an edible masterpiece reflecting the theme of holiday memories. The winning team will win $10,000 worth of festive prizes.

Gingerbreader, Linda and Baker, Cheryl work in the beginning stages of shaping up their Gingerbread House, as seen on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship Gingerbread Showdown, Season 1.

After Food Network invited Carney to compete, she called on her longtime friend and fellow gingerbread artist, Cheryl Filion of Medina, Ohio, to be her baking assistant. The pair traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, to film the episode earlier this year.

Carney’s no stranger to television or baking competitions. In 2017, she was followed by a film crew for another Food Network special called “Gingerbread Giants.” Yet, competing on “Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown” was a new level of pressure as the team had to create and bake in front of television cameras.