We're Available
Well, you all had A LOT of questions about our participation in Crime Scene Kitchen…so let’s get to it:
So wait…this is a competition show? Yes - we competed against other teams for a grand prize. In short, we visited a “crime scene” where something had been baked. We needed to figure out what had been baked…and then go bake it within a time limit.
Sounds stressful. Was it? YES. I say it in the show a number of times, but please, please, please know IT WAS SO MUCH HARDER THAN IT APPEARS ON TELEVISION. Time moves exceptionally fast and the game is really difficult.
Did you have fun? Absolutely. We were 100% ourselves and as you might guess, we had many shenanigans in the kitchen. There are more than a few times where we laugh so hard that we actually cry.
How did the other teams handle it? We don’t know. The set is designed so that we couldn’t see anyone else while we were baking. I’m low-key worried that when it airs, everyone else is completely zen and confident and Jeanne and I are a hot mess. I guess we will all find out together.
Where did you go to do this? We flew from Columbia to Dallas to Burbank. We stayed in Glendale and it is BEAUTIFUL there. Neither of us had ever been to the Los Angeles area, so we didn’t know what to expect. On non-filming days, we got a one hour walk each day and we always walked through this charming outdoor shopping area called The Americana.
What was most different from home? Well, the weather was consistently perfect. And the area we stayed in was perfectly walkable…plus you could basically order anything your heart might desire online and it would arrive within the hour. Oh, and all the iced coffee from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf came with pebble ice and I still think about it daily.
How was the food? The food on set was dubious at best, so we ate a lot of snacks on those days. We fell in love with a salad place and ordered salad almost every night in the hotel. This drove my family crazy because it was an uninspired choice in such a large city, but I don’t care - the salads were AMAZING. Plus they took forever to eat and if we were quarantined all day in the hotel, eating a salad for a long time was the highlight of our night.
Were you COVID tested…why did they quarantine? We were COVID tested every three days, even if vaccinated. We filmed two days in a row and then were in the hotel for three days. All the common areas in the hotel were off limits, as was mingling with other contestants. From what I understand, this was partly the rules of television and partly the precautions of COVID exposure risk.
What was the sound stage like? The set for the show is absolutely beautiful - we can’t wait for you to see the luxury we bake in. Our other highlight experience was having our own trailer, plus hair and makeup to help us look refreshed on the long days.
What surprised you the most about making a television show? Honestly, it takes about two sixteen hour days of filming to make ONE hour of television. And it takes a village of people. And by village, I mean hundreds and hundreds of behind-the-scenes people. Also, every single person we worked with was such a delight…from the people who drove us in from the hotel every day to our production assistants (Will and Jordan) to the director and judges. I see fully why people like to work in television. Also, I would like to say to the universe…there should be more television shows about pies. So many cake shows, but where are the heck are the pie shows? We are available for appearances. Ahem.
