Wall of Bakers is a Sweet New TV Offering

A spinoff of the Food Network hit Wall of Chefs forces amateur bakers to compete for the approval of celebrity foodies

When Noah Cappe, host of The Bachelor Canada, Carnival Eats and Wall of Chefs, was a child, his father competed on a game show. “It was so exciting for our family,” the Toronto-born actor and emcee tells TV Week. “I remember we all watched it and, to this day, we still talk about it. We remember the questions that he got wrong and the prizes that he won.” It’s a memory Cappe makes a point to share with each contestant of his new show Wall of Bakers, hoping it’ll help them appreciate the experience. “I tell them, ‘This is special. Be present and be conscious of that.’” Cappe himself needs no convincing that every episode is inimitable—even if the format is familiar. “You could make the same dish 10 times and have 10 different fumbles or jumbles,” he says with a laugh. “I think that you could watch home cooks drive their food trains into walls until the end of time.”

Here, we talk to Cappe about what to expect from his latest kitchen battle…

TV Week: You’re launching Wall of Bakers while we are still in a pandemic. Was it significantly different behind the scenes because of COVID?
Noah Cappe: No, you know what? A shout-out to all the people that made shooting in a pandemic work. All the effort, the steps and precautions, and everything that is put into place provided a safe, awesome shoot. And to be honest with you, once we got out on the floor and the camera started rolling, it was business as usual. I think everybody was excited and ready to dive back in.

How do you think the past few years affected this competition?
In a weird way, it provided a lot of emotional moments that maybe wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I think people had a whole new perspective on food and socializing and how moments in life are often shared around a table. And getting all these culinary giants back into a space and them having the opportunity to talk about food and the importance of family recipes, it provided a lot of emotional moments that we weren’t expecting. It’s been a tough year, but it was so nice to be back on set.

Why is now the right time for Wall of Bakers?
Baking is one of those things that, even if you didn’t do it, there is a warm feeling that people gravitate to. Baking shows are successful because there is that warm familiarity. But I think during the two years that we were wrapped up inside of our houses, baking became a part of way more people’s lives. I mean, everybody made a chocolate chip banana bread, or whatever it was, at the beginning of COVID. Even in our house, we baked more than we’ve ever baked before. I think people have found a new passion, so the timing for the show couldn’t be any better.

What is exciting, to you, about this particular cooking show?
Anybody who thinks that baking is easier than cooking, or that baking isn’t as complicated, or that there aren’t as many directions to go, probably hasn’t been in a kitchen. Every day was learning so much about baking, so many things that I didn’t know. I had no idea that there were dozens and dozens of flours. It is an entire world of technique, tradition and talent. And you get chocolate at the end, or something soaked in butterscotch. It’s not a bad thing.

You make the job look so easy. We assume it’s not. What did you learn from hosting Wall of Chefs that you’re taking into this project?
I loved being on the show because I feel like I’m the perfect balance between the home cooks and the chefs. I am a home cook at heart. I didn’t grow up with fancy culinary training. I grew up with 10 people around the table every night. Food was a huge part of my life growing up. And I’ve always been so thankful that the Food Network has embraced me as part of their family because I’m not a cook, I’m an eater. My skillset, I think, lays in being able to tell somebody at home, in a way that they can understand, what I’m tasting and what’s happening. I’m getting to ask questions that I know people at home want me to ask.

What’s the biggest challenge for you with this specific format?
Oh, it’s the wall. It’s like I’m a camp counsellor and I’m by myself and the parents snuck in junk food on visitor’s day and the kids are jacked up on sugar and I have to try to reel them in and get them to swim. Like, “Chef Capra, please. I asked you to stop talking.” They’re having a blast too, up there, comparing their techniques or sharing advice with each other. Those moments are constantly unfolding. So you literally—like a teacher in a classroom—have to clap your hands and be like, “Let’s go, chefs. Focus up front.”

There’s usually a kindness associated with baking shows. Do you feel like that applies to Wall of Bakers as well?
Yeah. Listen, we are Canadian. It’s interesting listening to people from around the world who watch episodes of Wall of Chefs and are always like, “Aw, those Canadian judges are so sweet and so nice to each other.” And I think there’s an approach of, “I’m going to deliver this constructive criticism as gently and lovingly as I can.” At the same time, we’ve got chefs on the wall who say it like it is. Chef Alex Chen, Chef Hugh Acheson, they’re going to really make it clear that you blew it. But as a viewer, isn’t there a little part of you that wants to see a bit of that too? There’s a little part of you that wants to see those celebrity chefs just give real feedback to the home cooks.

But it’s not Hell’s Kitchen.
Exactly. That’s the beauty of this show. When I got pitched the concept originally, I remember feeling like this is all my favourite shows in one place. It takes all the elements of things that I’ve loved but it’s creating this moment that I’ve never seen before. At the beginning of every episode, I say to the camera, “We all stand in our kitchen and have that moment where we look down at something we’ve made and say, ‘I wonder what a fancy-schmancy chef would think of this.’ ” To see that unfold in real life is awesome.

Wall of Bakers debuts Monday, March 28th at 7 p.m. & 10 p.m. on Food Network Canada