Holiday Baking Championship (Image via Food Network)
Holiday Baking Championship season 12 premiered on Monday, November 3, 2025, with a fresh batch of 12 bakers competing in the Food Network's baking competition series.
Each competitor, welcomed by host Jesse Palmer, navigates baking challenges and competes to win a prize of $25,000 along with a spot in Food Network Magazine and the title of Holiday Baking Champion.
Originally started in 2014 with eight bakers competing, the Holiday Baking Championship has grown each season, with now 12 bakers participating in the series, judged by Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown.
From season 1 winner Erin Campbell to Steven Levitt, who won the series in the most recent season 11, here are the details of all the winners of Holiday Baking Championship and what they are doing now.
What are all the 11 winners of Holiday Baking Championship doing now?
1.) Season 11 winner: Steven Levitt
Steven Levitt was a self-taught home baker from Aurora, Ontario, who captured hearts in Holiday Baking Championship season 11, winning the Cinderella-style finale that aired on December 23, 2024.
Facing off against professional pastry chefs and bakery owners, Levitt’s underdog story played out like a holiday movie, which helped him secure the $25,000 grand prize and a feature in Food Network Magazine.
Having been a two-time finalist on The Great Canadian Baking Show in 2021 and its holiday special in 2022, Levitt has become something of a local celebrity in Aurora, happily running his own business.
He has not been seen since competing on the Holiday Baking Championship with a private social media presence. While he has no plans to open a bakery, he wishes to return to television as a host, he told Village Report:
"If they ever called me and said, ‘We’d love to have you back. What would you think about being a host?’ Well, that I would do in a heartbeat because that … for me would be the most fun."
2.) Season 10 winner: Ashley Landerman
Ashley Landerman, who emerged as the winner of Holiday Baking Championship season 10, is the co-owner of the bakery 2Tarts Bakery in New Braunfels, Texas.
The win helped her keep her bakery in the spotlight, as Landerman said she wanted to highlight her decorating skills and showcase items from the 2tarts menu that she believes in.
Landerman previously also won the 2019 Food Network's Christmas Cookie Challenge.
Currently, she is actively involved in her bakery business alongside her sister and husband, and occasionally shares updates about her life on social media.
3.) Season 9 winner: Dru Tevis
Dru Tevis is a professionally trained pastry chef from Delaware who won the Holiday Baking Championship season 9 in 2022.
A graduate of the prestigious French Culinary Institute in New York, Tevis impressed the judges with his technical mastery and inventive holiday desserts, ultimately claiming the title.
At the time, Tevis was leading the pastry program for SoDel Concepts in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but his appearance on the Holiday Baking Championship helped him launch his own venture, Brûlé Bakery, a pop-up and bakery concept in 2025.
4.) Season 8 winner: Adam Monette
Adam Monette became the winner of season 8 in 2021, who was a high school culinary instructor from St. Albans, Vermont.
He told the Burlington Free Press in 2022 that his life is still very much the same, as he continues to teach at the tech center, but has made some lifelong friends.
Talking about his dream of opening a small restaurant or cafe, he said:
"That's always been the dream. It’s just a question of timing! I would love to have a small restaurant or cafe. I know it will happen eventually, until then I will keep working and see what's on the horizon!"
The dream came true in 2025 as he opened his own Cafe Monette in St. Albans.
5.) Season 7 winner: Julianna Jung
Season 7 of Holiday Baking Championship crowned home baker Julianna Jung from Champaign, Illinois, as its 2020 winner.
However, unlike many winners who turned their success into full-time culinary careers, Jung had no plan to leave the healthcare industry to do baking full-time.
Over the years, she’s maintained a low public profile, occasionally sharing glimpses of her passion for baking, including a 2025 appearance on Tayler Onion’s Hang Time podcast.
6.) Season 6 winner: Melissa Yanc
In 2019, Healdsburg, California, pastry chef and bakery owner Melissa Yanc baked her way to victory on Holiday Baking Championship season 6. Already an experienced chef, she opened her now-celebrated bakery Quail and Condor in 2020, which quickly became a local favorite and later earned national acclaim when The New York Times named it one of the 22 Best Bakeries in the US.
In 2022, she expanded her creativity by opening another coffee and bakery bar, Troubadour Bread and Bistro, and made a comeback to television in 2025, appearing on Alex vs America season 5 episode 8.
7.) Season 5 winner: Douglas Phillips
In 2018, Douglas Phillips, a pastry instructor from Ayer, Massachusetts, won the season 5 title of Holiday Baking Championship with his creativity, precision, and quiet determination.
A native of the Mid-Ohio Valley, Phillips’ love for baking began early at just 15, when he worked as a short-order cook at Napoli’s before working at The Village Cakery in Barlow.
After high school, he got a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, eventually turning his passion into a lifelong career.
Having worked as a baking instructor at North Shore Community College in Massachusetts, Today, Phillips continues as a culinary merchandising specialist at Lawrence Foods Inc.
8.) Season 4 winner: Jennifer Barney
Jennifer Barney, a talented baker from La Crosse, Wisconsin, gained national fame after winning Season 4 of the Holiday Baking Championship in 2017.
A graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, she had been running a small home bakery while balancing motherhood before the show, and later expanded her career by transforming her local venture into Meringue Bakery, a successful business.
Following her win, she went on to appear in several other Food Network competitions, including Pillsbury Bakers’ Plus Creative Decorating Competition, Food Network Canada’s The Big Bake, a 5 Champion Homecoming Special Edition, and Holiday Wars.
9.) Season 3 winner: Jason Smith
Jason Smith, a cafeteria manager from Grayson, went on to win Season 3 of Holiday Baking Championship in 2016.
The former home baker has not only won Food Network Star but also competed on FreeVee’s The GOAT and has judged several Food Network shows, including Best Baker in America, Christmas Cookie Challenge and Holiday Wars.
10.) Season 2 winner: Maeve Schulz
Maeve Schulz, a bakery owner from San Diego, California, won Season 2 of the Holiday Baking Championship in 2015.
Currently, Schulz is working as the Executive Chef of Sugar & Scribe Bakery in San Diego.
11.) Season 1 winner: Erin Campbell
Erin Campbell is a baker and cake shop manager from Palmdale, California, who was the very first winner of Holiday Baking Championship during season 1 in 2014.
Later on, she went on to compete in Food Network Star season 12 in 2016, emerging as a finalist. Her life has been private ever since, with rare to no updates on her social media profiles.
