{"id":32261,"date":"2022-11-24T22:57:28","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T03:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32261"},"modified":"2022-11-24T22:57:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T03:57:30","slug":"auroras-levitt-returns-to-baking-show-tent-just-in-time-for-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/auroras-levitt-returns-to-baking-show-tent-just-in-time-for-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora\u2019s Levitt returns to Baking Show tent just in time for holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The excitement of seeing the tent never gets old for Aurora resident Steve Levitt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When his time in the Great Canadian Baking Show\u2019s tent came to an end last year as one of three finalists, he joked to producers he\u2019d simply like to camp out in the tent and be ready to roll for the next season of the popular competition program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a camping wasn\u2019t possible, Levitt received a sweet Christmas gift from the CBC: one of four places in the network\u2019s special The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show, which airs this Sunday, November 27, at 8 p.m. EST on both the main network and on CBC Gem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levitt couldn\u2019t believe the news when he first got the call, but as it sunk in, so too did the excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was in disbelief that they asked me to come back; I think my exact words were, \u2018All the cool kids said no and you\u2019re stuck with me, huh?\u2019\u201d Levitt jokes. \u201cI was assured [that wasn\u2019t the case]\u2026but I guess after everything that\u2019s gone on, I still have a hard time seeing that baker that other people see me as.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewers from across the country were able to see Levitt as the baker fans were quickly able to spot last year as his bakes stood up against many of the best amateur bakers from across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest foray into the tent will see him reunited with fellow Season 5 contestant Stephen Nhan, Season 2 alum Mengling Chan, and Season 4\u2019s Mahathi Mundluru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levitt says he didn\u2019t know who was going to be joining him on the holiday special until the day he arrived on set, but once he saw who completed the quartet he says it was a big \u201cfan\u201d moment for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was great to reunite with Stephen, but to meet Mahathi and Mengling, even though I had been in the tent with superstars, they were the ones I watched when I was trying to get into the tent,\u201d says Levitt of his long quest to find his place on the Baking Show. \u201cI said to Mengling, \u2018I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m going to be baking with you,\u2019 and she said, \u2018I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m baking with you.\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019m just me,\u2019 and she said, \u2018But I\u2019m just me,\u2019 \u2013 you forget that sometimes we fan over each other. It was the same fun I had the first time because, I can only speak for my experience, but it never felt like a competition. Yes, someone was the Star Baker and, yes, someone went home every week, but we were there doing our best and hoping everyone else did their best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey couldn\u2019t send me home this time (for this one-off special) so that was part of the pressure off, but the \u2018pressure on\u2019 was there was something at stake; there\u2019s a finish line, but the pressure is all self-imposed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levitt is mum on just what bakes added to the pressure he put on himself while filming the special, but says he melded Hanukkah and Christmas traditions, both of which are very important to him, into what they were ultimately asked to create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always say [being in the tent] reminds me of how my wife describes pregnancy; she says it\u2019s just a glorious time and then there\u2019s that incredible agony as you\u2019re giving birth, but when the baby is born it completely disappears, which is probably how we\u2019re wired so we\u2019ll have more children, but this is similar. In my head, everything in the tent is bliss, happiness and sunshine, just the most magical time and I forget about the stress. The moment I was in there and they said, \u2018Bake!\u2019 it all came whooshing back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I did the first time, I wanted to make sure I brought me and my experiences into the tent. I was brought up Jewish, so there was going to be Hannukah involved in this, but I was also brought up with all of my friends and my dad\u2019s wife\u2019s family celebrating Christmas, so I was brought up with both holidays and I wanted to make sure I touched on both of those and that\u2019s what brings me joy and happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the filming went on, Levitt says he tried to \u201cforget about that whole angsty part of it\u201d and go along for the ride \u2013 something he said he feels he successfully accomplished. Looking back on the experience, he said it was \u201call joy\u201d to be back \u2013 perfect for the joyous holiday season \u2013 and learn more about himself, the process, and the fellow contestants he fanboyed over before he gained admission into the tent for the very first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a home baker, I am always teaching myself something new,\u201d he says, adding that he and his fellow Season 5 contestants are still maintaining the ties that bind. \u201cWe have grown quite a tight friendship. I think we\u2019re looking at how to spend more time together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The excitement of seeing the tent never gets old for Aurora resident Steve Levitt. When his time in the Great Canadian Baking Show\u2019s tent came to an end last year as one of three finalists, he joked to producers he\u2019d simply like to camp out in the tent and be ready to roll for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2022-11-24-07.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8ol","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 14:35:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}