The prize: up to $12,000. The catch: you have to bite the cake to prove it. Food Network announced on September 3 that Josh Peck would host Sweet Deceit, a baking game show with a sleight-of-hand premise, starting with back-to-back episodes on Monday, October 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Episodes stream on HBO Max the next day.
Teams of three move through four rounds, each harder than the last. Their job is to find hyper-realistic sweets hidden in real-world locations, the work of top cake artists, and decide which objects are cake. Guessing is not enough. They must bite into their best guess to prove it.
Two seasons of settings
The run splits in two. Sweet Deceit: Trick or Treat has eight double-length Halloween episodes beginning October 5, set in places such as real haunted houses, a movie-set morgue, a kindergarten Halloween party and the Magic Castle. Sweet Deceit: Holiday follows on Monday, November 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, also with eight episodes, in a cozy cabin, an ice rink and Santa’s workshop.
Peck shares the set with a rotating group of illusion cake artists: Jose Barajas, Jonny “Jonny Cakes” Manganello, Andrew Fuller, Ashley Holt, April Julian and Liz Marek.
“Sweet Deceit has all my favorite things: food, fun, and deception,” Peck said. He called the cake artists’ craftsmanship “unlike anything I’ve ever seen” and the show “a must watch for the whole family.”
Betsy Ayala, president of Food Network, described it as “a funny and highly visual new game show” and a fit for the network’s baking lineup. Peck, she said, is the right host to bring humor to every reveal.
Lando Entertainment produces the series. Viewers can find behind-the-scenes clips under #SweetDeceit on Food Network’s social platforms.
