School of Chocolate: School of Chocolate

November 28, 2021 2:28 AM - Season 1 (Full Season)

Eight top pastry and chocolate professionals elevate their skills under the supervision of world-renowned chocolatier, Amaury Guichon.

Decider - Stream It Or Skip It? ‘School Of Chocolate’ On Netflix, Where A Master Chocolatier Teaches Chefs To Make Art Out Of Chocolate

Yahoo - Netflix’s ‘School of Chocolate’ Host Reveals the Hardest Thing About Working With Chocolate

posted by oh yeah! (8 comments total)

I binged through this yesterday. I liked that there were no contestant eliminations each round. I feel like there were glimmers of the old good 'Great British Bake-Off' goodness, but there was also a lot of typical reality-show 'I'm not here to make friends' editing. And I don't really understand the value of getting to teach a master-class at Guichon's school as one of the winning prizes, seems like a rip-off for the students. But I liked the show overall, and it was fun to see Guichon teaching, after having seen so many of his viral videos on tumblr.
posted by oh yeah! at 2:49 AM on November 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

I really wanted this to work for me as a substitute for GBBO now that the season is over, but it just didn't click. I will give Guichon points for being a more charismatic host than the Adriano5000 robot that hosts "Zumbo's Just Desserts".
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:13 AM on November 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

I don't usually go for the "get judged for making stuff" shows, but my wife and I both enjoyed watching this and binged the whole thing in a couple evenings thanks to the short episodes. It was kind of refreshing to see Guichon guiding the contestants, contestants pitching in to help each other even when teamwork wasn't part of the assignment, etc.
posted by emelenjr at 7:03 AM on December 1, 2021

You know, I'm also a person who watched it because I need a GBBO fix, and found it like 50% satisfying. I definitely appreciated the no-eliminations thing, and I super enjoyed the fact that Amaury and his two assistants were there to literally assist -- especially toward the end when the contestants were making their glass domes, there was a real "we're all helping together" vibe I enjoyed. Still, bring me more GBBO!!!
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:10 AM on December 1, 2021

There is something really depressing about this show.. I was looking to fill the GBBO void as well, but this thing is sad. Maybe because the contestants are one million times nastier? Maybe because they’re competing for money?

They’re not evenly matched skill wise. It makes for an unfair competition, especially when they desperately need the prize money.
posted by dianeF at 10:35 AM on December 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm familiar with Tiago from Food Network (I think he was on Best Baker in America or one of the Baking Championship series).

I'm almost finished with the series. I fell asleep watching the last episode on my split today. Every time they revealed one of Guichon's pieces, my jaw fell to the floor. The chandelier was completely over the top.

Was it just me or did Juan and Daniel both need a dose of humble pie?
posted by kathrynm at 4:25 PM on December 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I didn't like many of the contestants -- they are probably nice enough people, but they mostly all got the ego edit -- but I did really like the format. Without eliminations, and with a lot of education, hand-holding and support, it felt like it was supposed to be warmer and less bitchy than most reality competition shows. But then the ego edits. Or maybe they just cast a lot of people with really big egos?

I did really like looking at the stuff they came up with, though. I follow Amaury Guichon on Insta and his creations are amazing, and it was fun to watch other people try to play up to his level.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:57 AM on December 7, 2021

I would have loved this show with 1000% less snarky talking heads and 1000% more video of what the people were working on. This could have been a much gentler and imo fun show with different editing.

Also, the episodes were weird? Some of them ended in the middle of where an "episode" should have ended (as each "day" of the competition was a solo pastry task and then a team chocolate task) and that was confusing.
posted by sleeping bear at 2:26 PM on December 14, 2021 [1 favorite]