Page 1 of The Golden Spoon
PrologueBETSY
Betsy presses her cell phone to her ear, trying to hear. The wind and rain howl at the windows, rattling the glass. “We’re stuck out here. We won’t be able to come back for a while,” Melanie’s voice crackles with static. “This weather has taken down a bunch of trees. We’re waiting for emergency services to get them out of the road, but there’s no sign of them yet. We won’t be—”
“You’re cut off from Grafton?” Betsy can feel the panic rising in her chest. The whole crew has already left for the day, packing up quickly and going into town to avoid driving in the storm, and now it’s just her and Archie and the contestants alone in the manor. The thought fills her with dread. She shudders and pulls her thin cashmere sweater closer around her.
“What? The line keeps cutting out. Someone is going to have to go check on the tent. There’s a ton of camera equipment out there. I know the tech stuff isn’t your domain, but could you just go outside and make sure the flaps are sealed? I am just praying that tent is sturdy enough to make it through the storm. They’re saying it’s going to get worse tonight before it gets better. I’m sorry to ask you but there’s no one else. I tried calling Archie, but he didn’t pick up. Maybe you could—”
“I’ll do it,” Betsy snaps. There is no way she is going to ask anything of that man after what he’s done. “But this is really… unacceptable.” She feels a surge of anger as she hangs up. In the ten years she has been the host ofBake Week, she has never had to do any of the grunt work. Checking on the tent in the dark in the middle of a torrential downpour is not in her job description. She takes a deep breath. It was partly her fault, she realizes, for making the crew stay in town. She could never bear the thought of them traipsing through Grafton Manor with all their equipment and dirty shoes.
There’s a flash of lightning at the window followed by a violent bang of thunder. Betsy goes into her walk-in closet and reaches for her father’s heavy yellow rain jacket. As she slides her arms into it, she is disappointed to find it no longer smells of his cigars, only of the slightly mildewy musk that comes with neglect. It’s a smell and a state she is constantly battling at Grafton Manor. She feels a pang of guilt. Richard Grafton would be devastated to see this place so down at the heels. He was always devoted to the manor. He’d have found a way to keep it going, no matter the cost. She sighs, stretching to get an old metal flashlight off the shelf.
Betsy makes her way through the corridor and out into the main stairwell. Rain taps frantically on the two floor to ceiling windows in the foyer. She hurries down the steps to the front door, already feeling vulnerable. She pulls her hood up and forces the heavy wood door open, struggling against the wind. The tent is only ten feet away at most, but the rain is so heavy it appears as a white blur. She steels herself and steps outside. The wind drives the rain sideways, nearly blinding her as she descends the front steps, flanked by two stone lions. Their heads rest wearily in their crossed paws, as if they’ve given in to the storm. She crosses the short patch of gravel drive to the lawn, the rain pelting her in sheets. As soon as her feet hit the lawn, the heel of her right shoe descends into the fresh sod. It sticks there, making her nearly lose her balance. She hops on one foot, pulling the shoe up from the mud with a sucking sound and shoving her wet foot backinside. She is already drenched. She angrily anticipates the cleanup they’ll have to do before filming resumes. It will delay everything. It will cost money, lots of it. This season is turning into a horrible mess.
“Their chemistry is lacking,” that’s whatThe Postwrote recently after the footage from the first day was leaked. It was under the headline “What Will Happen toBake Week?” As if somehow the press believes that the problem is both of them. No one ever complained about her chemistry beforehegot here. There was no problem withanythinguntil he got here.
Angrily, she pulls open the flap at the back of the tent, switching on her flashlight. The rain hits the tent in noisy bursts drumming at the peaked canvas ceiling. She sweeps the flashlight around the open space. Each table is immaculately arranged, as is usual after the crew cleans them at the end of the day, before the bakers will return in the early morning to dirty every surface imaginable with dustings of flour and gobs of dough. Now every stand mixer is perfectly aligned with the next, each carefully arranged colander of baking utensils on display. It’s an optimistic scene of pastel colors and light woods. One that lends itself well to the show’s folksy niceness. And generally it’s true that the bakers, chosen and vetted to within an inch of their lives, are also nice. Betsy makes sure of it. Some of them can be a bit curmudgeonly. But they try so hard, they want so desperately to be perfect, to win, so you have to give them that. Betsy knows she hasn’t ever had to work so hard as some of them. This group is no different. Sure, there have been… challenges. It certainly hasn’t been easy this time around.
There’s another crack of lightning, a violent bang as it connects to something nearby. Betsy shudders and makes her way up to the bank of cameras on the right. They look secure enough. The ground around them is dry.
She swings the flashlight around the tent one last time, ready to go back inside and warm herself up with a glass of port. To try to forget today ever happened. But then she notices something at the front of the tent. There is an object sitting on the judging table. She trains theflashlight on it, approaching slowly. It looks like a cake. Someone must have left it there from today’s baking challenge, which is odd. Usually everything is cleaned up after filming. As she moves forward, she can see that it’s already baked, a slice cleaved neatly from it. Cherry red liquid dribbles from the stand, down the back of the table where it mingles with a deep puddle of water. The rain has found its way inside. She steps closer, her heart sinking. A mess this big will cause a delay in filming. It will be expensive and taxing.
A drop of water lands on her face and she jumps. She reaches her hand up to wipe it away. The liquid feels smooth and slippery. Reaching her fingers in the beam of the flashlight, she is shocked to find they are streaked with bright red. It feels like—
She turns her flashlight up. Its spotlight trails into the peaked roof of the tent until it stops on something. Before her eyes even make sense of the horror above her, she starts to scream.
TWO WEEKS AGO
For immediate release:
Grafton, Vermont [May 23, 2023]—Flixer streaming service announces they are beginning to film season ten of the hit showBake Week. The beloved baking show, which captured the world’s hearts a decade ago, has upped the ante this season for its tenth anniversary with a new cohost at the front of the tent. Veteran judge and show creator Betsy Martin is slated to return but this year she’ll be joined by award-winning baker andCutting Boardhost Archie Morris. This is the first time in the show’s history that Betsy has shared the tent with another host. Filming will once again take place on the grounds of Betsy Martin’s family estate in the mountains of northern Vermont.
Six home bakers will descend on Grafton Manor on June 5 to compete for the title of America’s best baker. They will compete from Monday to Friday in a series of five intensive, daylong competitions, leading to a showdown between the final two bakers on Friday. The winner ofBake Weekwill receive a contract for their own baking-focused cookbook, published with Flying Fork Press, a division of MagnusBooks, the preeminent cookbook publisher in America. Most importantly, the winner will take home the coveted Golden Spoon trophy and the title of America’s Best Home Baker.
We are ready to announce the identities of the six bakers who have been hand-selected from among over ten thousand eager applicants. They are all excellent bakers at home, but we are eager to see how they do in the tent.
STELLA VELASQUEZ
A former journalist forThe Republic, Stella lives in Brooklyn, New York. After challenging herself to master the art of baking in just under a year, Stella is the competition’s most inexperienced contestant, though her skill level is that of a much more seasoned baker. She prefers cakes above all other bakes and adores making and decorating them for friends in New York. Stella loves all thingsBake Weekand credits the show and Betsy Martin with helping her through many hard times in her life. “It’s an honor of a lifetime to compete inBake Weekin spite of being such a newbie, but meeting my hero Betsy Martin will be an accomplishment all on its own.”
HANNAH SEVERSON
Hannah hails from Eden Lake, Minnesota. She is the pride and joy of the local diner, Polly’s, where she has worked as a baker and server since she was fifteen years old. Her innovative pie recipes have made her into a local legend. A bit of a prodigy at twenty-one, Hannah is the second-youngest contestant in the history ofBake Week, a testament to her dedication to baking. When she is not causing a stir with her pies at Polly’s Diner, she likes to test out her recipes for breads and desserts on her family and neighbors, especially her boyfriend, Ben. “Baking is everything to me, I can’t wait to show the world what I’m made of.”
GERALD BAPTISTE
Gerald is a Bronx, New York, native whose day job is as a math teacher for advanced high school students. He spends his spare time sourcing new ingredients for his highly scientific bakes. As a result, Gerald has formed close ties with local grain farmers, whom he often visits upstate. When he can he likes to hand-grind his own flours as well as make his own essences and extracts from scratch. “Baking, very much like life, is about formulating the best possible outcome with the variables you are given.”
PRADYUMNA DAS
Entrepreneur Pradyumna is the creator and former CEO of the company Spacer, an app that identifies free parking spaces across urban areas. After selling his company, Pradyumna took to the more relaxing pastime of baking, which he does for friends, often entertaining at his Boston penthouse. His approach to baking is laid-back, and he often improvises ingredients and techniques when whipping up his unique creations. “This competition isn’t about winning for me, it’s about experiencing something new and pushing my boundaries to see what kind of baker and person I can become.”
LOTTIE BYRNE
Lottie is a retired registered nurse from Kingston, Rhode Island. In her spare time, Lottie loves to bake treats for her daughter, Molly. She has an impressive collection of mixing bowls decorating her cottage. Lottie was taught to bake by her mother, and she has been working on her recipes from a very young age. Her specialty is adapting traditional bakes with a contemporary edge. “It has been my life’s mission to compete onBake Week. I cannot wait to show Betsy Martin what kind of baker I am.”
PETER GELLAR
Peter lives with his family in Woodsville, New Hampshire. He works in construction and specializes in the restoration of old buildings. When Peter isn’t traveling the East Coast repairing molding and inlaid floors, he can be found in his favorite place—his family kitchen—baking delicious treats for his husband, Frederick, and their three-year-old daughter, Lulu. “Recipes are like architecture; a combination of tested methods with personal elements is what makes a bake memorable.”
