From Ice to Icing: Tara Lipinski Hosts the Food Network's New Baking Competition
*By Aly Caverly*
Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski is no stranger to performing, but having her best friend and co-host Johnny Weir by her side certainly helps.
“When you’re at an Olympic Games, and the pressure is on not only for you but the athletes, and it’s live television, there’s a lot of pressure there," she told Cheddar in an interview Thursday. "Thank goodness I’m always sitting next to my boy Johnny,”
The pair, who covered the their second Winter Games in Pyeongchang this year, are now collaborating on the Food Network's new competition show, ‘Wedding Cake Championship,’ where they're again bringint their flamboyant fashion and seamless banter that have already made audiences fall hard for them.
“Doing the Wedding Cake Championship was so much fun. We love competition; it just makes it exciting.”
Hosting the show also helped Lipinski make some rather astute observations. She realized how hard it really is for bakers to accommodate many customer requests.
“Looking back \[at my wedding last year\], I must have been a terrible client because I sat there and I was like, ‘I want every flavor, and I want fondant and buttercream, and make sure it doesn’t melt in the sun,’ and I just wanted it all,” Lipinski said.
Working with some of the world’s most talented bakers undoubtedly makes it hard to not appreciate the craft. Lipinski said she was in awe of the requests the bakers were able to fill.
“These real-life engaged couples are like, ‘I want this dream wedding cake,’ and you see the bakers being like, ‘Okay, how am I going to make this happen and bring their dream to life?’" she said. "That’s where you really realize that they’re artists, and they kind of put their own spin on it and still make it what you want."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/former-figure-skater-tara-lipinski-goes-from-the-ice-to-icing-for-her-new-show)
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