‘Crime Scene Kitchen’ Fate Revealed by Fox

Bakers will return to the kitchen to crack the case of mysteriously vanishing desserts when Crime Scene Kitchen returns to TV for Season 2. Nearly a year after the series concluded its debut season, Fox on Monday officially renewed its Joel McHale-hosted baking competition series for Season 2, Deadline confirmed. McHale later shared the news himself, writing on social media, “Bakers…start your fondants!”

Originally premiering on May 26, 2021, Crime Scene Kitchen puts a twist on the typical baking competition. Described as a culinary guessing game, the series sees bakers attempting to decode what type of dessert was made. With McHale hosting, each episode begins at the scene of the crime – a kitchen of crumbs and flour trails used to create a mouth-watering dessert that has since vanished. The bakers must attempt to recreate the recipe for the judges, who then determine how closely it matches the missing dessert. The show featured Chef Curtis Stone and cake artist Yolanda Gampp as judges in Season 1, which concluded in July.

Throughout its first season, Crime Scene Kitchen averaged a 0.45 rating in the 18-49 demographic. That demo is considered the key demo for advertisers and is typically considered one of the major factors in renewal decisions. The series also averaged 1.85 million viewers in the live+same day ratings, according to TV Series Finale. Crime Scene Kitchen ended its first season as one of Fox’s highest-rated shows last summer, making its renewal of little surprise.

The series’ success may have to do with what sets it apart from its fellow baking competitions. McHale dubbed Crime Scene Kitchen as truly “unique,” telling PopCulture.com in May of last year, “obviously, there’s a lot of baking shows out there, but I think this one’s unique because you don’t know what you’re going to make and you go into this kitchen and there’s some evidence left behind of something that’s been baked there. You got two minutes to search for it and then they’re like, ‘All right, you have four hours. Come up with it.’” The comedian and actor added that the series is a mix of both “highly trained bakers” and “a bunch of self-taught” geniuses, admitting that not every baked good made on the series is a win. McHale said, “the highs are really high and some of the lows are pretty low, but the skill level – the way that people came to play and you’re kind of not sure… It’s not revealed until the end what the actual thing was.”

Crime Scene Kitchen is produced by Fox Alternative Entertainment and Fly on the Wall Entertainment. McHale serves as executive producer alongside Conrad Green, Allison Grodner, and Rich Meehan. Crime Scene Kitchen Season 2, which joins Fox’s unscripted lineup that includes the new Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars and Next Level Chef Season 2, does not yet have a premiere date.