Mom of two Jill Davis can now describe herself as a Food Network contestant, with the Owosso resident set to appear on Halloween Baking Championship season eight. The much-awaited premiere will be at 9 p.m. on Monday, September 12.
According to the Food Network's website, the in-home bakery Drizzle Cakes and Bakes owner will compete with 11 bakers to survive their thrilling stay at Hotel Henson and win a $25,000 cash prize.
Davis laughingly said her anxiety was very high. The baking show has been pre-recorded, and Season 8 episodes will be released throughout September. The episodes for this season are broken into a thriller section that is more of a flavor-focused challenge, and then there is also a killer part that is more grand scale.
Davis said she will participate in at least two challenges
Davis said that if you win, you stay. If not, you might get eliminated and go home. The self-proclaimed hopeless creative could not say what she made or how she did in the competition, but she said that contestants had to make a tourist pie for the first episode, and in the second part, they had to make a blood splatter cake.
She could not provide specifics, but she said she participated in those two challenges because it was the first episode. She is not sure how she got the attention of Food Network, but she believes representatives of the show came across her Facebook page.
Davis got a call early this year saying they were casting for the show, asking her if she would like the opportunity to talk to them. After a long series of interviews and Zoom calls, Davis was informed days before filming that she was in.
She had some stiff competition, with contestants from all over the country ranging from incredibly talented artists to a James Beard award nominee. Davis said she was asking herself what she was doing there as there was so much talent in the competition. She said it was crazy, but the cast clicked with each other.
Davis credits her mom for being her first teacher in baking
Davis attended Central Michigan University and culinary school. Her first professional baking job came around 2009 at Chapelure in East Lansing, where she got her roots. She has also stayed involved in the Lansing community, participating in events such as Rosé All Day and Block-Aid.
Davis started baking when she was a teenager growing up in Yale. Her mother, Lorinda Driscoll, who retired as the general manager of the Times Herald in 2015 after 37 years in the industry, was her first teacher.
Davis told Lansing State Journal her mother would make all their birthday cakes, which she thought was cool. As a youth, she was also involved with 4-H. She said that her hobby over the years became a passion and a career.
