Nailed It! Holiday!

Okay. Ah?

What do you think?

I think it's beautiful!

Oh! Don't you just love the holidays?

I love it! This is when I do most of my business.

No, no, no! I'm talking about the holiday season of Nailed It!

You know, Christmas trees, Hanukkah cakes and ringing in the New Year.

Oh, my God.

And we'll probably eat things that are pretty...

awful.

As long as we're spending it together,

I love our big, happy TV show family.

Oh, me, too!

What?

No!

Wes?

Wes!

What has happened to your hair, Wes?

Your beautiful, flowing, Thor-like hair!

This is not how I want to spend my holidays!

Oh, let's start the show!

Dust off last year's fruitcake

because this is a very merry Christmas episode of Nailed It!

The baking competition show that asks you to make this...

but usually ends up with this instead.

I'm the ghost of Christmas present, Nicole Byer.

Today, three amateur bakers will attempt to recreate

some professional Christmas desserts

and compete for a chance to win ten thousand dollars!

Ho ho ho ho ho! Let's meet our bakers!

My name is Kelvin, and I'm from Reseda Ranch, California.

I have a barbershop business, and I also am a pastor.

I know it looks phenomenal.

I wish y'all was here.

My dream is to officiate a wedding

where I, like, do the hair for the wedding and bake the cake.

My name is Angie McMahon, and I'm from Chicago, Illinois.

My kids and I started watching Nailed It!

and they're like, "You're a terrible baker; you should do this."

I wonder why it has such a...

-Weird taste? -Yeah.

My name is Gavin Schmidt. I'm from Orlando, Florida.

Let's say we get to do some baking.

I've been a firefighter, going on 18 years.

Every day we're in high-stress situations.

So I'm used to work under pressure.

As far as it translating into the kitchen...

You're gonna open it and you're gonna check.

You're gonna check the perimeter.

...I think it will help me take home the win.

Y'all ready to make some Christmas miracles?

-Yeah. -Oh, yeah.

Right next to me is our head judge and head elf, Jacques Torres.

How are you doing?

On my other side is our favorite fictional corrections officer

from Orange is the New Black,

Lauren Lapkus.

Lauren, a little elf told me that you are cuckoo bananas for Christmas.

Yes, it's literally all I think about. I need help!

Now, there's a special prize for the winner of the first round

which we call Baker's Choice.

Behind door number one,

we have a Christmas scene from one of history's most famous,

yet least sterile maternity wards.

Straight out of Bethlehem...

Yes! It's a Nativity scene made out of cake pops.

We have the three wise men, three barn animals,

and the OG royal family:

Mary, Joseph and little, itty-bitty baby Jesus.

-You know about him. -Yes.

Now, when I say go,

you'll run over to the manger

and pick just one of those groups to make.

Got it? Okay!

What are you waiting for? Go!

- -

Oh, no!

You would never save me in a fire.

-You're slow! - That's what I wanted.

So slow!

All right, bakers.

We're gonna give you the cake to make your cake pops,

but the rest is up to you.

Forty-five minutes on the clock!

It is time to get your nativity on!

-Go! Go! -Oh, I'm nervous! Run! Go!

Do it!

Sh...

Frosting mix.

All right, what's the scoop on cake pops?

If you want to make the perfect cake pops,

the first thing you have to do is mix buttercream and cake,

making sure not to add too much buttercream

in order to get the right consistency.

Next, you have to mold the dough into the desired shape.

Once you have your cake pops formed,

melt your chocolates and cover the cake pops in it.

Then, next, it's all about the fondant detailing.

The fondant is key to create the fine detail

on each of those cake pops.

If you do everything perfectly, you will have a beautiful Nativity scene.

Just kind of taking it slow, following the recipe exact.

My strategy is, read the recipe through, start to finish.

I don't want any problems.

I want to follow this thing exactly.

All right.

I’m gonna get some vanilla.

I've never done anything like this before.

Bowling with my kids is the most I've ever competed.

I don't know how competitive I'll get. We'll find out.

This is a lot cleaner than what I’m used to at the fire station.

I choose the animals 'cause they seem a bit easier and less detailed work.

Make sure these little balls in here get broken up.

Oh, boy. Look at those shoulders!

-This guy is big. - Yes.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, boy.

Don't drop the cake.

I have to mix buttercream with cake,

and you want the right level of cream-to-cake,

and so I'm just thinking, like, I don't know what that level is.

I've never made cake pops before, actually.

So, uh, this is gonna be a new fun experience.

I don't think I've ever even eaten a cake pop.

We're just going to wing it.

Don't put too much. You know, that's the deal.

So you want to start with a little and mix it--

Yes, then you add as you go.

I could've used a spoon for this...

Oh, this feels disgusting.

It's gonna taste good, though.

- How about that consistency? - Oh, no.

Get that off me real quick.

Figure out the little bodies now.

Okay.

So, this is gonna be stepdad's head right here.

Oh, big head, stepdad Joseph.

-Kelvin is making really large cake balls. -

So, remember, you're going to cover them with chocolate, then put fondant.

-It'll be huge. -That thing's gonna be huge.

I got faith, man, with baby Jesus around.

I feel right at home in this challenge.

because what can make me feel more comfortable than sweet baby Jesus?

Let's go with this one.

See how this works.

That did not really do anything.

God bless America.

Um, I think I'm gonna have to heat up... cream.

She used chocolate chips.

You know, the chips you put in cookies, and not candy melts.

So chocolate chips, you can't really melt that stuff.

-It becomes really pasty. - Yeah.

-If you put milk into those chips-- -You get hot chocolate.

Yes. So that's never going to come out.

Twenty minutes left, my friends.

I think this will be my camel body.

Man, Jesus helps everybody.

So I'm gonna dip Jesus to help others.

Using Jesus to get his parents right.

All right.

Oh, no. Oh, we lost our savior.

So what I do is I grab... I grab a stunt Jesus.

Yeah.

Let's start chocolating. I'm gonna see... how this goes.

Oh, God!

Mother!

Oh, gosh.

I definitely think I used too much... moisture.

Angie, how are you doing?

Uh, amazing.

I decided to pour the chocolate over.

Then see if it'll harden up at all.

All right, best friends, let's go back to the chiller.

I'm gonna roll out some fondant. Get it ready.

I'm slightly overwhelmed, but we'll see what happens here.

I'm trying to make Mary's little jacket.

Man, we're way off.

Kelvin used dark-coating chocolate.

You're going to have a very dark base

and to cover that with fondant is going to be very difficult.

All right. Well, I just switched directions.

My sister...

you guys are going to be a black family.

That's how we might gonna do this.

Ten minutes, guys. Ten minutes!

Said it would be fun. Go on a baking show.

The detail's going to make a difference.

Go with a more traditional outfit for Jesus.

Clothe him in all white.

- Oh, he's got time to kill. -Yes.

- - So confident.

Who ever said white people don't have rhythm? They're lying!

Okay.

This thing looks terrible.

Angie's... look colorful.

Oh, God!

- - Oh, look at it sinking.

What’s happening? It's going down the pole like a stripper.

How about you sit there and be good?

She used so much fondant, which make it really heavy.