OLDS — For the second year in a row, an Olds resident has been a contestant on a Food Network Canada show.
Last year, École Olds High School teacher Renu Mathew made it through several episodes of the Food Network’s Great Chocolate Showdown.
This year, it was the turn of Keara Nelson, a former student of Mathew’s who now works at The SkyeFire Bakery in Airdrie.
The bakery and the challenges besetting it were featured in The Food Network Canada’s Project Bakeover.
In that show, master pastry chef and entrepreneur Steve Hodge and designer Tiffany Pratt help struggling bakeries get back on their feet again.
Keara was introduced to SkyeFire Bakery owner Scott Williams by her dad. The bakery delivers bread to the Olds and Carstairs Co-ops.
Not long after Nelson started working for Williams the pandemic hit, making things doubly tough for the new business, which had already been struggling.
Now, in the wake of the Food Network episode and the relaxing of COVID restrictions, things are picking up again, she says.
Nelson says it was thrilling – but scary – to find out they were going to be on TV.
“I was really excited, because it was such an amazing opportunity. But as it got closer, I got really nervous,” she said during an interview.
The episode was taped at the end of October.
Nelson had to keep what happened a secret all the way until it finally aired in early June.
"I had to keep it to myself, but it was kind of fun to have a secret like that,” she said. “Besides my mom and dad, I didn’t tell anyone about the show series until we were allowed to do the promo for it.
“And then I didn’t really tell them much about what was happening on the show because I wanted it to be a surprise for them,” she added.
Finally, Nelson watched the episode – along with her mom, stepdad and sister.
“It was interesting," Nelson said. “It’s nerve-wracking to watch yourself on TV. But after you get over that, it was really fun to watch. We watched the whole series, so it was interesting to see our episode.”
She said the coolest part was meeting Hodge.
“I’d heard about him of course from when Ms. Mathew was on the Great Chocolate Showdown so I was super excited to meet him and he’s such a great guy,” she said.
It was pretty cool to walk in Mathew’s footsteps by also appearing on a Food Network show. But hardest aspect of the show was keeping its contents a secret for so long.
Nelson said doing recipes with Hodge was pretty intimidating.
“I didn’t know how much of it I was going to have to do – like hands-on. And of course, I wasn’t familiar with the recipe. Right away it was really nerve-wracking,” she said.
“I was struggling, but Steve was really good it. He would quickly – as soon as you’d start struggling, he'd break the ice really quick; he’d put you on the spot, so then you were comfortable after that. He was really good at that.”
Nelson plans to study business at the University of Alberta next year. She said one dream might be to eventually open her own bakery business, utilizing her bakery skills and the knowledge she gains from her degree.
