Valerie Bertinelli‘s departure from “Kids Baking Championship” is not a slice-and-dry circumstance of Foodstuff Community firing the “One Day at a Time” alum from her position as co-host and decide of the clearly show. Alternatively, it is the aftermath of the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned channel selecting not to renew Bertinelli’s larger sized unique offer with the network when it finished in 2022, resources explain to Assortment.
Bertinelli signed a multi-collection deal with Meals Community in 2018, which expired in 2021. The pact was extended for an more year and came to an finish in 2022, when the now airing Time 12 of “Kids Baking Championship” was taped back to back again with Time 11. Bertinelli has co-hosted and judged ‘Kids,” a spinoff of Foods Network’s bigger “Baking Championship” competitiveness franchise that includes holiday and seasonal iterations, together with Duff Goldman due to the fact it initial debuted on Foods Network in 2015.
“Her offer expired, they opted not to renew it. They could have come to me with an offer you just for ‘Kids.’ They never did. Very simple as that,” Bertinelli’s longtime manager Marc Schwartz advised Wide variety Tuesday.
In accordance to insiders, the selection to not renew Bertinelli’s offer in 2022 was designed by growth execs that no for a longer time operate at the network: Previous president Courtney White exited Meals Network in March 2022 in advance of the close of the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger, followed shortly by her substitution Jane Latman in December 2022. Betsy Ayala has been in the main publish due to the fact that time.
Bertinelli’s offer ended a lot more than a 12 months back, and she has no jobs presently filming or in enhancement at Food items Community. A supply near to the circumstance claims an supply was not produced by the network for Bertinelli to go on as co-host on “Kids” due to the fact Foodstuff Community was led to believe that that if it did not also renew her exceptional multi-sequence in general deal, Bertinelli would not settle for an present to carry on on “Kids.” (Foodstuff Community opted not to renew Bertinelli’s in general offer amid funds cuts and mass layoffs across Warner Bros. Discovery in its publish-merger consolidation.)
Reps for Meals Community and Bertinelli declined to remark for this story.
In a movie posted to Instagram Saturday, Bertinelli reported she acquired confirmation Friday evening on anything she had been “avoiding facing”: she had not been requested again to “Kids Baking Championship” for a 13th season.
“Kids” is at present airing its 12th period, with episodes that aspect Bertinelli and had been taped back to again with Time 11 in the summertime of 2022. Wide variety has verified “Delicious Pass up Brown” host Kardea Brown, who hosted the 2023 “Kids Baking Championship” holiday getaway particular with Goldman, will return as decide for the 2024 getaway edition of “Kids,” but that no determination has been manufactured at the network with regards to talent attached to long term seasons of the key collection, which has not but been renewed for Period 13. No episodes of “Kids Baking Championship” right have been filmed with no Bertinelli.
Bertinelli instructed her followers Saturday that she believed Foodstuff Network’s final decision to not question her to return as host was due to “budget cuts,” and observed the at present airing “Kids Baking Championship” episodes were recorded in the summer of 2022, her “apex calendar year of hell,” although she was heading by means of her divorce from ex-spouse Tom Vitale.
“Without sounding like a drama queen, the display saved my existence,” Bertinelli, who previously hosted “Valerie’s House Cooking” and “Family Foodstuff Showdown” at Foods Network, stated in the Instagram online video. “Just performing with all of these genuinely wonderful persons and sensation productive and figuring out I could unfold some kindness, and not just wallow in my hell and just consider to hold my head earlier mentioned h2o. It served me, it was like a flotation machine. So it genuinely hurts that I won’t be capable to go back and see all people and say, ‘Hey, I made it via,’” she extra.
On Sunday, Bertinelli took to X, previously known as Twitter, to explain a “tad misleading” Men and women magazine headline that cited sources stating “talks stalled” with Food stuff Community execs about her return to “Kids”: “There ended up never ever any talks, so no talks could be stalled. I got an inkling I may well not be asked back again when I noticed I was not in the vacation specials. I got a text by a 3rd party on Friday that informed me I would not be back. LOL I was basically ghosted.”
Bertinelli added in a followup article: “I have zero unwell will toward anybody at FN, I relished every single single minute I labored for them, and they are all charming, kind, really hard-doing work men and women. And I recognize business enterprise is company. But I won’t tolerate lies. I am a lot of matters, but I am not greedy, nor am I a liar.”
Followers have rallied all over Bertinelli on social media, which includes Khloe Kardashian and Mark Hamill, to voice their help for Bertinelli continuing on as co-host of “Kids Baking Championship.”
A supply shut to Bertinelli told Wide variety Tuesday, “Obviously, she’s upset. She had a terrific time working on the display,” but that “she has no sick-will toward Meals Network.”
Subsequent up, Bertinelli is heading out on her cookbook tour for “Indulge: Delightful and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share.” She is currently analyzing features from other platforms for potential tasks and specials.
She is scheduled to attend the upcoming Food Network South Beach front Wine & Food Pageant, having area Feb. 22-25, in Miami.
BreAnna Bell contributed to this tale.