What Duff Goldman Wishes You Understood About Derek From Spring Baking Championship

From the introduction of the Spring Board ranking system, to the last-minute decision to have a Final Six instead of the usual Final Five, and of course, the return of former host Ali Khan, Season 7 of Spring Baking Championship was full of surprises. But nothing was more surprising than who the judges chose as the winner in the finale episode. Despite Derek Corsino being a fan favorite from the beginning of the competition, he ended up placing third overall, with Keya Wingfield ultimately being named the Spring Baking Champion.

Considering Wingfield only decorated half of a cake, served underbaked crust, and wasn't able to finish plating on time, fans across Twitter and Reddit were left feeling that Corsino was robbed of the win. While the final three competitors each produced amazing cakes, viewers were sure Corsino's detailed vegetable garden cake would be the winner. The judges' decision, however, didn't exactly come out of the blue, fans pointed out, as Duff Goldman had been noticeably critical of Corsino's bakes and prebakes throughout the entire season (via Screenrant).

According to Goldman's posts on Twitter, the only reason his comments about Corsino were so critical was that he held Corsino to a higher standard. "Unfortunately the editors cut out all the nerdy baking stuff we talked about because we're both baking nerds," Goldman explained. Not only is Corsino a professional pastry chef, he's also a culinary arts instructor, so Goldman's seemingly harsh comments about Corsino's technique and creativity were nothing more than constructive criticism from a fellow "baking nerd."

While Corsino's reactions to Goldman's critiques turned into a meme (via Twitter) that he later joked about, apparently there was neither animosity nor misunderstanding between the two of them off-camera. "Everyone thinks I didn't like him," Goldman tweeted, "but Derek was consistently one of the best and most enjoyable bakers (pastry chefs) I've ever gotten to work with." It definitely wouldn't be a surprise if Corsino was invited back to the All Stars edition of "Spring Baking Championship," since as it turns out, Goldman was actually #TeamDerek all along.