She learned how to bake from ‘The Great British Baking Show.’ Now, she’s a contestant.

One day about a year ago, Karis Stucker happened to log into Instagram for the first time in months. Somehow, that was also minutes after her childhood friend had forwarded a post she saw from “The Great American Baking Show”.

The show was asking for contestant applications. “We should totally apply,” her friend, also a baker, wrote.

Stucker, 27, thought about it for a bit. The Cornelius resident had only been baking seriously for about three years, but it had become her passion. She’d loved watching the British version of the show for years, and even credits it for teaching her how to bake. She decided to take a chance.

A couple of interviews, a casting audition and a monthlong trip to London later, Stucker still can’t quite believe what happened.

The 2018 Davidson College grad is one of nine contestants on the latest season of “The Great American Baking Show.” The show debuts on The Roku Channel on Friday.

“I had never had an experience where I felt so out of body for such a long period of time,” Stucker said. “Sometimes you have those out-of-body moments and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK, that was a weird hour.’ But this was weeks. I still don’t feel like what’s happening is actually happening.”

Modeled after the wildly successful “The Great British Baking Show,” the American version is technically in its sixth season, but this is the first since 2019. British judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith join first-time American hosts, actors Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry in searching for the best amateur baker in the country through three challenges in each episode: a signature bake, a technical challenge and a show-stopper.

Stucker recently talked with CharlotteFive about how she ended up on the show, her experience with the famously anti-competitive competition and what it might feel like to receive a coveted “Hollywood Handshake” — though she wouldn’t share any spoilers on what actually happened in the show.

The following has been lightly edited.

On how she started baking:

I’ve always loved being in the kitchen. I would bake with my grandma. My mom would always make Christmas cakes in the shape of Christmas trees for all of my teachers growing up. My great-grandma was a baker.

In 2019 was actually when I started taking baking more seriously. I started baking cakes, decorating cakes and really just learned by watching YouTube videos, watching Instagram reels. And I would just watch and then go experiment in the kitchen.

I realized back then that I could be in the kitchen all day and be so happy. I love it. I just find it so therapeutic. Just the physical act of just mixing batter together is so soothing. I also really enjoy exercise and working out, and I can compare it in the sense that you just have this one task in front of you and your mind is focused fully on that.

On being a fan of “The Great British Baking Show”:

My mom and I would watch it together all the time. It finds its way to so many people’s households because it’s such a feel-good show; it’s not a cutthroat competition. People genuinely are there to encourage each other and cheer each other on.

And honestly, it taught me how to bake. I would watch the show and then I would make a long list of all the things that I learned and say, “I’m gonna make that.” “What’s ‘creme pat’ (patissiere)?” “What’s choux pastry?”

So when I found out that I was going to be on the show, I was ecstatic because it’s the very show that taught me how to bake.

On arriving in London, meeting Hollywood and Leith, seeing “the tent” for the first time and overcoming nerves:

Of course it was so surreal, getting to see the iconic tent (where contestants bake). And meeting Paul and Prue was incredible. They really are kind, and I really got the sense right away that they were really there to better us.

On the first filming day, you’re just so jittery and nervous. But they didn’t put anyone down or say, “Why’d you do that? That was terrible!” It was really always like, “Well, this is what I would do.” And, “I’ve learned in my experience that this happens when you do this.” They were really, really kind-hearted.

On one unexpected challenge:

When we get over to London, they tell us we have a few days to kind of prepare. And of course we’re all new to this. Like, what do you mean, “prepare?” Am I preparing my heart and my mind? They said, “We’re going to go to these British grocery stores.” And we learned there are some differences between British and American ingredients.

There’s the single-cream/double-cream conundrum. We all had issues with cream cheese there — we found that their cream cheese was a lot softer than what we’re used to over here.

So, we always joked with each other that this is our little added challenge. No one really knows, but there’s the added challenge of working with these British ingredients that really do make a difference. It could make or break your bake because there’s so many variables in baking all the time.

I did have to make some recipe adjustments. Nothing major. Just, “Maybe that’s a little too much butter, because I’m tasting that this British butter is a little bit stronger,” or “Let me cut back on sugar,” or whatever it may have been.

On what it might feel like, hypothetically, to receive a “Hollywood Handshake” — the move that Hollywood bestows on a candidate who has excelled at a challenge:

I’m sure that it would feel good.

I will say when they’re judging you, it’s terrifying. They capture it really well on the show — that nervousness in the person’s face, and what it’s like when Paul takes a moment and he’s just silently staring down at your bake and you don’t know if he’s going to reach out his hand or tell you it’s awful.

When they came up to me, I’m like, “OK, here we go.” What can I do now? Run away? I’ve gotta face it.

On forming friendships with fellow contestants:

We’re all very close. We have a group chat. We talk all the time — almost every day, actually. I think the reason that we got so close, too, is because when you’re there, no one else quite has that experience.

We couldn’t tell anyone in London why we were there. We just really baked and slept. It was just such a unique bonding experience that even coming back — actually, especially coming back home — no one really understood what we were going through, either.

Just trying to adjust back to like, “Whoa, what just happened?” That whole thing was surreal.

On what she’s looking forward to most in the watching the show:

I’m just excited, personally, to see how it all comes together. And they told us, you’ll see the show will be a completely different experience than what you experienced there. Because they’re filming way more than is actually going to go into the show.

Also, the fact that it was almost a year ago now, I’m certain there are things I’ve kind of forgotten that happened. So I might watch something on the camera and be like, “Oh, I said that?”

And obviously I’m just excited for my family to see it, too. Especially my mom because she and I are the ones who really watch the show together.

On what’s next:

I do a million things. I have my own private Spanish tutoring business, and I also nanny during the day. So, I bake in between. I’m just trying to be more present on social media (@karisscorner on Instagram), talking to people, answering questions, and just engaging. We did all work so hard, so it’s exciting to finally see the project come out.

I have my blog, too, (www.karisbakes.com) where I test recipes, write them and rewrite them, getting them as perfect as I possibly can. That’s my main baking hobby right now. If that goes somewhere, that would be great because it’s my biggest passion.

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How to watch: The first of six episodes is available Friday, May 5. Stream The Roku Channel for free on Roku devices, the web, iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV and select Samsung TVs. No subscription required.