Kardea Brown walked into her first full season as cohost of Kids Baking Championship knowing she was stepping into a role fans closely associated with Valerie Bertinelli. What she did not expect was just how loud a slice of the internet would get once her face became the one greeting young bakers and their families. Now the Food Network star is answering that backlash head on, pairing a firm message to critics with a focus on the kids at the center of the show.
Rather than shrink from the negativity, Brown has chosen to talk openly about the comments, her own weight loss journey, and why she is not interested in begging anyone to like her. Her response has widened into a broader conversation about how adults behave online around a children’s competition and what it means for a Black woman to inherit a beloved TV gig without being treated as a stand-in.
The fan backlash and what triggered it
The friction started when viewers learned that Kardea Brown would be taking over hosting duties on Kids Baking Championship from Valerie Bertinelli, a change that put a fresh face in a very familiar spot. Longtime fans of the show, which pairs young contestants with elaborate dessert challenges, had grown attached to Bertinelli, and some reacted poorly to the idea of anyone new standing beside Duff Goldman on the brightly lit set. As promos rolled out for the new season, Brown saw a wave of comments from Food Network viewers who said they wanted Valerie back and made it clear they did not plan to give the new host a chance.
Brown later explained that the criticism did not stay on the level of simple preference and quickly tipped into what she described as “nasty comments” about her presence on the series. In interviews she has said that the backlash after taking over Kids Baking Championship “comes with the territory,” but she also drew a line at the tone aimed at her and the children on the show, noting that she wanted to stand up for herself and the young bakers who just wanted to have fun in the kitchen. The pushback landed at the same time that her first full season as cohost was airing, which meant she was reading harsh remarks about her work in almost real time as episodes dropped.
Kardea Brown’s message to critics: ‘Let them hate’
Instead of pretending the noise was not there, Kardea Brown has started talking about it directly and with a bit of edge. She has described scrolling through messages that questioned why she, and not Valerie Bertinelli, was on screen, and she has chosen to answer with a simple mantra: “Let them hate.” In one conversation she framed the online reaction as something she cannot control, pointing out that people are allowed to miss a former host, but that it crosses a line when viewers turn that nostalgia into personal attacks. For Brown, the answer is to keep showing up, keep doing the job, and let her work with the kids speak louder than the complaints.
That response is wrapped up with another deeply personal shift in her life, her ongoing weight loss. Brown has been open about losing weight and how that journey has affected her confidence, and she has acknowledged that taking care of her body has helped her navigate the noise with more grace. She has tied that growth to a broader reminder that adults should model the same values they try to teach children, including kindness and restraint when they do not like something on television. By leaning into that message, she has turned a wave of criticism into a chance to talk about boundaries, self-respect, and what it looks like to keep moving forward even when not everyone in the audience is rooting for you.
Support, context, and what it means for the show
Even as some fans complained, Kardea Brown has not been standing alone. Her cohost Duff Goldman has publicly backed her, telling viewers that he is forever grateful to have learned from Valerie Bertinelli but that Brown is a positive mentor for the kids in her own right. That show of support matters on a series like Kids Baking Championship, where the chemistry between judges and contestants can make or break the tone of an episode. Brown has also emphasized that she and Bertinelli have seen each other backstage and that there is no bad blood between them, which undercuts the idea that viewers need to pick a side in some imagined feud.
The bigger context is that Brown came into this job with her own fan base and career already in motion. She had built a following through her work on Food Network and beyond, something a quick look at Kardea Brown confirms, and the network clearly saw her as a natural fit for a show that celebrates young bakers. The series itself, which fans can find by searching Kids Baking Championship, has always been about kids learning skills and building confidence under pressure, not about preserving one static version of its hosting lineup.
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