CHARLOTTESVILLE (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Another season of “Holiday Baking Championship” has already begun airing on the Food Network, and among the 12 bakers competing this year is one based in Charlottesville.

Charles Zimmerman, the executive pastry chef at Farmington Country Club for the past five years, is back on the Food Network after making his debut two years ago on the team-based “Holiday Wars.” 

After Zimmerman and his team, “the Sugar Bandits,” made it to the “Holiday Wars” finale, some producers believed he would be a good fit for the more individual-based “Holiday Baking Championship,” he told Cville Right Now.

“It’s very focused on baking plated desserts,” he said, “which I do on a daily basis here at Farmington.”

After multiple rounds of interviews and test bakes over the course of six months, Zimmerman was selected for the show. During the process Zimmerman made sure to keep it under wraps as much as possible.

“One, I signed contracts,” he said, “but two, just for the mystery of it. It’s more exciting when people see the commercial reveal and then you’re on the TV show.”

His return to television was a surprise to many, including the Assistant Director of Food & Beverage at Farmington Ashley Cuoco, who has worked with Zimmerman since he first joined Farmington.

Cuoco said off-camera at Farmington, his team in the pastry kitchen “absolutely adores him.” She told Cville Right Now that Zimmerman, like the rest of the club’s staff, holds himself to a high standard but is also a “really fantastic leader and a really fantastic co-worker,” with many interns and international staff opting to stay full-time at Farmington to continue working with him and his team.

“It’s really a success story of his leadership here and his talent and what he’s teaching them on a day-to-day basis.”

Cuoco said Zimmerman’s appearance on the show has been “the talk of the town” around the club, bolstered in part by the fact Zimmerman has been recreating the dishes he made in the show each week, members getting to taste them at the club’s upscale restaurant, the Blue Ridge Room.

“Our members are also watching along and getting to taste along,” she said.

The new season of “Holiday Baking Championship” premiered on Nov. 3, with the finale slated for Dec. 22. Zimmerman said it’s been fun to watch the show, as it’s given him an opportunity to reconnect with longtime friends from around the country who get to see him on their TVs each week, as well as his fellow castmates, who all discuss their experiences after watching each episode.

“When you watch it, it is interesting because we all lived it,” he said. “It’s hours and hours and hours of filming between doing the introduction to the episode, the actual challenge, judging, interviews. All that takes a lot of time, especially with all 12 of us. So it is kind of cool to see what stays in, what got cut out, how they edited the show.”

Zimmerman added that with the gimmick of the bakers being separated into two teams this season, a Naughty team, which he competed on, and a Nice team, he didn’t actually get to see what the bakers for the Nice team were making.

“It’s cool to see that part of the show that we didn’t actually see while we were filming,” he said.

Cuoco said in her experience watching the show so far, she thinks the editing is “being a little tough on him” in terms of what is being shown, but she hopes as the season progresses viewers will get to see more of his personality.

“He’s a tough cookie and he has some very high standards,” Cuoco said, “but I’m hoping we get to see more of his personality come out throughout the TV show and they’re really showing how fun he is to work with and how light-hearted he can be at times.”