Andrew Corriente: Where Are They Now?

Spoiler note: this post confirms that Andrew Corriente won his season of The Great American Baking Show.

Every so often a baking show casts someone whose story outshines the bakes, and then the bakes win anyway. Brother Andrew Corriente, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, won season 5 of The Great American Baking Show in the finale that aired January 2, 2020, competing in his brown robe and becoming, instantly, the franchise's most distinctive champion. Here is his story, including the honest part about where the trail goes quiet.

The friar in the tent

Corriente's road to the tent was unlikely from every direction. After graduating from NYU he went home to Los Angeles to work as a talent agent's assistant, aiming for the movie industry. Religious life found him instead, and by the time the show cast him he was a Capuchin friar living at Capuchin College near the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, studying to become a priest. Baking, he has said, arrived the same way faith did: a sudden urge during meditation in the chapel, after which he went to the kitchen, started baking, and never stopped.

He won the season judged by Paul Hollywood and Sherry Yard, and the "Brother Baker" story ran everywhere: The Washington Post profiled him, Washingtonian hung out with him, WAMU and the Kojo Nnamdi Show had him on, America Magazine podcasted with him, and Catholic media celebrated coast to coast. He is the fifth name in the full list of Great American Baking Show winners.

Flour and faith

What made the coverage so warm was how naturally the two vocations fit. Corriente framed baking as an act of service and hospitality, the thing he could make and give away, and the Arlington diocese even ran "Baking with Brother Andrew" youth events. His win came with no cash prize, which may have made him the contestant best prepared for that fact in franchise history.

Where things stand now

Here is the honest part: Corriente's public footprint after the 2020 press cycle goes quiet, which is exactly what you would expect from a man whose vocation is prayer rather than promotion. He was studying for the priesthood at Catholic University at the time of his win; the public record available to us does not document his subsequent path, and we will not guess at it. No cookbook, no media career, and, one assumes, no regrets.

The takeaway for fans

Season 5 closed the ABC era of the show, and it could not have ended on a more fitting champion: someone for whom the tent's no-prize wholesomeness was not a quirk but a philosophy. Watch his season, then read the Washington Post profile; it is the best single piece of writing the American franchise has produced.