The Golden Spoon

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to sexual assault and harassment.

Centered around Bake Week, a week-long reality baking competition show, The Golden Spoon explores the dangers of competition and rivalry. As the contestants and hosts navigate the competition, their determination to win compels them to take drastic action. The fictional examination of reality television highlights the physical, emotional, and mental dangers of competition and rivalry. Strikingly, the contestants themselves are not particularly competitive with each other. They have moments of jealousy and annoyance, but, on the whole, remain friendly with each other and are capable of keeping the stakes of Bake Week in perspective.

Host Betsy Martin, on the other hand, is a cautionary tale. Although she wants Bake Week to have a gentler atmosphere than her co-host Archie’s previous show, Betsy herself is consumed by jealousy and competition. Although she singles out Archie as the object of her rivalry, because of his charm and confidence, Betsy is also, and more directly, threatened by her show coordinator, Melanie. Over the course of 10 seasons, Melanie has gradually assumed more control over the direction of Bake Week, even to the point of choosing this year’s contestants. Betsy resents Melanie’s interventions and is bothered by how polished she’s become while working for her. Some of Betsy’s suspicion is warranted, as Melanie turns out to be one of the saboteurs working against the contestants; like her mentor, Melanie is also brought low by her competitiveness.

Betsy’s sense of rivalry with Archie is largely one-sided. She immediately grows suspicious of Archie’s intentions and acts defensively to thwart what she believes are Archie’s attempts to control the show. While Betsy is not responsible for Archie’s fall, she chooses to ignore her first instinct to call the police due to her realization that Archie’s demise equals the loss of his competing plans. When she discovers Archie, she states that “she thinks she can see his fingers move” (217). Betsy’s desire for full control over Bake Week leads her to abandon her plans to help Archie; instead, Betsy does not call the police and secures Archie’s death so that she can accept full control over Bake Week once again. Rather than focusing on saving Archie, Betsy instead contemplates how his death can benefit her; she reflects on how Archie’s death will result in the producers relying on her to “survive this sort of scandal” and “to steer the show” (218).

Betsy’s unending need to compete originates from childhood and her murder of Lottie’s mother, her father’s lover. Threatened by Agnes and Lottie’s emotional connection with her father, Betsy eliminates her competition in adolescence. This choice leads her to continue her path of destruction in the name of competition into adulthood. Betsy never learns from her disastrous choices. In the epilogue, Betsy continues her plans for redemption and smiles at the revelation of Melanie’s professional demise. Betsy represents the irreparable depravity that competition breeds.