Holidays Take Center Stage as the Discovery Portfolio of Networks Deliver Over 100 Hours of New Seasonal Premieres

The holidays will be bigger, better, and more entertaining than ever as Discovery’s portfolio of networks, led by Food Network, HGTV, and OWN, launch the first-ever discovery+ Holiday Central hub on November 1st. Holiday Central will give fans access to 85 all-new premiere episodes as well as over 330 hours from 450 episodes of seasonal favorites.

The new series, specials, holiday movies, and acquisitions will include both fictional and real-life titles such as Food Network’s first scripted feature Candy Coated Christmas along with fan-favorites Christmas Cookie Challenge, Holiday Baking Championship, and new titles Buddy vs. Duff: Holiday and Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown. Additional titles include HGTV’s House Hunters: Ho Ho Home, White House Christmas 2021 and Holmes for the Holidays, OWN original movies A Chestnut Family Christmas, A Sisterly Christmas, and A Christmas Stray, and for fans of Crime, Fruitcake Fraud.

“From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day we see dramatic spikes in viewership on a network like Food Network, so we’ve learned a lot about what audiences want and how they respond to shows that are fun, feel good, fulfill holiday viewing fantasies and bring families together,” said Kathleen Finch, Chief Lifestyle Brands Officer, Discovery Inc. “This year, if you love holiday programming, you won’t need to go anywhere else because, across our platforms, we’ll have everything from scripted, escapist holiday tales like Candy Coated Christmas or A Chestnut Family Christmas to an extreme tabletop and themed event competition series called Table Wars or an edge of your seat, true crime caper with a holiday twist called Fruitcake Fraud. Food Network, HGTV, and OWN will have seasonal offerings, with some new titles as well as our mega library of classic holiday shows available to stream exclusively on the discovery+ Holiday Central Hub. Bring on the holidays — we’re ready.”

The holidays have always been celebrated by the linear networks, while this year’s Holiday Central seasonal content hub will create the ultimate holiday destination for viewers. On digital and social, new content every day in November and December across the Lifestyle brands, from Food Network’s annual Twelve Days of Cookies and recipes from appetizers to dessert and every holiday meal in between, it’s a one-stop seasonal celebration for fans.

“discovery+ will be the streaming home for the holidays, with exclusive discovery+ originals and seasonal content from our beloved networks in our brand new Holiday Central hub on the app,” said Lisa Holme, Group SVP of Content and Commercial Strategy, Discovery, Inc. “Just as we were home to major cultural events like Shark Week, the Olympics in Europe and Ghostober, discovery+ will once again serve as the ultimate destination for the next seasonal streaming event.”

Beginning November 1st, crafting is hotter than ever as the country’s best makers compete to create stunning and functional pieces. Crafting enthusiast Chrissy Metz joins judges Leann Rimes and Mark Montano to determine who will win the title of Maker Champion in the discovery+ exclusive Meet Your Makers Showdown. Holiday movies are a timeless tradition for viewers of all ages to enjoy and this year’s lineup features new and classic favorites perfect for getting into the holiday spirit. Candy Coated Christmas launches Friday, November 19th exclusively on discovery+, and stars Molly McCook (Last Man Standing) as Molly Gallant, a Beverly Hills marketing executive whose carefully planned life takes an unexpected turn when she takes a business trip to the picturesque town of Peppermint Hollow. The movie also stars Aaron O’Connell (The Haves and The Have Nots), John McCook (The Bold and the Beautiful), Lee Garlington (Broken), Jae Suh Park (The Big Short), newcomer Landry Townsend, Lonzo Liggins, Dia Frampton, and Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman).

Whether you are a fan or not, fruitcake usually invokes cheery images of Christmastime gatherings. But Corsicana, Texas – the town where the best, most scrumptious fruitcakes come from – was definitely not a happy place when it was discovered someone had embezzled a whopping $17 million from the acclaimed Collin Street Bakery. How the crime was solved – and the lavish lifestyle the culprits were living on the ill-begotten proceeds – has people in Corsicana and plenty of others, including the FBI, still scratching their heads in amazement. Welcome to Fruitcake Fraud, premiering December 1st exclusively on discovery+. Additional exclusives available only on discovery+ will include Candy Coated Christmas: Behind the Scenes with Ree Drummond on Monday, November 1st, and The Pioneer Woman’s Hometown Holidays (WT).

Food Network’s seasonal offerings entertain and inspire, from fan-favorite baking competitions to soon-to-be new favorites that stretch the imagination as confectionery artists and culinary craftsmen whip up magical creations. Titles include Holiday Baking Championship which returns Monday, November 1st with tough-love judges, Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Carla Hall, and host Jesse Palmer, searching for the ultimate holiday baker. Then, on Sunday, November 7th, Holiday Wars is back with the biggest and tastiest season yet, as teams of masterful cake and sugar artists join the battle under the watchful eye of host Maneet Chauhan and judges Shinmin Li and Aarti Sequeira. It wouldn’t be the holidays without a Christmas-cookie swap and on Thursday, November 11th, Eddie Jackson and Ree Drummond return as the perfect hosts for the annually anticipated Christmas Cookie Challenge. Cinnamon, spice, and everything nice fills the air this time of year, as does the alluring fragrance of gingerbread, with the brand-new series, Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown, which shines a light on gingerbread-obsessed artisans and their extraordinary edible creations, premiering Monday, November 15th. Then, it’s the ultimate face-off, as two titans of baking, Buddy Valastro and Duff Goldman, take on the holidays as only they can, with bigger, bolder cake builds that embody iconic holiday moments and defy gravity in Buddy vs. Duff: Holiday, premiering Sunday, November 28th.

HGTV has the perfect new holiday series and specials to make the season bright. A special holiday episode of Table Wars, premiering Friday, November 19th, features host Tamera Mowry-Housley, alongside fellow judges Martha Stewart and Chris Hessney who evaluate stunning winter wonderland tablescapes. Also on Friday, November 19th, My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Holiday Extravaganza premieres with host David Bromstad celebrating the holidays in a BIG way in his new Florida home. In House Hunters Ho Ho Home premiering on Monday, November 29th, real estate agent, world-famous strongman, and well-known Santa impersonator, Albie Mushaney, is on a mission to spread holiday cheer by helping clients find their forever home in time for the holidays. Fixer to Fabulous Holiday Surprise, available to stream on Tuesday, December 7th, will follow Dave and Jenny Marrs as they gift the Bella Vista Animal Shelter near their hometown in Bentonville, Arkansas, with a very special renovation to get them ready for the busy Christmas pet adoption season.

The popular annual special White House Christmas 2021 returns on Sunday, December 12th as HGTV cameras go behind the scenes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to showcase the magical holiday transformation and give fans a glimpse of the spectacular trees, breathtaking decor, gingerbread creations, and much more.

Next, in Holmes For The Holidays on Saturday, December 18th, contractor Mike Holmes, his daughter, Sherry Holmes, and son, Michael Holmes, Jr., battle it out in a friendly family Christmas competition to see who can create the most over-the-top light displays, ice sculptures, and gingerbread houses. And, in Home Town: Ben’s Holiday Workshop on Sunday, December 19th, master woodworker Ben Napier will welcome father-daughter duo Captain Sig and Mandy Hansen from Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch — as well as dancer and TV personality Stephen “tWitch” Boss and his wife, Allison Holker Boss, host of Design Star: Next Gen — to his workshop to make special wood creations just in time for Christmas.

Plus, from OWN on Tuesday, November 16th new series The Big Holiday Food Fight makes its debut, with home cooks showcasing their treasured family recipes in a bid to win this fierce competition, all for the chance to see who rules the ultimate holiday table and walks away with a stocking stuffed with $5,000 cash! Additionally, three sensational movies from OWN, each with a unique twist, including, A Chestnut Family Christmas, premiering on Tuesday, November 30th, featuring Meagan Holder (UnREAL), as a talented pastry chef who, while working as a live-in cook and maid, accidentally commits to hosting her family for the holidays. To impress them she poses as the wealthy homeowner, until things go awry, and secrets are exposed in this heartfelt tale with the lesson that success is not defined by material possessions or status, but who you surround yourself with.

On Tuesday, December 7th it is the premiere of A Sisterly Christmas, a tale of two sisters, one who loves Christmas, and the other who does not. An early inheritance at Christmastime takes them on a once-in-a-lifetime luxury holiday vacation, but Christmas proves to be more than they bargained for when they run into their childhood rival, now a snobby socialite, who digs in on these sisters, testing their resolve as women and their bonds of sisterhood.

Then, on Tuesday, December 14th, in A Christmas Stray, a tightly wound corporate executive, played by Andra Fuller (LA Complex), finds himself hopelessly stranded in a small mountain town on Christmas Eve, unable to shake the adorable stray dog who ran him off the road, and irresistibly drawn to the free-spirited, local veterinarian played by Rhyon Nicole Brown (Empire), who is sorely in need of some Christmas magic herself.

With all this and much more, the new discovery+ Holiday Central hub celebrates the best of what the season has to offer.