“Wrap Battle” is my present obsession.
Freeform’s new gift-wrapping competition series airs six hour-long episodes over the next three weeks (Mondays, 9 EST/PST). If your heart breaks at the sight of a “soggy bottom” on “The Great British Baking Show,” preheat your DVR now.
Sheryl Underwood of “The Talk” serves as host and judge, cracking jokes with fellow judge Carson Kressley. The two have great chemistry, which Kressley, also a judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” attributes to being “a little bit like sisters from other misters. We have the same sensibility, and we have a good time.”
Wanda Wen, co-founder of the boutique Soolip, which specializes in high-end stationery and paper goods, is the show’s third regular judge, while royal gift-wrapper Candy Spelling (who had three rooms devoted to wrapping in her former Holmby Hills, California, mansion) is among the guest judges.
The series has no shortage of drama or stakes, as nine wrappers compete for a grand prize worth $50,000.
The episodes kick off with a Swift Gift challenge, followed by the more taxing Big Gift competition. At the end of each episode, a contestant is sent home. Drama is unwrapped in the second episode when a team challenge leads one group to turn on its rival.
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Underwood likens the show to “Shark Tank” and “Survivor,” but there’s also a hint of “The Apprentice.”
“I did not know that scissors could be used to stab somebody in the back,” she says, speaking figuratively. “I did not know that ribbon could be used to choke somebody.”
“And you would never think that in a gift-wrapping competition. You’d think that everybody’s coming in with mistletoe and eggnog and candy canes,” she adds. “They really wanted to win this money!”
There are also tears, a show of emotion that surprised Kressley.
“These people are so passionate about their craft, and obviously everybody wants to win,” he says, “It’s not just a lot of money, but also recognition in their field of being the best in the business that really elevates the stakes and makes people probably a little more emotional than they would normally be. It’s not the holidays if there’s no tears and there’s no drama.”
Among the nine contestants, Underwood urges viewers to look out for Olga Von Light.
“Just remember I said Olga,” she says. “From the first time you see Olga, look out for Olga!”
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Kressley is slightly more tight-lipped when giving his thoughts on the contestant. “I thought she had the best outfits on the show,” he says. “And she’s definitely very competitive.”
Spelling also made an impression on set, as someone who once described her gift wrapping room as “therapeutic” would. Underwood says Spelling is actually “very relatable and very accessible.”
“She’s very knowledgeable and very hands-on,” says Kressley, adding she taught the “Wrap Battle” cast “about creating a beautiful presentation and taking your time and making it look perfect and using fun adornment.”
Spelling says she’s a fan of “everything DIY.” “For me – designing, packaging and wrapping gifts – is such a fun outlet for creativity,” she says in a statement from her spokesperson Flo Grace. “Some might even call it an art.”
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