DES MOINES, Iowa —
Update, March 21
Spoiler alert: he won it all!
Fuller got together with many of the people who had supported him over the years to watch the show.
"The reason I wanted to have a viewing party is because these people have supported me since I was drawing things and wishing people would just look at my drawings and then those drawings turned into two edible pieces of art, you know, and like when I really wasn't that talented, these people were always here supporting me," he said.
Reminiscing on how he got on the path here, he said, "One day I got this message in my inbox and said hey, we think that you'd be perfect for the show. We're gonna tell you just we're just gonna give you the crumbs and not tell you anything about it."
"My very first sculpture cake that I ever did was a suitcase and I thought I was like so talented. And so like you know, incredibly good at what I was doing."
In the end, Fuller came full circle, winning the finale with another suitcase cake; updating the design to be older, tattered, and signify age and travel.
"I wanted to my chance to prove to people that I'm the best at what I do and I did that, you know I took it home for Iowa."
Original Story
Des Moines native Andrew Fuller is making everyday objects edible on the new Netflix series "Is it Cake?"
Artists create cake replicas of everything from handbags to sewing machines "in a mind-bending baking contest inspired by a popular meme," according to the show's description.
The "is it cake?" memes took off in 2020 after a video by Tasty went viral, showing chefs cutting into items that looked like Crocs, toilet paper and even pizza to reveal they are actually made of cake.
Users replied with similarly startling videos, like this one revealing a human hand and a rat to actually, in fact, be cake.
Fuller is competing against eight others for the top prize. He said this isn't the first time he's put his baking skills to the test on a game show, but there's something different about this one.
"It's blowing up all over the place," Fuller said. "I'm like pinching myself every day that I get to be a part of like, the first-ever season of this crazy viral sensation."
He said he's applied for plenty of opportunities before and not heard back, but the "Is it Cake?" team actually reached out to him saying they thought he would be a perfect fit.
"I'm the weirdo, people know that like, they get the weird from me from the jump. But then you also have to be talented. You're this cake artist, you know that you have to do something different," Fuller said.
The show started filming during the pandemic, when most people were laying low at home.
"When I'm bored and creative in my homes, I find a random object around the house, and I make a cake out of it," Fuller said.
Now, he says being able to have an escape is critical.
"We have the things happening in Russia, like everything is just so dark. And so like, it's a bummer right now. So we need some mindless, stupid entertainment that can just take us away and escape and figure out, is it cake?" Fuller said.
His favorite creation on the show came in the finale, when the artists got to choose what to make. Fuller drew on his love of travel to craft a suitcase.
"My very first sculpture cake that I ever did was a suitcase, and I thought I was like so talented," he said. "And then I look at it now and I'm still proud of it, but I wanted to like level it up, and I wanted to kind of come full circle, represent what I'm doing in my life and show how far I've come."
As for what's next, Fuller's ultimate goal is to have his own show. He's also planning to open a brick-and-mortar shop on SW 9th Street at the end of spring.
The show is streaming now on Netflix, and you can see more of Fuller's journey on "Good Morning Iowa" from 5-7 a.m. Monday.
► Download the We Are Iowa app
► Sign up for Local 5's "5 Things to Know" email newsletter
► Subscribe to Local 5 News on YouTube
WATCH | 'American Idol' interview: Winterset, Iowa native Sam Moss