A Costco cream puff changed Ruiqi Chen's life.

Chen, a 2020 graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism who also earned her master's degree that year, won Season 4 of "The Great American Baking Show," which premiered Monday, May 11, on the Roku Channel. Northwestern celebrated her victory on its official X account on Sunday, August 2.

The path from pandemic hobby to national television started in 2020, when Chen was back in her childhood bedroom in Nashville, Tennessee. Feeling nostalgic, she tried to recreate the Costco cream puffs she loved as a kid. That attempt, she told Northwestern Magazine in June, "sent me down a spiral of learning how to make pastries."

Chen, a former staffer at The Daily Northwestern, was working as a news editor at LinkedIn when she applied for the show in 2023. Her Northwestern classmate Catherine Kim, a fellow Medill '20 alumna who shared a quarantine bubble with Chen in Washington, D.C., encouraged her to try out after sampling her baking at dinner parties.

After completing a rigorous casting process in the spring of 2025, Chen was one of eight amateur bakers selected for the season. Filming took place over three weeks in England during July and August 2025, with judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith evaluating more than 15 cakes, breads, pastries and other creations from Chen alone.

The competition wasn't smooth. During the finale's first challenge, Chen's meringue shells all crumbled. She thought the setback would cost her the title. Instead, entering the final two challenges feeling no pressure, she credits that freed-up mindset with helping her win.

Chen also earned two handshakes from Hollywood during the season's first episode, a rare gesture signifying a perfect bake. Her favorite creation was mini versions of Gâteau St. Honoré, an elegant French dessert of puff pastry, cream puffs and caramelized cream, made during Pastry Week.

To prepare, Chen baked before and after her LinkedIn shifts, mixing dough before work and tweaking recipes afterward, making what she described as a thousand grocery runs for eggs, butter and milk.

"Anyone that is a journalist or has worked in a newsroom is a little bit masochistic in the sense that you kind of like when the stakes are really high, and things are really crazy," Chen told The Daily Northwestern in July, explaining how her journalism training prepared her for the pressure of the baking tent.

Chen has since relocated from Washington, D.C., to New York City. She's been baking movie-themed cakes and sharing them on her TikTok account (@ruiqichn), with creations inspired by films including "Project Hail Mary" and "Wuthering Heights."

All five episodes of Season 4 are available to stream free on the Roku Channel.