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Bethel Park resident, college roommate win ‘Cake Wars’

By Harry Funk 3 min read
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Bethel Park's Tristan Slater, left, and Sacramento, Calif., native Emily Bartlow show off the winning cake.

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On the set of "Cake Wars"

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Emily and Tristan flank "Cake Wars" cast members Waylynn Lucas and Ron Ben Israel.

Say you’re selected to appear on national television. Your first inclination probably is to open the nearest window and shout, “Hey, I’m going to appear on national television!”

Now consider the plight of Emily Bartlow and Bethel Park resident Tristan Slater, Grove City College roommates who got the nod for the Food Network’s “Cake Wars.”

Not only did they have to keep mum about their travel destinations when the show was filmed in October, by when they returned from Los Angeles, they had an even bigger secret they were sworn to keep.

“The first thing you want to do is tell your friends and family, ‘We won!'” Emily said.

She and Tristan bested three other duos in the “Mincraft” episode that aired Feb. 1. And their friends and family had no idea of the outcome until they saw it on television.

“Seeing their faces and their reaction made the secret 100 percent worth it,” Tristan said. “Honestly, I’m not sure how we managed to keep it a secret. You have to remain impassive around people you know so well. It’s hard to keep a straight face. And us winning added to it.”

Grove City officials arranged for Emily, who graduated in December, to fly from Florida for the big TV event.

“That was incredibly generous of them,” Tristan, a senior in her final semester, said. “We were so grateful to watch together.”

The college also hosted a party in their honor a few days after everyone learned of their victory.

No one in this neck of the woods learned they’d be on “Cake Wars” until one week before the episode aired. The premise of the series is a competition to come up with the best cake for a special event, and Emily and Tristan made a lingonberry-layered creation during the show for a party celebrating the popular video game Minecraft.

“To be honest, we were so busy the entire time, running around every which way, we barely had time to take note of how the other contestants were progressing,” Tristan said about the on-camera experience. “The first time we stepped back and looked at it is when the clock stopped.”

They did get a clue about how the might be doing at the end of the first of two rounds.

“The judges liked our cakes so much,” Tristan recalled. That gave us a boost going into Round 2.”

Then came time to announce the winners, and Emily kept a close eye on host Jonathan Bennett for whose name he was going to call.

“You’re waiting and waiting, and trying to figure out what he’s going to say,” she said.

And then the best friends hugged while laughing and crying, celebrating what they thought would be next to impossible when Emily learned she was selected to appear as “lead baker” and asked Tristan to work with her.

“We had no ambitions or expectations of being on a national TV show,” Tristan recalled. “We laughed about it and said, no way could it happen.”

They not only made it happen but made a great impression with the result of their culinary skills. As the Food Network website quotes “Cake Wars” judge Waylynn Lucas as saying:

“This cake brought a little tear to my eye. It is so unique and so delicious, and so smart.”

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