Donna Kelce, Pillsbury, consumers to choose Bake-Off winner

General Mills' 53rd Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest, hosted by football mom Donna Kelce, is heading into its final stretch. Four home bakers are now in the running for $50,000 and the title of Most Valuable Baker (MVB). This year, Pillsbury is including a football-themed Sweet vs. Savory showdown, and consumers are invited to help make the final call. The brand's Doughboy and Kelce are calling on consumers to vote for their favorite recipe at pillsbury.bakeoff.com through January 25. Recipe finalists include: Kickoff Kettle Corn Bars and Big Win Cookie Bark (Team Sweet), and Blitz It Beef Bites and Tailgate Pimiento Swirls (Team Savory). 

Joey Chestnut returns to World Bagel Eating Championship

Courtesy of Siegel's

Joey Chestnut, the number-one-ranked competitive eater in the world, will defend his world bagel-eating title against the world’s top-ranked Major League Eating athletes at the fourth-annual Siegel’s Bagelmania World Bagel Eating Championship at 11 am on Saturday, Jan. 31, in Las Vegas. The competitors will return to the city's Jewish delicatessen, Siegel’s Bagelmania, to battle for the championship title and belt as well as a share of $10,000 in prize money. Last year, Chestnut ate 15 bagels with cream cheese in eight minutes. That matched Chestnut’s prior year’s performance and edged out Patrick Bertoletti who ate 14 ½ bagels and Geoffrey Esper with 13 1/8 bagels.

Chomps hits the slopes

Courtesy of Chomps

Meat snacks brand Chomps announced a year-long partnership with Ikon Pass, the premier ski and snowboard season pass. In a shared effort to help consumers Pack the Good Times, the collaboration aims to meet consumers where they are, in the moments they need nutritious snacks most, the brand says. With this partnership, the brand becomes the exclusive meat stick vendor for 2026 across seven U.S. mountain destinations. Chomps is also debuting its first-ever lifestyle collection: an LTO winter drop featuring a custom scarf, a cozy beanie, and a snack variety pack for $49.95, plus launching a sweepstakes, offering one winner $2,000 to spend at Steamboat Ski Resort (Steamboat Springs, CO), plus lift tickets and Chomps product to fuel their adventure.

Skittles, Elijah Wood partner on live Big Game ad

Courtesy of Skittles

This year, when ordering snacks for the Big Game, Mars' Skittles brand may just be delivering something unforgettable to consumers, as well. The brand is turning traditional advertising on its head by delivering a live-performance commercial directly to a consumer's home. Partnering with Gopuff, the campaign features actor Elijah Wood surprising one lucky shopper with a surreal, in-person Skittles ad experience. Through Jan. 21, consumers can visit DeliverTheRainbow.com to learn how to enter the contest to have Elijah Wood show up at their front door on Sunday, Feb. 8, delivering a live Skittles commercial—and, of course, the candy itself.

Wenzel's Farm continues fishing pro partnership

Courtesy of Wenzel's Farm

Meat snacks brand Wenzel’s Farm announced it will again be the title sponsor for Wisconsin-based professional bass fisherman, Steve Lopez. Lopez has been representing Wenzel’s Farm with a company wrapped boat and truck for the last four years, and will again be representing the brand. Wenzel’s Farm offers 13 meat snack stick varieties, four flavors of Pro Snack Sticks (16 g of protein each), three flavors of venison snack sticks, and five varieties of jerky, all of which are crafted in small batches using premium cuts of hardwood-smoked meat.