In a May 2020 post on his site Reality Blurred, reality TV critic Andy Dehnart cast suspicions on the Buddy vs. Duffjudging process. He said the show’s point system in Season 1 was “super sketchy,” especially because Buddy and Duff were somehow “perfectly tied” going into the first-season finale.

Then, in Season 2, Buddy took the crown with just a 1.5-point margin, even though he lost five of the eight competitions, including the final bake-off. “All of this allowed Buddy vs. Duff 2 to have it both ways: Duff has the most victories, Buddy has his win, everyone goes home happy,” Andy observed. “But this certainly wasn’t a surprising outcome.”

And as Andy pointed out, the Buddy vs. Duff judges didn’t explain their numerical scores either, in the way that the judges do on Food Network’s Tournament of Champions. Plus, the Tournament of Champions judges also judge blindly, averting any suggestion of bias or rigging.