From Reality-TV to THC: The SpacePoppers! Team Is Still Winning

When Rodolfo Goncalves and Sara Schonour met while competing on (and
eventually winning) the Netflix show *Baking Impossible*, they never
imagined they’d co-found a cannabis edibles company. Their creative
partnership sparked on set, where they crafted light fixtures from
chocolate and created a lifesize car made primarily of popcorn.

What started as playful food experimentation eventually became something
more: a new kind of edible experience both were eager to explore.

Four years after taking the *Baking Impossible* trophy, Goncalves and
Schonour celebrated another win when the brand that sprang from an on-set
partnership, SpacePoppers!, was recognized with a 2025 NECANN Cup award for
Best Baked Goods & Snacks.

But the journey from TV to THC hasn’t been exactly linear. Schonour, a
lighting engineer, was a cannabis enthusiast when the pair met, while cake
designer Goncalves was new to the space. Neither possessed any experience
with infusion or working in a highly regulated, gray-area industry.
Together, they approached cannabis edibles the same way they approached
reality-TV baking challenges: with curiosity, hustle, and joy.
A bond born on reality TV

On *Baking Impossible*, the pair bonded over wild ideas and culinary
extremes.

“While I was on the show, I was trying to get all of the other bakers to go
in on a new idea with edibles,” Schonour said. “No one was saying yes, and
then one day Rodolfo was like, ‘Why aren’t you asking me?’

“He wasn’t a cannabis guy, but he said, ‘Maybe I can be,’” she continued.
“We started thinking about chocolates, because we had actually made some
light fixtures out of chocolate on the show. But [chocolate] has its
limitations: the heat element, the cost, the weight… Then, as we were
testing, Rodolfo was like, ‘Let’s do popcorn. You love popcorn.’

“From there, we talked about infusing butter in caramel to create a seal
around the popcorn, and then use that shell as the infusion vehicle,”
Schonour said. “We’re not from [the edibles] world, so we had to do our
homework. Eventually, we landed on tinctures instead of butter, and found a
flavor profile we thought really worked.”

Throughout the research-and-development process, Schonour and Goncalves
gave away samples, seeking input from friends.

“We went to a party where we brought [the product] with us, and people who
didn’t know us started offering to pay for it,” Goncalves said. “So, we
eventually started looking into doing this for real. People were
encouraging us along the way.”
Learning on the fly

Out of necessity, the team learned everything on the fly, but that’s
exactly how they succeeded on *Baking Impossible*: by remaining curious and
flexible, and adapting to unforeseen challenges.

“There’s a lot of overlap between this world and the Netflix show. Just
like on the show, we faced a lot of time constraints and a lot of moving
parts,” Schonour said. “We play to each other’s strengths, though. My wife
is our logistics [manager], and she helps us with bookkeeping and
coordination with dispensaries and brand partners. Rodolfo is all about
marketing, making new partnerships, and sharing who we are.”

While Goncalves talks up the brand, Schonour works to form strategic
partnerships, making sure all the business angles are covered.

But no matter how serious the endeavor has become, “the main idea is we’re
having fun,” Schonour said. “If it’s not fun, we’re not going to do it. It
was the same way on the show: The teams who did the best also had the most
fun.”

SpacePoppers! may be whimsical, yet the partners are not unaware the
industry sprang from somber roots.

“It’s something we don’t talk about enough, but a lot of early movement
came from AIDS activists fighting for access,” Schonour said. “There’s a
real lineage of resilience and advocacy here, and we’re glad to be part of
it.”

That’s part of the reason they’re determined to address a range of consumer
demographics.

“Sara is high-dosage, and I am very low-dosage,” Goncalves said. “That’s
why we’ve found that popcorn is good to share. For her, she can eat the
whole package, while I open mine, eat a bit, share the rest, or close it
and go back for more later.”

As microdosing continues to trend, that shareable, resealable format seems
well aligned with where the market is heading.
A fresh take on edibles

In a market saturated with gummies and chocolates, SpacePoppers! offers
something different: a shareable, snackable edible that’s as fun to look at
as it is to eat. At the core, the product is about friendship, creativity,
and not being afraid to do things a little differently, Goncalves said.

“People use cannabis as medicine, and I hope this brings them exactly what
they’re looking for, along with a high dose of joy,” Schonour said. “We
want everyone to feel like they’re part of a club — a cool-kids’ club where
they can try something new and be the first to know about the fun.”