Naya Rivera News: Netflix Show Sugar Rush Honors Late Glee Actress

Naya Rivera, the Glee actress who tragically drowned at the age of 33 earlier this month after going missing from a boating trip with her young son on California’s Lake Piru, will be honored on an episode of Netflix’s Sugar Rush baking competition.

Naya Rivera Honored

According to TVLine, the Glee alum will appear as a guest judge on an episode that airs tonight—July 31, and the episode will be dedicated to the late actress, including an on-screen remembrance preceding the opening credits.

Rivera served on a Sugar Rush panel that included professional chefs Candace Nelson and Adriano Zumbo, and series host Hunter March. Rivera taped her appearance for the show back in February, weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down filming in Los Angeles.

On Sugar Rush, March asks Rivera if she considers herself a baker and she replied in the affirmative.

“I have a four-year-old son, so you’re kind of required to know how to bake at that point,” she told him, revealing his favorite was chocolate-chip cookies.

Best known for her six-year run as the strong, feisty cheerleader Santana Lopez on Glee, Rivera routinely showed off her singing chops with songs such as Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, Amy Winehouse’s Valerie, and tragically, the Band Perry’s hit, If I Die Young, which she sang as a tribute to the character of Finn, after real-life cast-mate Cory Monteith also sadly passed away.

Santana was a character who wouldn’t take any punches and spoke her mind, fighting for her friends. She also represented the LGBTQ community proudly, marrying her longtime BFF Brittany in Glee’s final season.

Rivera started in show business at an early age, nabbing guest roles on TV shows such as The Royal Family, Family Matters, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. After Glee, her credits included Devious Maids, Step Up: High Water, and The Bernie Mac Show. She also served as a guest co-host on The View and was a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race.