Bake Off, half-term report: the bland millennials are still the teachers’ pets
Cake, Biscuit, Bread, Chocolate and Pastry Weeks have all been tackled and ticked off. We’re now five episodes into the new series of The Great British Bake Off, marking the midway point of the nation’s favourite foodie contest.
What better time to run the rule over the 11th series and see how it’s faring – top of the class or banished to the naughty step?
The hosts
The departing Sandi Toksvig was replaced by Matt Lucas as Noel Fielding’s co-presenter this year. The Little Britain mirth-maker made a splash from the start, kickstarting the series in Boris Johnson garb for a spoof government briefing (“Stay Alert, Protect Cake, Save Loaves”).
Worries that an all-male, all-fortysomething hosting duo might upset Bake Off’s magical alchemy soon proved unfounded. Lucas has provided heart, humour and jolly patterned shirts. He’s quick to defuse tension by bursting into song or doing a daft voice. He also gets excited by good baking, regularly snaffling treats.
Incumbent presenter Fielding seemed overshadowed and even a little spiky at first, but is gradually returning to top comedic form himself. Lucas is definitely the star pupil – Fielding must try harder.
The judges
This is the fourth series that Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, aka “Praul and Poo”, have been together as a judgely pairing. Their well-honed chemistry is warm, their mutual respect is palpable and they make a reassuringly relaxed double-act.
Last year’s series attracted criticism for the judging becoming too harsh, losing Bake Off’s trademark kindness. There have been stern verdicts this time – especially from Hollywood – but Leith has tended to take the edge off them by being more forgiving. She often praises bakes for flavour if her colleague is criticising their appearance or texture.
Hollywood handshakes have become a valued currency again, with just two doled out in five weeks. The Merseyside master baker is also a good sport, allowing himself to be the butt of Lucas and Fielding’s affectionate ridicule. Leith has even let slip the odd accidental innuendo, notably about Mark Lutton’s “large nuts”.
Their only real misstep was Hollywood claiming in Bread Week that rainbow bagels “represent the NHS”, which went down badly with the LGBT community online. Room for improvement.
The challenges
Another criticism of the 2019 series was that challenges became too obscure and fiddly. Happily, this has been addressed. The technical round has gone back to basics, with the likes of pineapple upside-down cakes, macaroons, bagels and eclairs – things viewers have actually heard of, unlike last year’s requests. Cassatelles, verrines and beignets, anyone?
Rounds that have gone badly – see last week’s chocolate brownies – have been down to bakers over-complicating their recipes, rather than the fault of the challenges themselves.
The “cake bust” showstopper in the opening episode produced an amusing array of celebrity sponge-heads and proved a great way to introduce the new batch of bakers. Climactic bakes since – 3D biscuit table settings, bread plaques, pastry cages – have tended towards the sculptural.
Some actual, you know, cakes would be welcome?
The Covid-safe measures
“Bake Off in a bubble” has been an unqualified success. A self-contained biosphere was set up in the new location of Down Hall Hotel, Bishop’s Stortford. The cast and crew, numbering 120 in total, made sacrifices to live there for six weeks while the series was filmed in late summer.
The result, for viewers at least, is the Bake Off we know and love. Unlike other prime-time shows, which can only stay on-air thanks to eerily empty studios, socially distanced stars or endless video-links, it’s easy to lose yourself in the tent action and forget there’s a pandemic at all.
A faultless performance which merits a framed certificate. Or at least a gold-star sticker.
The bakers
A magnificent seven bakers remain and they’re a lovely bunch (except possibly for divisive Dave). But the surviving seven are clustered in age – five are thirtysomethings, with all but one of those aged 31 or 32 – which feels a little like a repeat of last year’s blandly millennial field.
It’s a shame that some of the more diverse characters have fallen by the wayside. Marc Elliott, 51, and 20-year-old “Baby Peter” Sawkins are the only outliers left. The older eccentrics, Rowan Williams and Linda Rayfield, have both gone home. So has cat-walking, owl-eyed cult heroine Sura Selvarajah. That said, it’s hard to argue that any of them deserved to be saved from elimination.
The potential winners
If we were asked to predict the three finalists now, we’d plump for precision prodigy Peter (as predicted by The Telegraph before the series began), the ever-consistent Hermine and coolly creative Lottie Bedlow (who has 28,000 Instagram followers – twice the fanbase of any other baker). But that’s just an educated guess, because this is the closest-fought contest for years, with no obvious pace-setter at this stage.
We’ve seen five different Star Bakers in the opening five weeks – the first time this has occurred since series seven –indicating that the contenders are of a similar standard. Anyone from the chasing pack of four – sincere single father Marc, cheery ’n’ beardy Mark Lutton, unblinking mango addict Dave Friday or reigning Star Baker Laura Adlington –could jump into the top three.
As we’ve learnt, even strong bakers like Sura are only ever one stinker of a week away from the exit. On the flipside, Bake Off contestants often put together a late run towards the glass cake-stand trophy. Series six champion Nadiya Hussain only hit her stride in the home stretch, while current champion David Atherton was never named Star Baker. It’s still all to bake for.
Overall verdict
The new host, Matt Lucas, and the pandemic-proofing have impressed, while the Sura/Dave “splatgate” fly-swatting accident added early intrigue. But the series since has been solid rather than spectacular. Bake Off needs both perspiration and inspiration over the next five weeks to achieve its full potential. Keep it up.
