The Great British Baking Show’s tear-stained “Final” portends a permanent tonal shift
When Love Productions moved The Great British Bake Off from the publicly-funded, ad-free BBC
One to the commercially-funded Channel 4, many fans feared the show would lose
its wholesome charm. Then series eight premiered, with Prue Leith stepping in
for judge Mary Berry and Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding taking over hosting
duties from Mel and Sue, and fans’ fears were laid to rest. The show took pains
to recreate the show’s peaceful, supportive aesthetic and tone, and it seemed Bake Off was in good hands. There were a
few blips in series nine, but overall, the show seemed on track. Series 10 has
been much more controversial. Questionable eliminations and underwhelming
challenges plagued the middle of the season, and the likelihood of a satisfying
final seemed dubious at best. Fortunately, The
Great British Baking Show has once again proven doubters wrong, delivering
an engaging, well-structured close to the season. Unfortunately, the finale also
underscores the thread of emotional exploitation present throughout the season,
a new apparent staple of this era of the show.
The difference is felt right from the top of the episode.
Rather than opening with a highlight reel of the finalists’ greatest successes,
the finale begins with a montage of the season’s biggest mishaps. After attempting
to build suspense with dramatic voice-over and one-on-one interviews, it’s time
to head to the tent. The signature challenge for the final is a surprising one:
The bakers must make the ultimate chocolate cake. That’s it. No fancy brief, no
specifics, just make a delicious, finale-worthy chocolate cake. As a viewer,
this is somewhat underwhelming, but for the contestants, the open-ended nature
of the task is daunting. Too straightforward, and they’ll get dinged for lack
of creativity. Too finicky, and they’ll be scolded for straying from the
textures and flavors that have made chocolate cake a classic. There’s some
foreshadowing throughout the segment, but mostly, the producers take advantage
of the stress-light round to cut to interviews with the bakers’ friends and
families.
In the end, David’s chocolate, Armagnac, and prune cake is
great on look and texture, but falls down on flavor, with the brandy
overpowering the chocolate. Alice’s chocolate, pear, ginger, and maple cake
looks a bit wobbly—her middle layer ran into trouble—but tastes good, though Paul
and Prue disagree over whether it’s chocolatey enough. As for Steph, her Black
Forest cake may be a throwback, and may be slightly over-baked, but it’s
delicious and a good iteration of a classic. No one hits it out of the park,
but David, Alice, and Steph all come out of the signature round more or less
unscathed, a prospect they hope to repeat in the technical.
Having learned from the fiasco that was series nine’s fire
pit final technical, Paul sets a far more appropriate challenge this season.
The bakers must make six twice-baked Stilton soufflés, accompanied by thin, crisp
lavosh crackers. Steph’s grimace on hearing the brief sums up the bakers’
reactions nicely; particularly with a tight, 70 minute time limit, this is
going to be tricky. Soufflés are notoriously difficult, deflating if you even
look at them the wrong way. However, twice-baked soufflés are more forgiving, puffing
back up when returned to the oven. There’s usually considerable time between when
each round finishes and when judging begins, as the crew needs to tidy up the
work stations, so opting for a twice-baked soufflé is a nice way to get around
the production challenges these delicious and challenging bakes present.
David is in his element, confident as always in the
technical, but right away Alice and Steph run into trouble. Alice has never
made a roux before, a fact that surprises Sandi, and Steph over-whips her egg
whites. While Alice seems to find her stride, Steph keeps running into trouble.
She over-fills her ramekins and uses cold water for her bain-marie instead of
the hot water needed to steam her bake in the oven. These mistakes compound and
when it’s time to turn out her soufflés, she’s met with soupy, raw batter. Here
is when the episode turns. Overwhelmed, Steph starts to tear up, losing her
composure as she struggles to power through a mistake she knows has cost her the
title.
In the first seven seasons, when contestants started to melt
down, hosts Mel
and Sue would come over and console them, shielding them from the cameras and
using profanity to ensure the BBC wouldn’t be able to air the footage. They
were very protective of the contestants and did their best to make sure they
weren’t exploited to gin up emotional beats for the show. This season has
featured several teary moments, but unlike in previous seasons, the camera has
stayed right in the bakers’ faces, with one of the hosts eventually stepping in
to buck up the struggling baker. Noel and Sandi seem to have strong relationships
with the bakers and come across well, but swooping in to reassure a contestant
is one thing. Making sure their breakdowns can’t be aired is something else entirely.
By highlighting these emotionally fraught moments, rather than granting the
bakers privacy until they regain their composure, Baking Show has sacrificed its defining element, its kindness. One
instance of this would be concerning. Two would be disappointing. In season 10,
it’s happened over and over, and Steph’s tears through the technical are just the
latest example. Baking Show used to be better than this. In season 10, it’s just
another reality show happy to exploit its contestants’ vulnerabilities.
When judging rolls around, it’s no surprise that Steph winds
up in third. As Prue says, her soufflés are closer to sauce. Alice is in second,
having struggled with her bake as well, while David is the clear leader, his
soufflés and crackers more or less turning out well. Given his shaky signature,
at least compared to the other finalists, David needed a strong technical, and now,
as has happened so frequently in season 10, everything will come down to the
showstoppers. Before the bakers can start the showstopper round, though, it’s
revealed that Alice’s parents are having trouble with their flight in for the
finale picnic. She’s emotional about it, and so unsurprisingly, the judges and
hosts ask her about it over and over, causing her to well up each time. They make
sure to update Alice when her parents manage to board their plane at least, a
moment of triumph to pair with the earlier tugs to the heartstrings.
The showstopper itself is an interesting one. The bakers
must create a “deliciously deceptive feast,” a picnic basket filled with
ingredients designed to look like other things. They must have cake, enriched
bread, and biscuits, and they’ll need to fashion the basket itself out of nougatine.
Each of David, Alice, and Steph’s concepts look promising and sound delicious;
everything will come down to execution. David is cool and focused, even as he
wrangles his nougatine, and Alice manages to focus and even tidies up a bit,
but Steph is a mess. Her macarons give her trouble, her bread dough isn’t
right—she knows this won’t be her day. This puts her in an understandably bad
headspace that she isn’t able to pull out of. Of course, the camera stays right
with her throughout her scattered final bake, and the episode returns to her
much more than necessary. It feels almost punitive, as does the decision to
show her judging last. Paul and Prue start with Alice, whose bakes are a mixed
bag, then go to David, who knocks this showstopper out of the park, and then
end with Steph, whose critiques are the Baking
Show equivalent of a sad trombone cue.
After the showstopper judging, the result is clear: David must
be the winner. He did by far the best in the technical and showstopper rounds and
his signature wasn’t nearly enough of a misfire to outweigh his successes.
Sandi and the judges try to make it seem more competitive, but this is one of
the least suspenseful final deliberations in Bake Off history. It’s surprising, given David’s come-from-behind
win, that the show didn’t do more to play up his underdog status. His arc in
the final plays well, and he’s certainly deserving, but given that the
producers and editors knew that this is where the season was heading, it’s
puzzling that they didn’t do more to prepare it.
This finale leaves viewers
with two main emotions: Excitement for David, and heartbreak for Steph. It didn’t
need to be that way. Giving Steph more space throughout the weekend and
particularly before recording her post-showstopper interviews would have tempered
the gut-punch of her loss. Positioning David as a viable underdog even a few
episodes earlier, rather than an also-ran, would have made his victory more exhilarating.
Given their choices here and throughout the season, it’s hard to escape the
conclusion that the producers are now more interested in milking drama from
their contestants than preserving the unique and supportive tone that has made Baking Show an international sensation.
The finale, and a good long break from this new flavor of Bake Off, couldn’t have come any sooner.
Stray observations
- A big thank you to Danette Chavez and Baraka Kaseko, who helped me with the images for my coverage all season. Speaking of images…
- I can’t end my season 10 coverage without shouting out Tom
Hovey, the illustrator behind the gorgeous signature and showstopper concept
art for each bake. His drawings are beautiful, every time, and only the very
best bakes live up to them. - I may be upset with the Baking Show producers, but I don’t put any of that disappointment onto David, who did a wonderful job and absolutely earned his win. His “Pic-Nik” looks amazing, validating the whole concept as a finale showstopper in a way that neither Alice nor Steph’s baskets do.
- Despite my misgivings with this season and the show as a
whole, I’ve really enjoyed this cast of bakers. They’re absolutely delightful,
and if Channel 4 does a reunion special or All Stars edition with these bakers,
I’ll be back with bells on.