That’s hardly a surprise. This is the 15th season of Bake Off — you might recall that’s as far as The X Factor got.
True, watching strangers baking lopsided cakes for kitchen experts will always be more enjoyable than listening to them try to sing for talentless pop execs, but the point is this: nothing is supposed to last forever.
Everything has its time, and whatever happens down the line — if Bake Off pulls in more viewers, or the folks at Channel 4 cut their losses — we can at least say this: we had a blast in that fabulous countryside tent.
It ain’t over yet, and from the outset this latest season is keen to remind viewers that there is at least some gas left in the tank.
It begins with our 12 excitable new bakers bigging up the Bake Off brand. “I don’t know how I got here!” says Georgie, a paediatric nurse from Wales, who seems to have forgotten how the application process works.
“The last time I felt this nervous was either before my A-level results,” says Sumayah, a dentistry student from Lancashire, “or when I was in the queue to get tickets for the Taylor Swift concert.”
“This is an absolute dream”, nods Mike, a farmer from Wiltshire, “my mum told me not to cry, I cried three times yesterday!”
Presenters Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond with judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith
And then there is Andy, a mechanic from Essex who doesn’t mess about. “If Paul doesn’t like one of my bakes, I’m gonna jack up his car, take off his wheels, make a few quid, happy days.”
Easy there, Andy. The class of 2024, then, are raring to go, and some are significantly more talented than others. There are no bad bakers on Bake Off, of course — you need to have at least some sort of skill to earn your place in the tent.
Sumayah, for instance, is very good at making a cake that looks like her pet duck, Pato (you read that right).
Andy, on the other hand, is brilliant at making cake bags (it is exactly as it sounds). Is cake week my favourite week on Bake Off? It is, and I’ve decided my life will never be complete until I’ve tried Mike’s extraordinarily effective hyper-realistic illusion book cake.
Despite what you might think, it’s our presenters, Noel Fielding (always a hoot) and Alison Hammond (delightful, as ever), who have the toughest job in the room
Despite what you might think, it’s our presenters, Noel Fielding (always a hoot) and Alison Hammond (delightful, as ever), who have the toughest job in the room.
The Fielmond partnership (if there is a better portmanteau there, I’m all ears) is still finding its feet, and that’s OK.
The best TV duos cannot be hurried, and our enthusiastic hosts go above and beyond.
For Fielding, co-fronting Bake Off means wandering in and out of contestants’ work stations and confusing / captivating the bakers and the judges with absurd punchlines and surreal observations.
You know how he is. Some of us love his shtick; others, like Paul Hollywood, appear to tolerate it. Hammond, meanwhile, plays the best mate/giddy aunt role, the supportive jokester who makes everything better just by being there.
She and Fielding are an odd couple, and their joint Bake Off performance requires some fine tuning, but they’ll get there. Hopefully.
In case you were wondering, it’s Hammond who delivers the silliest line in the entire show.
Paul Hollywood We have Georgie and a hyper-realistic illusion cake inspired by her chicken, Fanny, to thank for that. You can see where this is going. “How does Fanny taste, guys?” Hammond asks Hollywood and his fellow judge, the inimitable Prue Leith.
Ten out of ten for effort, Hammond. Later, Fielding pretends he’s a hyper-realistic illusion cake while his partner in crime tries to take a bite out of him.
Indeed, Bake Off will always be bananas. Stressful, too, and the technical challenge (this week’s involved some rather peculiar Battenberg creations) is occasionally difficult to watch.
Everyone still wants that magical Hollywood handshake (there is just one in the opening episode). Everyone still hopes that Leith will shower them with compliments.
Some contestants are still forgetting about what happens when you add decorations to a cake that is just out of the oven. Never mind, these things happen.
Bake Off isn’t quite as tasty as it used to be, but there are worse ways to pass the time.
The Great British Bake Off continues Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4
