I am going to blog about this programme because due to my sister being a baker herself I usually end up joining her in watching it.
The Great British Bake Off is a ‘BAFTA award-winning British television programme’ and baking competition set up in a marquee in a field, presented by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. These two eccentric women take the competitive edge off the programme and replace it with cringey jokes and humorous anecdotes. They do make the competition that little bit more enjoyable and as a viewer you grow to love them as they show affection and support to each and every amateur baker.
This is an interview with Mel and Sue at the BAFTA TV awards 2013, I find their humour so entertaining:
The judges are cookery book writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood. Mary Berry is a sweetie, always trying to look for the good in the bakers produce, and being the wise and smiley one. Paul on the other hand is almost like the Simon Cowell of the competition, searching for perfection and bringing the mistakes and problems of the bake to the light.
The Programme takes 13 amateur bakers and confronts them with 3 challenges per episode. This is what each contestant has to do in every episode:
- Signature Challenge – a bake using a tried and tested recipe that the amateur bakers make for their family and friends.
- Technical Challenge – a bake using the same ingredients and recipe provided by the judges Berry and Hollywood. The recipe however has missing instructions and is designed to test the knowledge and skill of the bakers. The bakers are not told beforehand what the challenge might be, and the judges do not observe the baker at work and judge the result blind.
- Showstopper Challenge – a bake designed to impress the judges.
In every episode one of the contestants gets selected star baker chosen by Paul and Mary, and they secure a place for the next week as one person goes out every week. This brings the competition to an emotional level with the contestants as they get very upset or worked up if a challenge goes wrong, and if one has to leave and has an interview after you can blatantly tell they are fighting back tears, its almost painful to watch as you empathize with them because you get to know them more and more each episode.
Another entertaining thing about The Great British Bake Off is the amount of inuendos that are said and when put out of baking context are extremely humerous. Scott Mills does an innuendo Bingo part on his show and sometimes the Bake Off is used in it, providing excellent material for the listeners at home. Innuendo Bingo is a game/ challenge where Scott Mills gets his co presenter Chris and either a celebrity or another Radio 1 DJ and sit them opposite eachother, making sure theres plenty of waterproof layers over the electrical equipment in the studio. Both people then fill their mouths with water whilst Scott Plays out innuendos and they have to try and hold the water in their mouths so if they cant they spit it all over the person opposite them. This is an excellent addition to Scotts show and is highly entertaining even if you aren’t watching it on the live stream. Here is a clip of innuendo Bingo mentioning The Bake Off at 6.30 minutes on Radio 1:
Jessica Morris's AS Blog 