Exploding summer puddings, burnt sponge and a “proper ugly” orang-utan were the highlights of a Bake Off finale that felt stale.
I’m not disputing GBBO as cooking show royalty but this series was hardly as dazzling as previous years.
Remember back in the day when Paul Hollywood was patisserie’s Mr Nasty?
Or when everyone flipped out because Bake Off took its bunting and marched over to C4?
Now we’re lucky to get a raised eyebrow over tarragon shortbread.
Gone are the heady days of #Bingate, #Custardgate, sliced-open fingers, store-bought fondant (the shame) and general tent-based tension.
Prue Leith didn’t even accidentally tweet out the winner.
Everyone loves each other – and that’s half the problem.
Part of the appeal is the cheerful, polite Britishness of it all, but it’s three hugs away from a cuddle-cult.
The finalists – Syabira, Abdul and Sandro – were all equally loveable, of course.
After a fairly yawnsome challenge to make a picnic, with the most notable moment being a ‘too-large’ egg and cress sarnie, there was disaster all round for the technical task of summer pud bombes.
Sandro’s jelly didn’t set, despite his prayers to Beyonce. Why not? “I don’t know, it’s all about science, innit,” he said.
Syabira’s pudding had also slightly collapsed, leaving Abdul to take the win for being the least terrible.
For the showstopper, they had to make a large edible sculpture with a beautiful planet theme.
“It’s harder to assemble than I thought,” muttered Abdul, as he appeared to be playing Jenga with his own creation.
A beehive apparently, although you’d never have known.
Sandro’s vision of sea, sun, rainbow, clouds and planets was gorgeous – in theory. But in reality? Not so much. And the sponge was burnt.
Syabira made a cake in the shape of an orang-utan holding a forest over his head.
“That is proper ugly,” she observed.
“Nah, you’re getting a call from Attenborough,” said Noely-pops, as Matt Lucas called him.
Paul and Prue did enjoy all the cakes (side note: why aren’t Matt and Noel ever allowed to try them?) but there was no wow factor.
Despite the fairly dull finale, the emotion of Syabira’s win still caught me unawares.
Her victory was hard-earned. She even got a Hollywood hug.
Maybe the show has just tried too hard this year, with a misfired Mexican theme, random Halloween week (aired more than two weeks before Halloween) and ridiculous challenges in laughable timeframes.
I fear for the future of this format, which may just have become a little overbaked.
