R.I.P. GBBO
It’s been around a week since the finale of 2016s Great British Bake Off and my Wednesday evenings without it already seem like a sad affair. This year’s last episode marked the end of Bake Off as we know and love it, and the producers, contestants and judges let us in for a real treat.
(Photo Credit: The Metro)
The finalists, Jane, Andrew and Candice, probably made up one of the closest finals ever. Heading into this episode it didn’t seem like one stood out more than the others- except from Candice’s skills at having a face free from lipstick smudges despite hours on end of baking! Unfortunately, much to the dismay of probably every female in Britain, the infamous Selasi didn’t make it through to the final and his charm and chilled vibes definitely were missed. Despite this initial disappointment, I was excited to see what the contestants came up with for their pavlovas (it is my Grandpa’s speciality) and they didn’t fail to reach the highest of standards, with both Candice and Jane getting Paul Hollywood handshakes- a highly unusual occurrence, although it did make my heart ache for Andrew whose pavlova didn’t quite live up to expectations.
With his failures in the first challenge, Andrew had his sights set on a victory in the technical in order to stay in with a chance of winning and Mary Berry threw at them the simple yet deceivingly troublesome task of making the perfect Victoria sponge- sans instructions. Andrew’s determination paid off and as Mary and Paul went through each cake his looked the most well executed, but I wouldn’t have turned down the offer to eat any of the sponges, despite Candice’s de-pipping the jam, which apparently seemed like a cardinal sin to Mary!
(Photo Credit: Bing)
It was neck and neck as they went into the showstopper and what a showstopper it was! 49 individual bakes including cake, sausage rolls and. Each contestant brought their own flair to the challenge and even though I don’t eat meat, the sausage rolls had me drooling. I must admit I was a tad disappointed by their cake contributions. Not one of had me in awe, and the “showstopper-ness” was more at the sheer volume of things they had to bake rather than how the final product actually looked. When it came to the tastings both Jane and Andrew had problems with nearly every individual section of their picnic baskets, it seemed as though Andrew’s detailed schedule that laid out every five minutes was no help to him when Candice offered up her basket. Although throughout this season Candice has never really been my favourite, she out did Andrew and Jane by a giant margin and nearly everything Paul and Mary tasted was close to perfection. So, with this in mind I was not shocked at all when she was announced as the winner and even though I was rooting for Andrew, it was the most skilled baker of the day took home the trophy, or a giant bunch of flowers in this case.
BBCs last GBBO episode ended in the same style as every other final, but it was made extra special by Val’s comment that she is organizing a baking trip to Ayia Napa and this seems to have caught the attention of the social media-sphere with many suitable memes making their rounds.
What will Channel 4 have in store for us? No Mel and Sue, no Mary… but I do hear on the grapevine, the intriguing prospect of Richard Ayoade.
(Photo Credit: The Daily Mail)