Lifestyle

Why I am Obsessed with the Great British Bake Off

For the most part, I’d put up a good argument that American tv is better than British tv. In fact, one of former professors at drama school used to be head of programming at the BBC and he agrees with me as well, and had many in depth discussions with us as to why this is a “New golden age in American television programming.” This is a brilliant discussion and may be fodder for another post in the future.

The point of this post is to discuss my British television crush: I am obsessed with The Great British Bake Off. It might be my favourite thing to watch on television EVER. (Not counting “Buffy” and the “X-files”.)

 

1. The hosts- specifically Sue Perkins.

I have a huge lady crush on this famous lesbian comedianne. I first fell in love with her during her show with Giles Corey, “Supersizers Eat” where they eat like Tudors, Victorians, Romans, etc for an entire week and do health tests before and after seeing how the diet has affected their health.

Sue is hilarious, but still sweet. You can tell she genuinely cares about the contestants. Both Mel and Sue are terrific at putting all the contestants at ease. Mel and Sue are also real life friends, so their tv patter is always natural and easy to watch. Plus, I love seeing Sue accidentally but her elbow in someone’s dessert and feel awful about it.

Mel is on the left, Sue on the right.
Sue, are you in the market for a new best friend?

2. You learn to bake.

If you read here at Rhyme & Ribbons you know that baking is a big part of my life. I love watching this show and discovering the challenge of baking something that I have never even heard of before! Plus the experts, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry always give useful tips for viewers throughout the show to use in their own baking. Plus there’s always a section in the middle of the episode that explains the history of that week’s baking challenge. For example, two weeks ago, there was a 5 minute explanation on the history of the “muffin man” in England. They present the history of baked goods in a really entertaining way.

2013 cast of Bake Off. Don’t all the contestants look super happy to be there?
There’s my man Ali back there behind Mel. Everything he says makes me smile.

3. The setting.

It’s not in some amazing hermetic, slightly medicinal kitchen set like Masterchef, Top Chef or any of those other shows. It’s always in a tent in the middle of the English countryside. And it looks like it has been decorated by Cath Kidston.  There are lakes in the background, trees, lovely green grass… It’s just beautiful.

Look at that setting! (And the way Mel uses her hands when she talks.)

4. The contestants.

Everyone on the show is just so plain nice. They all seemingly lead really fulfilled satisfying lives and baking is their hobby. You can’t really picture a rude, grumpy amateur baker right? Well, there aren’t really! Everyone clearly wants to win, but no one ever seems willing to sabotage their fellow contestants or throw someone under the bus. In fact, if someone is ever really in trouble, one of the other contestants always seems to volunteer to help him out.

You know you want to spend an hour looking at creations like this!

5. The food and all the descriptions of it.

You will finish this show wanting to eat your body weight in sugar. You can’t spend an hour looking at gorgeous pastries and hearing phrases like “soggy bottoms” (a bad thing), “pastry perfection” and hundreds of delicious sounding flavour combinations without wishing for the invention of smell-o-vision. Always watch Bake Off with a snack in hand!

If it has a drinking game, it must be a good show right?
 
In all honesty, I’d love to be a contestant one day. But I know that I’d be the really, really crazy one who cries when her bread doesn’t rise and sits on the floor in front of the oven, staring into it, trying to will things into existence.
 
Three cheers for the Great British Bake Off!

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