On your marks… set up your bio-secure bubble… bake! Yes, Tuesday evening at 8pm sees the grand final of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4. And with hot favourite Jürgen Krauss having left last week in a semi-final shocker, it’s all to bake for.
The chattering classes might endlessly drone on about glossier imports like Succession or Squid Game but it’s home-grown favourites which we’re really watching in droves. Bake Off’s whopping audience of nine million means it’s easily the biggest show on Channel 4. Strictly Come Dancing is even more popular, pulling in ratings of 10 million for the BBC. Even ITV’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! just launched with nine million viewers.
When it comes to viewing habits, it seems we still prefer the familiar beats of a cosy reality contest. They help mark out our TV year: as Bake Off packs up its marquee, the jungle campmates string up their hammocks, while Strictly counts us down to Christmas like a sequin-spangled advent calendar. Hard-hitting dramas might get rave reviews but it’s the softer staples which truly unite us on sofas, social media and around watercoolers.
For the second year in a row, the cake-making contest’s cast and crew formed a Covid-secure environment at Down Hall Hotel in Essex to ensure the series could be safely staged. Indeed, this has been the first post-lockdown Bake Off, featuring contestants who discovered their passion by making sourdough and banana bread while stuck at home last year.
After nine weeks of collapsing cakes, surreal skits and controversial eliminations (poor gentle Jürgen), a dozen floury-handed hopefuls have been whittled down to just three – but only one can be crowned winner. It’s the most evenly matched final ever, with the trio having earned two star bakers and two Hollywood handshakes apiece.
Expect a classic signature, a sticky Belgian technical and a showstopper fit for the Mad Hatter’s tea party. But who will succeed reigning champion Peter Sawkins and become the 12th recipient of that coveted glass cake-stand trophy? Here’s our form guide to the runners and riders…
