OVEN READY
BETTER late than never, thanks to all things coronavirus, but Bake Off is back! While some things remain the same – the calming theme tune, the tent sitting proudly in a lovely landscape, and a batch of bakers currently blissfully oblivious as to how apocalyptically stressful baking can actually be – some things are markedly different. There’s a new co-host for one, as Matt Lucas takes over from
Sandi Toskvig, and the whole series has been filmed during the midst of a global pandemic. But rather than go down the social distancing route – it’d be nigh-on impossible to manage, and while watching Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood trying to taste cakes from two metres away might be comical, it certainly wouldn’t be practical.
So instead the whole operation has been moved to a hotel in the Essex countryside, and all the contestants and crew agreed to go into quarantine and live together for seven weeks. It’s the Bake-Off Bubble!
Usually they only film at weekends, meaning the bakers get to go back to their homes and families in between, so this has
definitely upped the stakes. It could well lead to some emotional meltdowns later in the series, but for now everyone is excited and enthusiastic, getting on well, and keen to face their first three challenges in Cake Week.
There’s a dozen contestants vying for this year’s title; not as much nan action or eye candy as we’d like, but you can’t have everything. We’re just so relieved it’s back on screen.