THE BAKE off TENT
When HEAT WENT INSIDE
We go behind the scenes of the cosiest show on telly
When heat walks into The Great British Bake Off tent to spy on this year’s bakers, the only sound we can hear is the bleating of baby lambs in the fields nearby. It’s a shock when you’re used to the choppy editing and pacey music of the Channel 4 show. It seems silly to say, but we just didn’t expect the tent to be so… quiet. We do spy Noel Fielding, in amongst the bakers with a mixing bowl on his head – it’s reassuring to know some things are exactly as we’d imagined. With the show coming
back to our screens on 27 August, we’re here to give you all the gossip.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Located in the grounds of a stately home, the famous Bake Off tent is a hive of silent activity. We gather at the entrance to watch six bakers – they’re on episode seven when we visit – as they diligently work away at a mystery bake. Groups of cameramen, producers and assistants gather around the baking stations to film contestants as they work – occasionally prompting them with a question. Someone at the mouth of the tent operates a huge camera crane to catch any action missed by the various camera crews within. Timers beep every few minutes and someone grabs something from an oven or whips something out of the fridge. One of the bakers – no spoilers here – nips past us to go to the toilet, waving and smiling as they go. We automatically decide we want them to win. What? We’re easily swayed. Noel does what Noel does best, zipping in between baking stations, giving bakers a pep talk or distracting them with his antics. He tells us, “It’s like constantly being the host of a party.” His co-presenter Sandi Toksvig agrees, “There’s a lot more work that Noel and I do in the tent that doesn’t make the edit, where we’re just going in and keeping everybody cheerful.” We later chat to the judges and presenters in the house’s library, where Sandi tells us she and Prue have spent time writing books together, and Sandi is always in charge of stoking the fire (yes, even in June). It’s all very Brideshead Revisited.
KEEPING it FRESH
The smells wafting from the ovens are mouth-watering, to say the least. We’re privileged to sit on the judges’ table in the corner of the tent and feel like we’ve actually stepped through the telly. One of the bakers licks their finger as they stir a delicious mixture and we’re pleased they’re not as polished as we might think. The bakers are working on one of the series’ new themes, Festivals Week, which Paul Hollywood describes as more of an international week, telling us, “We’re choosing festivals from anywhere in the world. It’s just something different and it allows us to incorporate a global theme.” Paul also lets slip that there will be a 1920s week, so we fully expect to see Noel in a flapper dress.
A BELOVED DISTRACTION
Being in the actual Bake Off hubbub reminds us why the show is so beloved by the public. And Noel agrees, “It’s a safe place. The world’s quite strange at the moment and everyone’s anxious about everything, so I feel like when Bake Off is on, it’s nice. You’re in a bubble and that’s important because it’s a bit frightening out there.” Sadly, we can’t stay in the bubble forever, but it’s even more upsetting to realise that, at the end of the day, a baker will leave, too. Paul jokes that he finds it easy to say goodbye, but Noel is more honest and tells heat he and Sandi are finding it “harder and harder” every series. “Sandi and I are like two hitmen saying, ‘Is it you? I’ll wait in the car, I don’t want to see this’.” n