'The Great British Baking Show': Are the bakers being set up to fail? Fans say 'give them more time'
'The Great British Baking Show' premiered on Netflix on September 25, Friday. The set design team mimicked the iconic tent and set it up in a different location this time to protect bakers, hosts, judges and crew from the pandemic.
In the premiere episode, as many 12 amateur bakers went head-to-head to create Battenbergs, marzipans, upside-down pineapple cakes and more. Round one had the participants strapped for time, but everyone managed to finish their cakes and sponges on time.
The 55-year-old Rowan, who aspired to put together a unique Battenberg cake that would have the pattern of a temple inside, had to change the design when he realized the time was too less to make such a complicated piece of art. He stuck to his night sky theme though and sprinkled the marzipan with stardust. "It wasn't a resounding success," Rowan said, but it was a fair attempt.
Lottie's first batch of dough went into the trash because the butter had started to curdle since it wasn't at room temperature. She started over but panicked because a lot of time had run out. Meanwhile, fans have pointed out that if the bakers were allowed to make the cakes and sponges earlier, they would have time to decorate their finished items as well.
"I have no idea if the social media team gives feedback or reports to showrunners, but if you do can you ask them to give the bakers more time. Let the poor bakers do something they can be proud of! this challenge felt like they were being set up to fail — that's not what the bake-off is about," a fan commented on the show's official Facebook page.
Another echoed: "Totally agree with you, it's really unfair. I'd love to see Paul or Prue do a cake as complicated as this in the allotted time. Also, my husband suggests that they don't eliminate anyone in Week 1 to let us see what they can do for real." A viewer shared, "It's probably my one negative about GBBO, but it's nothing new. Between time pressure and heat in the tent they actively make things much harder for contestants than they need to be. More entertaining? Maybe. But not very fair."
Catch all the new episodes of 'The Great British Baking Show' Season 11 on Netflix every Friday.