As one of the challenges on the final BBC edition of The Great British Bake Off (BBC1, Wednesday), the three remaining contestants, Candice, Jane and Andrew, made pavlovas crowns –and a true baker (ahem) knows that when you make meringue, you must let the meringue cool down within the confines of the oven or else its sugary shell will crack.
“My bottom is cracking,” quips Jane, highlighting the enormous pressure they’re under.
This year's winner is Candice, but as we celebrate her creative ways of swearing ("Oh, you Mother Hubbard!") and her love of a colourful lippie, we also mourn the death of The Great British Bake Off as we know it is.
Over the past 10 weeks, we've muttered and swooned things like "Oh, Val. Not again", "Caramel isn't that difficult to make, Jane" and "Hold me, Candice/Selasi". Through palmiers, roulades and decadent Jaffa Cakes, GBBO made us experts in the kitchen but it also made us experts in… caring. Even judge Paul Hollywood softened a little, presenting the golden goose of a double handshake to Candice and Jane in the final for their pavlovas.
In kitchens across the world, 10 million fans are now left staring into unheated ovens, hopeless. When the news broke in September that GBBO was bought by Channel 4 for £75 million, we felt betrayed, but found comfort in the fact that presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins and judge Mary Berry refuse to move.
Unlike other competitive reality shows, the BBC’s GBBO doesn’t manipulate emotions because, well, Mel and Sue would not allow it. If they saw a contestant close to tears, they’d either throw coats over them or swear, making the footage unusable.
And that’s what made GBBO special; kindness. And, of course, the contestants brought us warmth from their freshly baked buns every week, baked under the steely gaze of judges Berry and Hollywood (the only one to jump ship to Channel 4, the cad).
Under its new format, people are afraid that that kindness will be replaced with masked dominatrixes, but maybe it is time to say goodbye to something that was so sweet.
With seven seasons and 82 contestants to look back on, we’ll always have the memories. And the cookbooks. And DVDs. And the Christmas special that’s surely in the pipeline.
