Everyone has a show that they can just binge over and over again. The plot twists are no longer twisty, you can probably recite all of your favorite character’s dialogue and you know exactly what’s going to happen but you couldn’t care less. For me, The Great British Baking Show is that show. Netflix currently carries four seasons of the most calming, wholesome and satisfying competition show I have ever seen.
The Great British Baking Show (GBBS) follows a group of ten to fifteen amateur bakers as they compete each weekend in “The Tent,” a giant outdoor tent that sits in the backyard of a beautiful English homestead and is filled with baking stations. They deal with three challenges each week: the signature challenge, the technical challenge and the showstopper challenge. For both the signature and the showstopper, the bakers are given what tasks they must perform ahead of time and are allowed to practice at home during the week, but they have no idea what the technical challenge will be as it’s supposed to test their baking intuition and instincts.
Unlike most American cooking competition shows where it’s crazy intense and people are screaming and there’s a lot of hard rock metal music as chefs try to cook with one arm tied behind their back, GBBS is as enjoyable as an afternoon picnic. All the bakers—for the most part—are lovely people with even lovelier personalities who are just trying to do their best. No one seems overly competitive or vindictive; the bakers actually tend to help each other a lot of the time when one of them is in need of an extra set of hands.
Courtesy: EW
Along with the bakers, you are most likely going to fall in love with the hosts as well. While they are no longer hosting the show, Mel and Sue—a hilarious comedy duo—are your hosts for the four seasons currently on Netflix. The two of them are like a pair of sisters, lightly bickering with each other and the judges and doing their bests to out-pun each other whenever they can. Both act as a sort of mix of therapist and mother to the contestants, always ready with a positive affirmation if one of the bakers falls to a particularly low point. They are joyful and sweet, a lot like the sweets the bakers get to make, and are the perfect ringmasters for this show.
Finally, what would a competition show be without judges? The show has two judges: Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Mary Berry is a sweet, tiny old lady who has been baking probably longer than I’ve been alive and has a proclivity for booze that most bakers try to take advantage of at least once. She is honest with her critiques but always manages to point out something positive within the baker’s attempts. Then, you have Paul Hollywood. Paul is a man you will grow to tolerate. Easily my least favorite part of the show, he’s the Simon Cowell of GBBS. He’s kind of grumpy, thinks he’s all that and likes to freak the bakers out whenever he gets the chance. Every once in a while he’ll have a tender moment, but for the most part you really just want him to leave. Unfortunately, in the newer seasons currently airing, Mary Berry is no longer judging, but for the four seasons on Netflix, you get to enjoy these two (mostly Mary).
Courtesy: Collider
The Great British Baking Show is nothing groundbreaking or, honestly, that particularly innovative, but the show has this incredible ability to relax whoever is watching it, put a smile on your face and allow you to watch an hour of television without having to think too much. It is the perfect binge show—I should know, I’ve binged all four seasons maybe five times now—and even when you know what’s going to happen it’s still just as enjoyable to watch.
Rating: A+