Just when we thought The Great British Baking Show couldn’t get any worse, the show has doubled down on making this the absolute worst season of all time. Last week, contestants were forced to make tacos—tacos!—for their technical challenge, and this week, they faced an incredibly challenging lemon meringue pie. Spoilers ahead for folks who haven’t watched the most recent episode of GBBS.
How hard can baking a lemon meringue pie really be? Well, for folks like you and me, the internet is a great resource. Search “lemon meringue pie recipe” on Google, and you’ll have thousands of sites instructing you on how to whip up a delectable dish in under an hour. But in the baking tent, the internet is no longer. Contestants are on their own.
Usually, for the second challenge, bakers are given a printed list of instructions and left to their own devices to bake a very specific recipe. Previous examples have included red velvet cake, pain aux raisins, and, of course, last week’s infamous tacos, which had contestants grilling steak and peeling avocados like potatoes. What a disaster!
But this week’s technical challenge has somehow, against all odds, one-upped the tacos. How? The bakers were only given one instruction: “Make a lemon meringue pie.”
That’s it! Well, they did get a temperature for their ovens and a smattering of ingredients, but when it comes to how to mix, sift, and actually bake the pie, no further guidance was provided. Now, these are a handful of serious bakers who know their stuff. But when the challenge states that their work must be as uniform as possible, how can Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith expect perfection with no real expectations?
“Well, there’s the pastry shells, the lemon filling, and there’s the meringue,” Prue says ahead of the challenge. “I’m quite sure they can do all three. Why do they need a recipe?”
Prue’s actually half right on this. Most of the bakers know how to tackle all three components, and they do so quite elegantly. Contestants who get any part of the challenge incorrect would’ve probably had a blunder even with the directions. There are cracked pie crusts, not enough filling, and floppy meringues; surely, we would’ve seen any of these with directions, too.
But it’s hard to not feel a pang of sadness for Syabira, who has no experience in baking lemon meringue pies. She flounders, looking around the room at her fellow bakers for help, and ends up placing last in the challenge.
“Worst nightmare come true,” Syabira says, after all is said and done. “Not to self: Even if you don’t like it, just eat all of the British, very traditional classic desserts.”
As far as I can tell—don’t quote me on this, I’m not a total Baking Show expert—it’s been a while since The Great British Baking Show has resorted to such cruelty. Back in 2016, the show had a similar challenge: Bakers were forced to bake a Victoria Sandwich without any recipe. This was, however, in the very last round of the competition, when the three bakers remaining represented the very best of the best. At that point, an extreme challenge is somewhat justified.
But it isn’t justified this time, as we’re only halfway through the season! Some of the bakers are really struggling, and to expect such brilliance from them is completely and totally unfair. I’m not alone in thinking this, either; GBBS fans rallied to support the contestants after such a dismal challenge.
The bakers are really going through it this year. Luckily, Sandro finally took Star Baker, winning after a jaw-dropping showstopper featuring a whole planet Earth made out of mousse. We’ve been waiting for this moment. And Sandro is ready to win again: “I’m going to definitely continue to push myself every week, ‘cause now I’ve got Star Baker, I’ve tasted it and I love it.” We love it too, Sandro.
Next week, things might get even more nightmarish for the bakers—it’s Halloween week. Get out those skeleton molds and orange frostings.
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