The Great British Bake Off, known as The Great British Baking Show in Canada and the U.S., has just wrapped up its 13th season. Fans love this long-running reality baking show for its warm, comforting vibes and authentic feel. There is no huge money award - this is just a group of people who really love baking.
While there are a lot of secrets from behind the scenes, the show itself is one of the least controversial reality shows, as it has little drama. But the show might not be as authentic as viewers think, and there are some fake aspects about it that contestants don't hesitate to point out.
Contestants Are Given A Heads Up
Despite the secretive nature of the technical challenges, for example, The Great British Bake Off contestants are given heads-up about what to expect, so they can prepare their recipes accordingly. They get briefings about what is coming up each week, according to a former contestant, Amanda Georgiou.
The briefs they receive are detailed on what the contestants must deliver, and they are given time to practice and prepare. But even so, it must be quite hard to practice while they also maintain their work and private lives, especially for a thing like a showstopper that usually takes around four to five hours to create.
Contestant's Recipes Must Be Approved
Amanda also admitted that they all have to submit two recipes a week - one for the signature bake and one for the showstopper challenge. Their recipe then goes through the approval process. Sometimes their recipes are too similar to someone else's, and they get rejected, so they have to rework them.
The recipes also cannot be a copy of Mary Berry's or Paul Hollywood's, but something they created themselves, which adds to the pressure, and they don't get a lot of wiggle room to change their recipe.
There Is A Mapped-Out Structure
TGBBO is inarguably one of the best baking competitions on television. The contestants or judges do not have pre-written dialogue or stick to a script and the eliminations aren't planned either, but there is a mapped-out structure for the show.
"Nothing is staged on this show. There's no prize at the end of the day other than a plate," former contestant Tom Hetherington told Insider, and he went on to say that, in this instance, viewers get what they see. It isn't like the other high-stake cooking shows like MasterChef, but there's no doubt that winning GBBO is life-changing and will likely lead to book deals and other perks.
An Episode Usually Takes Two Days To Shoot
There is a fake aspect of the show, and it's that viewers think that the bakes last only a couple of hours, when in reality, according to Insider, the shooting day is between 10-16 hours. Viewers only get to see about an hour of footage, but there is so much more than goes into it.
"You start early in the morning and it ends a little after six or seven in the evening," Amourdoux added for Insider. Many fans don't know this and aren't able to appreciate just how much grueling work goes into creating a one-hour episode for the audience to enjoy.
The Baker's Accomodation
Almost every fan fawns at the sight of the beautiful mansion in the background of the tent. The beauty shots of the house almost imply that the bakers are staying there during the competition, but that's not the case at all.
People reported that the contestants actually stay at a hotel nearby, and take a minibus to the location of the competition. The judges and hosts are then put in a different hotel than the contestants. So the dreamlike location behind the tent is just there for aesthetic reasons, and not anything else.
Some Of The Shots Are Retakes
This is something fans might now know about The Great British Bake Off, but it takes a long time to film a single episode because there are retakes to be considered. In an interview for Birmingham Live, Ali Imdad revealed that “Every time you wanted to put something in or take something out, you had to hail a producer who would make sure you were being filmed.”
He also added that if the filming crew fails to catch a particular line or action, they will ask the contestants to repeat it, so in a way, it isn't always quite as spontaneous as the viewers would like to see. But there are also a lot of contestants, especially at the beginning, so it's hard to keep track of everyone at once.
There Are A Lot Of People In The Tent
The location of the filming - the infamous tent - is rather big. However, viewers aren't seeing the whole picture. The tent is rarely shown in its entirety, and there is a valid reason for that.
According to Insider, Antony Amourdoux said there were normally close to 100 people right in the middle of the tent. "The start of each episode is shot in the tent, and then after that everything else is shot on the outside," he added. So the spacious tent the viewers see may not be as authentic as everyone thinks.
Contestants Have To Wear The Same Clothes For Continuity
Contestants explained to Insider that for continuity reasons, they are required to wear the same clothes, even if the shooting lasts two days. So after a day of baking in the tent, which doesn't have air conditioning, it must get pretty gross.
It's reportedly easier for the judges because they are not there the entire time, so they can change after about an hour. They also don't actively bake, so they don't get their clothes messy. Some contestants have resorted to buying two identical outfits to avoid this problem.
Judges & Hosts Can Sometimes Be Annoying
Imdad told Insider that the small meetings with the judges during the challenges are pre-scheduled, and they cannot get out of them, with the judges coming at the exact allotted time.
It must be really stressful to have to deal with the judges, even if the contestants are struggling with the challenge and having panic attacks. It can easily add to the frustration when they have to focus on the hosts and judges, even if Paul Hollywood is sure to deliver one of his iconic quotes, instead of focusing on fixing whatever needs to be fixed.
Contestants Get Portrayed A Certain Way
Contestants are more or less unanimous about revealing that the show is pretty authentic, but Stacey Hart, a contestant on the show, shared her side of the story with Insider, and how she was pretty much given the role of the "funny baker."
"I was kind of told how they were going to portray me. It was like I did the funny stuff, " she said. "Like that I broke the oven door," she said, adding that by appearing on reality TV, being portrayed in a certain way is a risk they have to take. Still, it seems that no one is intentionally portrayed in a negative light, so it's all in the name of comedy.