Why Do Americans Love ‘The Great British Baking Show?’
I enjoy this show for its culinary art. However, other TV components make this series delicious.
If Sunday is for Football, and Tuesday is for tacos, then Friday is for The Great British Baking Show. And to be frank, as I type this article, I’m finally watching the last episode where final contestants, Chigs (40, Sales Manager, Leicestershire), Crystelle (26, Client Relationship Manager, London), and Giuseppe (45, Chief Engineer, Bristol), are baking for the title.
And as I watch this Netflix hit, I can’t help but wonder, Why do I love this show so much? Of course, I enjoy this show for its culinary art. However, other ingredients make this series delicious.
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And that exact question was headlined in a BBC article by Vicki Baker, “Why do Americans love the British Bake Off?” She wrote, “Contestants never say things like ‘I didn’t come here to make friends.’ There are no irritating product placements and — perhaps most incomprehensibly to American audiences — no material riches to be won.”
Perhaps, this competition show appeals to Americans because it’s not overproduced. One might say that’s a contradictory sentiment since most American reality shows are heavy on the drama. Typically, there’s an element of people backstabbing each other in their confessional interviews or face-to-face. Where the viewers even might harbor strange resentment against the competition, as if we’re a part of the show.
But in The Great British Baking Show, the episodes aren’t a series of competitors gossiping, hooking up, or sabotaging each other. Not only that, but they champion each other’s confection successes, or when one receives the coveted handshake from judge Paul Hollywood.
Additionally, there’s no “real world” element to the show. We aren’t privy to their personal lives outside of the white tent. The focus is simply on what the amateur bakers’ can craft for these three rounds: the “signature bake,” the “technical challenge,” and finally, the “show-shopper.”
And sidenote: The technical challenge is my favorite round. Each contestant is given the same ingredients to make the same bake and is blindly ranked by the judges. This is where the bakers get a complete unbiased judgment of their skills. Their gender, race, looks, or personality are not a subconscious factored into the judge’s opinion. It’s wholly merited off their talent.
And not only do their bakes look refreshingly relatable, but so do the bakers. This might not seem like a huge deal, but none of them seem to be “dolled up” with TV makeup. We can see their wrinkles, their sunspots, their rosacea, their dark spots — they look like people, they look like us.
Overall, for every season I’ve watched, the contestants (dare I say it) get along. Some even cry when a beloved competitor is announced to leave the tent by equally upset hosts Noel Fielding or Bridesmaids Matt Lucas.
Perhaps the American viewership is subliminally sending American TV producers a message — less drama is sweeter.
[THIS JUST IN: The hosts are announcing the winner (*bites finger nails*)… it’s Giuseppe Dell’Anno!] (but, you already knew that).