Line #34 YMMV/TheGreatBritishBakeOff


1	* EliminationHoudini:
2	** One pops up in viewers' eyes every few seasons, often because their strength lies in flavors (which are obviously impossible to convey on television) rather than presentation. One example is [[spoiler:Laura]] from Series 11, who made the final despite being one of the bottom two considered for elimination several times and surviving against fan-favorites who'd only had one bad week such as [[spoiler:Lottie, Mark, and Hermine]]. The fact that the judges admitted that said contestant was a non-factor in the decision of the ultimate winner made viewers wish even more strongly that someone else had made it instead.
3	** A common reason a less-skilled baker makes it as much as three-quarters of the way through a series is that one other baker always does ''slightly'' worse than them each week and is given the boot instead until they are finally the weakest one left.
4	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
5	** Liam from Season 8. He was a happy-go-lucky guy who, at 19, was the youngest baker of the season. His charming personality, overwhelming kindness, and noted ability of making great flavor combinations, made everyone fall in love with him. Everyone was happy when he got "Star Baker", but also a massive wave of sadness hit the fanbase when he was eliminated.
6	** Due to the nature of the show, there's almost guaranteed to be at least one of these per series. Norman and Richard from Season 5 ([[NeverLiveItDown plus Iain after the infamous Bingate incident]]), and Nadiya from Season 6 (who ended up being the ultimate winner but gained a sizeable fanbase very early on in the season) are probably the biggest other examples.
7	*** Nadiya was in fact ''so'' well-liked that a government report on community cohesion claimed she did more for British-Muslim relations than ten years of government policy, simply by being so delightful that she gave the Muslim community a good name.
8	** [[PerkyGoth Helena Garcia]] from Series 10. Everyone was captivated by her pleasant personality and her unabashed love for all things spooky, creepy and macabre, giving her a unique vibe and aesthetic that no other baker has ever had in the Bake Off. The fact that she and Noel instantly hit it off and had great chemistry together made fans love her even more, and much like with Liam, fans were heartbroken at her elimination.[[note]]Her dark horse status was, in fact, so great that it's been recognized outside GBBO. Despite not being a professional actress, Helena had a small part in ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019'', portraying the witch Lillith when she briefly imitates vampiric protagonist Nadja.[[/note]]
9	** [[DeadpanSnarker Lottie]] from Series 11, mainly for her humorously BrutalHonesty both with the judges and other contestants, as well as her interest in Vikings and heavy metal.
10	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Surprisingly, the show is [[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46846771 quite popular in the United States of America]] because of its wholesomeness and serenity. Some even admit to watching it just to calm down and decompress.
11	* HilariousInHindsight:
12	** In series 3 Cathryn exclaims that she isn't serving green carpet to Mary Berry (after dropping her dough). Come series 7 and Candice does exactly that.
13	--->'''Mel:''' Who wants to eat some carpet?
14	--->'''Mary:''' I'll eat a bit of carpet.
15	** On Extra Slice the week before the "bingate" episode was broadcast, Jo Brand [[https://relativelylessimportant.tumblr.com/post/140994972678/in-which-jo-brand-appears-to-foreshadow-bingate-on urged viewers who had a baking disaster to take a picture before throwing it in the bin]]. This may have been deliberate {{Foreshadowing}} as the main series is filmed months in advance, while ''An Extra Slice'' is produced in the week of broadcast.
16	* JustHereForGodzilla: There are plenty of people who just watch the show because of Mel and Sue.
17	* MemeticMutation: Many fans resonated with James Acaster's explanation of his failed flapjack in the celebrity edition:
18	-->'''James Acaster:''' Started making it. Had a breakdown. ''({{Beat}})'' Bon appétit!
19	* RetroactiveRecognition: Jameela Jamil appeared in the celebrity special in 2015, when her claim to fame was being a Radio 1 presenter. The following year, she achieved much greater celebrity as Tahani in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''.
20	* ShockingElimination:
21	** Helena's ouster during the Roaring 20's week on Series 10. She was middle in the Signature and middle-to-below average in the Showstopper (though Prue did say she thought it tasted okay), but won the Technical challenge, not placing her among the worst bakers when taking all three challenges into consideration. The outcry of fans on social media was huge, although to be fair the judges had to eliminate two bakers in that episode and she was their second choice.
22	** Jurgen in Patisserie Week of S12. He was widely considered to be the best baker that year, alongside Giuseppe and had won Star Baker three times. However, it was admittedly a close call, especially considering that he and the other bakers were the only ones to win Star Baker that year and all of them got a handshake at one point. Also, the judges admitted that all of them were in the running to be Star Baker. The outcry of fans was also large.
23	* SoBadItsGood: Mel and Sue's puns, although in fairness they freely acknowledge themselves that the puns are terrible.
24	* ThatOneLevel: The technical challenge is often this for the bakers, it being the one out of three they aren't allowed to practice for in advance. The subject is often an obscure and/or foreign recipe, pretty much guaranteeing that most of the contestants will have never even heard of it. Even when it's something relatively simple, they're still expected to carry it off on sheer baking knowledge and instincts, so the instructions for the recipes are often deliberately left very vague, ie. "Make the pancake batter".
25	** This proved to be particularly true of Series 7's Rav, who finished bottom in the technical challenge three weeks running and started to openly bemoan his bad fortune; the third time his Bakewell tart was ranked lower than Andrew's, in spite of the fact that [[EpicFail Andrew had taken fifteen minutes to notice that his oven wasn't on]].
26	** Occasionally averted when a contestant turns out to specialize in making the particular recipe -- as per James and jam doughnuts in series 3 -- or, in the memorable case of Chetna during series 5's Advanced Dough week, have ''just made the exact same recipe for the signature challenge''. Both easily cruise to victory.
27	** At different times during Series 6, all three of the eventual finalists struggled with puff pastry. What's the technical challenge for the final episode? A dessert made with puff pastry. Paul freely admitted that he picked it specifically to see whose puff pastry skills had improved, and the bakers recognized what was going on as well.
28	** Oh, how delightful the "Forgotten Bakes" episode of Season 8 was...
29	** For that matter, Series 9's "Vegan Week", which even Paul Hollywood seemed to think was ridiculously hard.
30	** Bread Week. Mostly because judge Paul Hollywood is an expert bread baker and as a result has very high standards. To make things harder, the ovens in the tent reportedly bake slower than the bakers' ovens at home, meaning that under-baking is ''very'' common during Bread Week. Notably, until Series 7, every Star Baker of Bread Week made it to the final of their series, which Paul pointed out.
31	* UnexpectedCharacter: Due to the show's enormous popularity, the celebrity charity specials have managed to convince a lot of big names to appear, including Bonnie Wright, Michael Sheen, Teri Hatcher, and John Lithgow.

Context YMMV / TheGreatBritishBakeOff