It’s fall, and with that comes the return of a major competition — along with games you can play from the sidelines. We’re not talking about fantasy football drafts or election debate bingo. It’s the “Great British Baking Show,” the much-loved baking competition returning this month for its 15th season.
Viewers praise it for the astonishing levels of camaraderie and civility seen between competitors, as well as the elaborate “showstopper” baking challenges. It’s a bake-off so beloved, fans rewatch previous seasons as they wait for the next.
For the uninitiated, each season starts with 12 amateur bakers selected from across the UK — people from all walks of life, from school teachers to deli workers and social workers. They gather in a tent in the British countryside to complete a series of three baking challenges each week, with each week representing a theme — bread, for example, or pastry.
The signature bake lets competitors showcase their personal baking style. The technical challenge sees judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith take turns ordering up a baked item — a Floating Island, perhaps, a Victoria Sandwich (psst, that’s a cake) or Custard Creams (a sandwich cookie) giving the bakers the name of the dish, an ingredient list that’s often measurement-challenged and directions of the skimpiest sort. And the final showstopper challenge has bakers vying to produce the most spectacular themed dish.
Typically, one baker is eliminated each episode, and one is awarded “star baker” recognition, until the final episode, when the last three bakers compete for the top spot and the big prize of… glory and an engraved glass cake plate.
There’s no cash prize, an outcome that will shock followers of “Top Chef,” “Survivor” and nearly every other U.S.-produced reality show. There’s also no yelling, no insults or evil machinations. It’s just the most wholesome British comfort watch — and now an American one, too. An American spinoff — “The Great American Baking Show” — brought Hollywood and Leith on board last year on the Roku Channel.
“The Great American Baking Show” judges Paul Hollywood, left, and Prue Leith discuss the results of a baking challenge on the fifth season of the show — the first to have the British judges on the American spinoff, which premiered in 2023 on The Roku Channel. (Credit: Roku)
Of course, you can watch the “Great British Baking Show” on your own, sipping a diet soda and eschewing snacks as you watch the buttery goings on. But it’s much more fun to play along as you stream the upcoming season — serve a jam-filled Victoria sponge, say, or try out one of these ideas.
Host a Watch Party
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The show will launch a new season on Sept. 24 on Channel 4 in the U.K. No date has been formally announced for the U.S. as yet, but it’s typically been made available for streaming on Netflix the following Friday, according to showsnob.com. That would set the season debut for Friday, Sept. 27; subsequent episodes are typically released weekly. (Find the latest updates at netflix.com, which has been remarkably coy in their announcements.)
You’ll need party snacks, of course, and there’s ample inspiration to be found. Some competitors have gone on to publish their own cookery volumes — that’s Britspeak for cookbook. Season 6 winner Nadiya Hussein has nine cookbooks and two Netflix series under her belt. The show publishes collections of its most popular recipes — from White Chocolate, Pistachio and Cranberry Shortbread to a Pear, White Chocolate and Hazelnut Tart and a Pumpkin Carrot Cake from the coming season. And the show’s website — https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/ — offers how-tos for everything from Fondant Fancies (us Yanks call them petit fours) to Jaffa Cakes (cookies) and Battenberg (a checkerboard cake).
Place your bets
The game: Assemble a group of three to four people (more is OK too, but each person will be following fewer bakers) for this fantasy football-style game. Watch most of the first episode, from the basic baker introductions through the first two challenges, but stop before anyone is eliminated. Now choose your baking teams: Pick numbers from a hat or roll dice to choose who goes first, then start choosing bakers, proceeding in snake-style fashion (e.g. person 1, 2, 3 and 4; then 4, 3, 2, 1 — and finally 1, 2, 3, 4) until all 12 bakers been claimed. Continue watching and rooting for your bakers until they are eliminated or someone wins! Another variation is to, after the first episode, have everyone select the three bakers they believe will be the last ones standing by the end of the show. You can also place episode-specific bets based on who you think will be named star baker or who will be eliminated.
How you win: The person who picks the season winner claims the prize. You pick the stakes, but a bakery gift card or $5 ante works well.
Why it’s great: It offers a small glimpse into why fantasy football and sports betting (just kidding, that’s illegal!) might be fun, plus the snacks will be infinitely better. Start and finish the season with a watch party – baked goods are non-negotiable.
Bake your way through the show
The Great British Baking Show inspired two roommates to start their own technical challenge competition during the COVID lockdown. This coffee and walnut Battenberg cake was one of the resulting projects. (Courtesy Emily Walco)
The game: This idea comes courtesy of San Francisco resident Emily Walco, who started baking the show’s technical challenges once a week with her then-roommate in Boston during the COVID lockdown. They’d watch an episode together, attempt the challenge and capture the buttery glory afterward by doing a little photoshoot. They successfully accomplished every technical challenge through Season 3, Episode 2 — that’s 22 technical challenges, if you’re keeping score — before moving out.
Walco’s tip: Use the recipes available online, rather than the bare-bones directions used on the show. “It’s fun to pause during the episode and look at what they were given in comparison to the full recipes,” she says.
How you win: Complete the challenge in the allotted amount of time — or give yourself more time and just enjoy the process while appreciating the time pressure the contestants are under. The ultimate win, of course, is enjoying the final product!
Why it’s great: “We loved watching the episodes first and making note of how the judges reviewed different bakes to try to perfect ours,” Walco says. “You also have to be ready to buy a lot of British ingredients online, like golden syrup. And we enjoyed starting with the original Season 1 (the actual British Season 1, not the first season that aired in the U.S.) because the bakes were super basic, and it helped us feel more prepared for how much harder the bakes get by Season 3.”
Play the GBBS Drinking Game
The game: Pour your favorite beverage (boozy or non-alcoholic). Take a sip when any of the following happens during the show:
Anyone says “proof” (That’s British for “rise”)
A baker kneels down to watch their project bake in the oven
A judge calls a bake “claggy”or “stodgy.”
A judge says a bake has a soggy bottom or is raw.
Someone forgets to preheat their oven.
Someone drops their bake on the ground.
A baker adds an inappropriate amount of spices and ruins their bake.
A baker adds too much booze to a creation, as judged by Prue Leith.
You see footage of a sheep, squirrel or other countryside critter outside the baking tent.
You’ve never heard of the dish the contestants have to make in the Signature or Technical Challenge rounds.
Finish your drink when:
Paul Hollywood gives a handshake
(These suggestions are compiled from similar lists on reddit.com, tvtropes.org and distractify.com, but there are plenty of other lists available online.)
Why it’s great: Well, that’s obvious. But please sip responsibly!
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— Jason Mastrodonato and Ethan Varian contributed to this story.