The fall-winter season is one that brings tidings of fantastic food. In a few weeks, Thanksgiving will be here, and we’ll all be stuffing our faces with turkey, macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes until we’re sick.
Only a month after that is Christmas, where we do the same exact thing again, except this time with more cookies. Maybe this is due to being filled with the holiday spirit. Maybe this is due to the feeling of impending panic that the decade is almost over and we’ll have to be adults. Who’s to say?
Sadly, the rest of our calendar year and our bodies cannot sustain that number of food-heavy holidays, and we must go back to eating normal-sized portions at our meals. Fortunately, we have cooking and baking shows to tide us over until those beautiful days where we can again ascend to a new plane of food comas.
Baking shows like The Great British Baking Show have a special place in my heart. I remember being 12 years old and watching The American Baking Competition, CBS’s attempt to jump on the primetime baking show bandwagon began by its British counterpart. I remember my parents and I being wowed by Francine’s delicious and creative bakes, and just as vividly, coming out of the show so frustrated because Brian and his bad attitude took the whole thing home.
Even though The American Baking Competition was canceled after one season, I still hold on to those memories of watching the show with my family.
More recently, I found everything I didn’t know I was looking for when I stumbled upon The Great British Baking Show on Netflix.
My mom and I would curl up on the couch with our dinner and comment on what looked good, what sounded terrible, as well as predict who we thought was star baker and who was going home. The Great British Baking Show has provided my mother and I with memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.
Before I begin listing off some of my favorite bakers, a fair warning is in order. I have only seen Netflix collections one, two and four, so my list will not include anyone featured in a season past that. This list is also in no particular order, so without further ado, here are some of my favorite contestants on The Great British Baking Show.
The first I would like to talk about is Selasi, a contestant from the fourth collection. The flavor combinations that he came up with for his bakes were more often than not ones that I like, which always made me look forward to the end result of his creations. Combine that with his cool, calm and collected attitude even under moments of great pressure, and you’ve got a contestant ready to kick butt and take names.
Selasi ended up getting eliminated right before the finals, however, he came out of the show with a few solid bakes. I would personally really like to see him come out with a cookbook like other past contestants have done, as I can see myself really enjoying a lot of the recipes he made.
The second is Andrew from the same collection. His expressive personality and dramatic facial expressions were a constant source of entertainment, making it easy to root for him. He was an absolute ray of sunshine in the tent who caused absolute panic when he forgot to turn on his oven in one of the challenges.
Despite this blunder, Andrew racked up two star baker titles and was the second place runner-up for the season. Currently, he balances his career as an aerospace engineer with his new career as a television, online and radio personality.
Next is Martha from the first collection. When I first watched the show, I was around the same age as she was when she competed. Because of this, it was easier to put myself in her shoes and it was really cool to see someone I could kind of relate to take on such a feat.
Her kind and humble personality made her incredibly easy to root for. Martha ended up getting eliminated in the eighth week of the competition, and my mother and I were absolutely demolished. Currently, Martha has published two cookbooks, “Twist” and “Crave,” and also serves as a charity ambassador for Tearfund, a faith-based UK charity centered around providing disaster relief and general support for disadvantaged groups.
The Great British Baking Show has a very special place in my heart, and I would happily recommend it to anyone interested. If you put it on in the background while you’re working, the relaxing music and fun banter can be really soothing and entertaining, but for the full, unadulterated experience, don’t do anything while watching and you’ll find yourself screaming over bread within 15 minutes.
The Great British Baking Show can be streamed on Netflix.
Photo Credit / Netflix
