Section:GDN 12 PaGe:7 Edition Date:190827 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 26/8/2019 16:11 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
The Guardian
Tuesday 27 August 2019 7
Series 4
#Custardgate
The controversial one,
and not just because
Sue elbowed Howard’s
muffi ns. This was the
series in which Ruby
Tandoh – in the top fi ve
contestants of all time
for her technical skill
in folding bad attitude
into false modesty –
was accused of being
favoured by Hollywood.
Vintage misogyny. Best
moment, however, goes
to #Custardgate, in which
Howard became a victim
of theft after Deborah
used his crème anglaise
in her trifl e. Was it, to
quote Sue, “the most
incredible case of baking
espionage” ever seen?
Whatever, he ended up a
national hero.
Iain:
pre-tantrum
and Newsnight
appearanceHoward: seeing
the funny side
of sweet
sabotageSeries 9
Everything
Rahul said
“I’m not confi dent with
anything happening
around my life ... so
how can the baking
temperature be
diff erent?” With this
profound ululation
of self-eff acement,
the Eeyore of Bake
Off shuffl ed into our
lives. Rahul Mandal , an
Indian research scientist
who looked like a baby
moulded by Aardman
Animations, confessed
he baked to make friends.
He had only made his
fi rst cake two years
earlier and, in his day
job, continued to do
“fi rst-rate research using
lasers”. Can you even
imagine 2018 without
Rahul? It would be as
drab and joyless as a
world without cake. No
pressure then, series 10 ...Steven: the
biscuit kingSelasi: the
art of
laid-back
bakingSeries 5
#Bingate
This may seem insane
now, but #Bingate (a
bolder #Custardgate, do
keep up) was actual front-
page news. To attempt
to boil this complex saga
down to its essence is as
pointless as tweeting the
plot of Game of Thrones,
but, basically, Diana
Beard removed Iain
Watters’ baked alaska
from the freezer. He had
a tantrum, threw it in the
bin and stormed out of
the tent. Then he came
back, presented the bin to
the judges and was duly
voted off. That’s it , but,
800 people complained
to Ofcom, Iain appeared
on Newsnight and
Diana’s doctor got
involved. Lessons
learned: we didn’t have
much to worry about
then, did we?Kim-Joy,
Rahul
and Ruby:
series 9’s
fi nal threeSeries 8
Biscuit chess
The move to Channel
4 shocked, in the mild
and comforting way
only Bake Off can , by
remaining exactly the
same. This was no
season six, but what
it lacked in Nadiyas it
made up for in fi endishly
clever bakes. What c ould
top Steven’s chess set
made out of a hundred
individual biscuits? It
even sharp-elbowed his
own manchego clutch
with breadstick chain out
of the limelight. Steven
was so good the palette
knives came out. Let’s
face it, there is no greater
crime in reality TV than
being too good to be true.Nadiya:
winner
of series 6,
and our
heartsSeries 6
Nadiya Hussain’s
victory speech
Winner of not just series
six, but every Bake
Off past and future ,
the nation’s heart and
anything worth dying
on a hill for, is Nadiya
Hussain. Her facial
expressions were gif
gold. Her levitating-
can showstopper
was a metaphysical
masterpiece. She
was funny, wise, self-
deprecating and always
magnifi cently herself.
She showed us what
Britishness, at its best,
could be. And her victory
speech was so moving
it made everyone,
including Mary Berry,
cry. “I can and I will” is
all I need to reprise here
to bring it back in its full
Larkin-esque glory.7
Iain:
pre-tantrum
and Newsnight
appearanceSeries 7
The king of chill
The best moment in the
series touted at the time
to be Bake Off ’s last goes
to Selasi Gbormittah or,
as he came to be known,
the king of chill. He
baked from the fl oor; a
yogi practising shivasana
while checking on his
savarins. He did bump ’n’
grind rolling pin moves
for Benjamina Ebuehi.
Baking never got any
cooler than Selasi saying
to Mel Giedroyc, when
she observed smoke
billowing from his
dampfnudel, that “it’s
the kind of burn that
you like”.RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws