Saturday 13 September 2014

The #bingate dramas of the Great British Bake Off

Following the big Olney Bake off at the Big Olney Food Festival, we're wondering how many of you are enjoying watching the ever-popular TV series, the Great British Bake Off? If so, you'll have noticed that this series appears to have that little bit more drama than usual...

The first shocker came last month when one contestant, Iain Watters, was sent packing after throwing his baked Alaska in the bin. Not only that, but accusations then flew around of sabotage, when it turned out that another contestant, Diana Beard, had taken his ice cream out of the freezer, causing the tissue with the Alaska!

Viewers jumped on this drama, and thanks to social media the controversy escalated quickly. '#bingate' became the hashtag for the event, trending worldwide, and people began getting a little too over the top with their outrageous tweets aimed at Diana. A few brands also jumped on the bandwagon and used the opportunity to create a quick bit of advertising, with Innocent drinks and Tetley tea joining in with the drama.





















The episode caused uproar all round, with viewers calling for Iain to be reinstated and Diana to be dropped, clearly forgetting in the excitement of it all that the series had actually been filmed months before. Not only that, but Iain then appeared on Newsnight the following evening... and this is where I think we need to stop and remember that this is all about a cookery show! Wow!

Following this drama, viewers were left reeling again last week as there was another surprise, and first ever for the GBBO, with no-one being sent home and the bottom two given another shot! Following Diana's exit due to illness, the question was raised as to whether the contestants were kept in order to keep numbers up, but judges Paul and Mary claimed this had nothing to do with it. Maybe the show is trying to inject a little more drama to the cake baking, but to me it sounds rather too similar to the stunts pulled by shows such as X-Factor and Big Brother, with dramatic twists and turns to keep viewers on their toes and make it more dramatic and less and less predictable.

Whatever the reasons for the comings and not-goings of the contestants, Diana Beard is attempting to set the record straight with her side of the story of the ice cream dramas on 'an extra slice' this week, again reminiscent of the Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity coming out shows.

How do you feel about the whole debacle? We hope your home baking doesn't erupt into quite so much drama! We're about halfway through the series now... so who knows what other dramas may be in store, you may be watching tomorrow's episode on the edge of your seat, and if you've missed out so far, it looks like it might be worth tuning in!

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