Following the Guardian on Twitter is usually wonderful – it lets me know all the important news and events from around the world. However, back in October I was cursing whoever was sending out social media missives because they ruined the ending of The Great British Bake Off for those of us in the US who had to wait eight long months before it hit the airwaves here. (And I’m going to spoil it for you below, so if you still don’t know, please join Paul and Mary outside of the tent.)
It’s just natural that the newspaper would let everyone know that baker Nadiya Hussein cooked her way to a very sweet victory, considering it’s the biggest show in the country and the finale is national news. Selfishly I was worried about those of us in the rest of the world. PBS is forcing Americans to wait until 1 July (or even later, check local listings) before airing what they’re calling “season three”, but what most Brits will know as “series six”. (They also have to call it The Great British Baking Show, because Pillsbury has the copyright on using the term “bake off” in this country.)
I don’t know which is worse, the British press for spoiling the show or PBS for making all of us fiend away for more episodes. It’s definitely PBS because, well, after a moment of intense anger, I don’t really care that I know who the winner is. All of the conversations I’ve had with friends who are fans of the show circle around the fact that we can’t wait for its return, even though the final episode is a bit of a fait accompli. After all, there are still nine delectable challenges for us to enjoy before we get there.
Thanks to PBS and Netflix, which airs seasons after they premiere on PBS, Bake Off has been steadily increasing its fanbase in the former colonies. We enjoy it for the same reason so many do in its native country: watching the show is the visual equivalent of taking Xanax. It’s nice and peaceful, nothing jarring or traumatic is going to happen during the hour, and we get to look at gorgeous desserts baked with care in an idyllic setting. There are even accents. The only thing Americans love more than Walmart and firearms (and buying firearms at Walmart) is accents.
As has been remarked, one of the greatest joys about Bake Off is that the stakes are decidedly low. Every reality competition on American television comes with a prize and the promise of some sort of contract, whether it be for modeling or opening a restaurant. Here there is hardly even a trophy. Maybe that is what makes the competition so jovial. We’re used to shows where contestants “aren’t there to make friends”, and will do anything to get ahead. On Bake Off it seems like everyone goes to each other’s houses for tea and crumpets after the taping.
While there has been much talk that Bake Off is inherently linked to British identity, it plays into all the good stereotypes that Americans have of British folks, but without any of the horrible baggage that goes along with them. We see sweet grannies and tough but tender tradesmen working on their buns and trying to avoid soggy bottoms. They all seem so sweet and lovely especially because the part of the country they’re from or the vagaries of their accents are totally lost on most of us.
“Here’s Glenn from Teignmouth,” we hear co-hosts Mel or Sue say. Americans think, “Oh, Teignmouth. It sounds like such a wonderful place. I bet Harry Potter’s been there.” Most of us have no idea where that is or what the reality of it is like. It could be some industrial hellhole full of closed coal mines and nuclear waste sites. To those of us blissfully unaware we’re picturing a beautiful lea with some of the tenant farms from Downton Abbey. (For those of you now wondering, its on the shore and quite lovely.)
If the show were about Americans we’d meet Ashely from Tampa and form all sorts of horrible judgments about her before she put her first cookie in the oven. With Bake Off we’re divorced from all that thanks to a bit of ignorance and a heaping of disconnection. We don’t have to worry about what Nadiya’s win says about British attitudes to Muslims because it’s not our country. We can just sit back and marvel at how one human made 48 petit fours in 90 minutes.
Of course it’s much harder for us to ignore issues of British national identity after the historic Brexit vote, which put’s Nadiya’s win into a whole different context. After all, the referendum was in large part decided by people who want to tamp down immigration and return to an old idea of Britishness, one that is not represented in the show’s always-diverse casting. But I’m trying to put that out of my mind. After all, we’re going to have our own vote this fall between rational sense and someone who wants to build a literal wall between the US and the rest of the world. I’m not watching Bake Off to think about national politics, I’m watching it to forget them.
I think that lack of specificity is what makes the show so fun for American audiences. It’s even sunnier when there are no preconceived notions. Maybe that’s why the show just doesn’t work over here. There have been two failed attempts at translating it and both have been critical and ratings disasters. Even post-Brexit, when many Americans think of the British in broad terms we think of them as genteel, polite and civilized, all of which apply to Bake Off. When the American versions tried to be the same things, it came off as cloying and fake. Maybe we’re just a nation of cynics, or maybe we just believe it more when it’s delivered with an accent.
So, yes, I’ll be tuning into The Great British Baking Show (always said with an eyeroll) even though I know what is going to happen. Shows with American in the title, like American Ninja Warrior and American Grit, are all about being though and strong and loving the military. I’d much rather pretend like I’m one of the Queen’s subjects for a little while and enjoy a nice, civilized Victoria Sponge. Whatever that is.
