Why ‘The Great British Baking Show’s Most Ridiculous Season Ever Was Also The Best Season in Years

When we look back at the 2024 season of The Great British Baking Show, the word “chaos” undoubtedly comes to mind. The Netflix hit so renowned for its simple, understated approach to reality television repeatedly went fully off the rails this year. Whether it was the shocking addition of a Bronx-born baker — who promptly quit — or Noel Fielding playing cricket with the bakers’ Technical Challenges, this season was the year The Great British Baking Show felt somewhat locked in a fever dream. Week after week, something incredibly silly, if not downright shocking, occurred in the tent.

Somehow, though, these nonstop antics never dulled the luster of The Great British Baking Show. This was not just the most anarchic season of The Great British Baking Show ever, but one of the most fun to watch. No matter what happened, The Great British Baking Show got one key ingredient to its initial success right: the bakers, themselves.

By now, it should come as no surprise to savvy television watchers that The Great British Baking Show takes great pains to cast bakers who are not only great at what they do, but mentally and emotionally up to the task of being on camera. When Decider chatted with Great British Baking Show alum Jürgen Krauss last year, he revealed that the whole process takes upwards of “half a year.”

“It goes up and up and up in stages with each phone call. You’re aware that there’s less people they are calling and the questions change, the qualities of questions change,” Krauss said. “Surprisingly, the least they’re talking about is baking.”

“I think they want to make good TV, right? So you have to be able to fit into the screen and be a character that people can connect to.”

True to Krauss’s point, The Great British Baking Show is something of a unicorn in the reality competition show landscape when it comes to its casting process. Love Productions, the team behind the franchise, really have to be screening their candidates like no other show in the industry. Note how unlike other long-running shows, there’s no whiff of scandal that’s followed any of the bakers, nor tell of post-show breakdowns. The bakers on The Great British Baking Show seem perfectly conditioned to deal with the pressure of baking for Paul and Prue on international television, while also fitting into key character archetypes fans tune into the show for.

In many ways, this latest batch of bakers is no different, and yet, they’re also somewhat extraordinary. Usually, there’s a couple of charismatic characters to latch onto, but this season, just about every baker had a moment to pull focus. Consider the zany comic chemistry that sparked between Slovakian-born diva Nelly Ghaffar and Noel Fielding or the sharply hilarious commentary of Essex mechanic Andy Ryan. Then, we had not one, but two, precocious young bakers able to pull off dazzling Showstoppers alongside show-stopping moments. What will you remember more about Dylan Bachelet and Sumayah Kazi? Their insane technical skills or how the Gen Z bakers dragged Noel and Alison to their faces?

The thing about this Great British Baking Show cast is even the dark horses, the lowkey bakers who would otherwise fly under the radar, found ways to upend the usual calm of the tent. Gill Howard celebrated her elimination by breaking the fourth wall and committing theft. I didn’t see any of that coming any more than I could have predicted ultimate winner Georgie Grasso literally rolling down a hill in the finale. Even Jeff, the New York native who quit early, is a memorable addition to the “Bake Off” canon because that whole situation simply was so odd and mysterious!

However, The Great British Baking Show didn’t just succeed in casting an especially memorable group of bakers; the production itself never wavered from putting the bakers first. Hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding might have been giddier than ever, but they also were incandescently empathetic at every turn, comforting bakers in moments of stress and building real friendships that shone through the screen. Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith were as tough as ever, but they also were more encouraging, especially ensuring that young talents like Dylan and Sumayah knew how good they were. Even the crew seemed more invested — at least Gill’s sweet farewell to a camera operator was something we’ve never seen acknowledged before!

All in all, I had a blast with this latest season of The Great British Baking Show. Sure, there was more drama in the tent than ever before, but there were also so many more laughs. Joy was palpable, even during the most stressful challenges. And all of it was thanks to the bakers. The Great British Baking Show cast a great group and never wavered in putting them first in the production.

This season of The Great British Baking Show understood that it’s the bakers who make the show so gosh darn great.