The Great British Baking Show Boss Is ‘Very Interested’ in an All-Star Season

As a dedicated fan who has watched every single episode of The Great British Baking Show since its inception, I can confidently say that an All-Stars season is long overdue. The anticipation has been building like a soufflé left unattended in the oven – it’s only a matter of time before it explodes into a delicious mess.


A popular trend in recent years involves bringing back past winners for special seasons of reality cooking shows, aiming to crown an ultimate culinary champion. However, unlike other shows, “The Great British Baking Show,” now on its 15th season, has been reluctant to organize an all-star season despite having a rich pool of victorious bakers since 2010. Yet, as any skilled pastry artist who’s perfected a meringue roll will attest: Good things come to those who wait. We might finally see “The Great British Baking Show: All-Stars” in the future.

Kieran Smith, who has been with The Baking Show as the creative director and executive producer for a long time, shares that his team is eagerly considering an all-star season – a full ten-episode series. He believes it’s quite likely this will happen soon. “I think most of our past bakers would be keen to participate,” he says. “Fans would enjoy watching their favorite bakers from the past compete again. It’s exciting to imagine crowning the ultimate champion at this point.” Smith cites the popularity of The Baking Show’s special episodes and the eagerness of returning contestants as a sign of strong interest. “Past participants always look forward to returning to the tent,” he adds. “Because they often think, ‘I’m never coming back,’ so they get another opportunity. I don’t believe we would have trouble getting them.

2020, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, marked the first serious contemplation of an exceptional season for the show. The production team established a self-contained environment at a rural estate for bakers to isolate, live, and compete in. As Smith reminisces, “The idea hadn’t been brought up before then. We were pondering, Would it be challenging to find new bakers during this lockdown? Wouldn’t it be safer to invite returning contestants? People might truly appreciate seeing familiar winners again.” However, upon examining the logistics of hosting a lockdown version of the show, Smith and his team discovered, due to the convenience of Zoom auditions for instance, that they could indeed accommodate new bakers. “With so few original programs available at the time,” he notes, “it seemed more appealing to air a series featuring fresh faces instead of bringing back familiar ones.

Despite Smith’s confidence that it wouldn’t be tough to select a contestant from the group of 14 winners, he acknowledges that “perhaps one or two might shy away from returning to the spotlight due to nerves.” (Typically, The Baking Show has had ten competitors per season, providing some room for rejection.) However, a type of recency bias could potentially influence how past champions react to being invited back. “As we’ve progressed through the seasons,” Smith points out, “the benchmark has risen. To win now isn’t as easy as it was in the first season, won by Ed Kimber. The criteria for excellence have become more refined over time. My assumption would be that the overall champion would be someone who’s triumphed within the last five or six years. But there’s always an exception. Many winners continue to bake and have successful publishing careers, so they remain active in the field.

Besides contradicting Prue Leith’s earlier opinion that an all-star season would never occur due to winners being concerned about damaging their reputations by losing, Smith expresses optimism. He believes the competition maintains a friendly atmosphere and fosters camaraderie among participants. Bakers may face occasional teasing, but they participate because they enjoy baking in the tent. They aren’t there for fame; instead, they bake to make others happy. Charitable and giving by nature, Smith hopes this attitude will encourage those in charge to eventually approve an all-star season, provided that interest continues to grow.

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2024-11-01 18:53