BBC1’s The Great British Bake Off appears to be heading for a record-breaking final after 10 million viewers watched Flora Shedden exit at the semi-final stage, more than a million viewers up on a year ago. In many ways it’s fair enough – he’s pushing them all to see who’s got the mettle to make it to the final.
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I really felt for Flora; there was so much effort in every element of her showstopper, but the taste, techniques and finishes let her down.
The Technical saw the teen redeem herself though, despite a wobbly start to the fiendishly tricky chocolate souffle challenge.
As Flora has now been sent home, remaining contestants Ian Cumming, Tamal Ray and Nadiya Hussain will now be competing for the “Bake Off” crown in next week’s final.
The hit BBC One show, judged by Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, has inspired the North Wales to start baking.
While her Bangladeshi background didn’t usually feature deserts, that hasn’t stopped Nadiya whipping up show-stopping treats, with flavours occasionally inspired by her culture.
Flora’s signature challenge, a passion fruit and chocolate tart with macarons, also failed to impress with its flavour.
With the girls both earning top and bottom placings in the first two challenges, and Ian and Tamal sitting precariously in the middle, it was all to play for in the Showstopper which required the semi-finalists to create a 3D chocolate center piece. Sadly for Flora it seems unlikely that she’ll cause an upset as a long-shot for glory at 6/1.
Nadiya and Sue Perkins – when Sue accidentally broke one of her creations [BBC].
But she appreciated the positive feedback: “Mary said quite a few of my bakes were lovely which is a really nice thing, and Paul said my combination of flours in bread week were bang on”.
When he’s not baking up a storm in the tent, Tamal is a senior house officer at an intensive care unit. The pair would always whisk up cakes and biscuits together and Jo cherishes her happy childhood memories spending time in her nan’s kitchen.
“I really never expected to get to the semi-finals, but then I didn’t expect to get into the tent in the first place”, she said.
It’s unlikely to be the end of the young baker’s career in the spotlight though as experts predict she could be on course for a £150,000-a year career. She should feel cheated if she’s not making £150,000 a year.
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Flora already has 12,000 followers on Twitter, as well as an online blog which she regularly updates with recipes. The paranoid head-fu** of a show focuses on a small town GP who realises she can’t trust anyone around her, leading to… well, one or two bad life decisions.
