The Show Stops a Showstopper Move in the Semi-Final of 'The Great British Baking Show' Season 15

Before we break down this week's semifinal episode of The Great British Baking Show (which went exactly as most suspected), I was to talk about Paul Hollywood. (Yes, again.) The show's 100lb gorilla continues to be the production's most significant problem, not just because he's an incurious moron, thoughtlessly sexist (since moving to Channel 4, the show has gone from the winners being primarily women to almost all male champions), and embarrassingly racist. (His look of utter boredom when Illiyin started talking about afros and natural hair last week was as repulsive as it was revealing.) 

The problem is that his biased decisions about who stays and goes — and Prue's unwillingness to put him in his place despite being older, more experienced, and a far better judge — tend to backfire on the contestants themselves. Last season was probably the most obvious time this has happened as "Paul's Favorite" Dan was pushed into the finale despite it being obvious he was unable to compete at that level; it wound up being one of the most humiliating finale meltdowns in the show's history, enraging viewers. But it's far from the first time a contestant has been blamed for Paul forcing someone along when they should be allowed to be eliminated with dignity. 

Starting with Ruby Tandoh in Season 4, when fans made up stories about her trying to seduce Paul (when it was pretty clear he was harassing her), audiences punish contestants when Paul should be blamed. The issue has only worsened since moving to Channel 4, with harassment campaigns against Season 11's Laura Adlington and anger against Crystelle Pereira for making it into the finals over Jurgen in Season 12. With this week's result, it's about to happen again, so before you aim your rage at a contestant who, please remember, is currently being gaslit into believing they belong in the finale, stop and consider that instead, you should write to Love Productions and Netflix and demand Paul be fired.

With this being the semifinals, there's no cold open; we're thrown directly into the Signature Challenge. For this last episode before the finale, the bakers are asked to make two kinds of laminated breakfast pastries, eight identical pastries per kind. (Laminated pastries are the ones that you fold a million times with butter or lard between each fold; think croissants, puff pastry, or danishes.) They can be any design, but one of the two must be a filled pastry or, in the case of something like a Danish, topped with fruit. As an added challenge, because this is the semi-finals and pâtisserie week, everything has to look shop-window-worthy.

Noel informs us this is the most complex Signature Challenge the show has ever devised, so I went back through the previous seasons to see if that's accurate. I noticed that usually, when the bakers are asked to make two separate bakes, it's two loaves of bread or two kinds of rolls. The last time they were asked to make breakfast pastries was back in the BBC years, but it was two dozen of one type. However, Season 4 's semi-final (French Week, but basically was pâtisserie) called for 36 canapés — three sets of 12, one choux pastry based, one shortcrust based, and one baker's choice. However, those were not dough-based like these, which require an overnight rise, so it certainly feels like this is harder since it literally added an extra day of working in the tent.

Let's see whose breakfast pastries are worth waking up for and who should go back to bed.

• Georgie ‘Coffee & Hazelnut Pinwheels’ + ‘Chocolate Pain Suisse’ (Fail): She ran out of time, and both her pastries are rushed and underproved/underbaked, but Prue likes the flavor.
• Gill 'Pain Au Sausage' + ‘Banana Custard Pastries’ (Fail): She overfilled her pastries with whole sausages, so they exploded a bit, which ruined her lamination.
• Christiaan ‘Rhubarb & Saffron Danish’ + ‘Za‘atar & Gruyère Swirls’ (Pass): His pastries look right, the lamination held, and they are appropriately filled.
• Dylan ‘Hazelnut + Cinnamon Croissants’ (Fail): They're messier than Paul would have liked; the hazelnut filling melted, and the one he left plain shows they were underprovided before filling

Oof, three out of four fails a bit hard at this stage, but much like the Season 14 Treacle Pudding Technical horror show, this is on Paul and Prue; they set a challenge only one of these bakers could meet

With three bakers now extra stressed, let's move to the Technical Challenge, which was set by "Pâtisserie Paul," as Alison and Noel christen him. Once the judges leave, Alison reveals he's asking them to make a Gâteau opéra, aka an Opera Cake. The name is not because it is served at operas but because French Chefs thought the eight precise and neat layers looked like the tiers of seating in an opera house. Those layers include French buttercream (creme au beurre), almond sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup (joconde), dark chocolate ganache, and Grand Marnier (if you're doing the French classic) or coffee (in the U.K./U.S. variations), covered in a chocolate glaze. This is the U.K. variant, so coffee instead of liqueur. (Singing "Nessun Dorma" is optional.)

This is the moment when Georgie looks at what she's supposed to do, realizes she's not capable of competing at this level, takes off her apron, and quits. 

It is a surprising moment of clarity from a Paul favorite. It is also absolutely the last thing anyone in the production wants. Allowing the Paul favorite to realize they've been gaslit with praise they don't deserve, have been pushed farther in the competition than they should, and to call it out like this would make it so the producers would no longer be able to politely ignore Paul's bigotry or pretend a few theme alterations will solve everything when the problem is the judge. Unsurprisingly, it falls to Alison to save the day and talk Georgie out of it, which she does with absolute aplomb. (Alison continues to be the most intelligent hire Channel 4 has managed to make thus far.) Georgie is corralled back to the tent, her apron re-donned, and something resembling an opera cake produced.

Let's see who gets a Michelin star glued to their heads and who should have been allowed to walk out of the tent with her head held high.

4. Georgie: No coffee flavor; the layers are different sizes, but she made a decent edible cake.
3. Christiaan: His curls are perfect, but his layers are all sorts of uneven.
2. Gill: Her curls collapsed, her coffee flavor is muted, but her layers are nice and neat.
1. Dylan: Practically perfect in every way.

Dylan's going to win next week, or we riot.

The Semi-final Showstopper Challenge requires bakers to create a store window display consisting of one dozen "Fruit-Shaped Entremets." While the term comes from the French habit of serving two desserts, one small and cute (the entremet) and one big and fancy, it has come to mean one-bite or two-bite-sized glazed mini-cakes made from delicate, precise layers (usually sponge cake and mousse or sponge and creme), plus some kind of fruit compote. The compote is essential here, as the desserts should have an illusion-style design mimicking the chosen fruit.

This being the last bake between the bakers and the finale, this is all about family memories, as the contestants have personal stories behind their chosen fruits. Let's see who's Showstopper is perfectly ripe and which ones should have been picked over.

Gill’s ‘Pick Your Own Car Keys’: Prue loves everything about this, from Gill's story of dad losing his car keys ("They're right there!" she points to the key-shaped desserts) to the basket. Paul begrudgingly admits the strawberries are precisely the right size, and while the regular ones look like "strawberry-shaped desserts," the chocolate-covered ones would easily pass an illusion test. Prue says she would eat the whole display if you let her.

Dylan’s ‘Avocado & Orange Entremets’: Dylan tried to do too much, making both oranges and avocados, the latter of which look like they should be sent back to Mexico. (The orange ones are also klutzy.) But even though they're not perfect, they are well done; even Christiaan admiringly says, "Oh wow!" from his station when Paul cuts into the avocado, and the inside has a chocolate pit. Prue says that the inside of the avocado is such that it messes with your mind because you think you're eating the skin and pit of the fruit, and then you bite it and get pistachio. Paul is floored, but then again, we know he knows zero about Mexican cuisine, so that should be expected.

Christiaan’s 'Sorrento Citrus Entremets’: Christian also did two kinds, apples and lemons. While his orchard tree really could have used more work, he concentrated on the parts that mattered, and it shows. They're a little too glazed to be real, but that's quibbling. Prue notes that the green and yellow match her statement necklace. Inside, both fruits have layers that are neat as a pin; the apple is particularly remarkable in how neat the jelly inside is.

Georgie’s ‘Market Box Fruits’: Much like the Technica, we are running up against Georgie's skill level. The blackberries are ridiculously misproportioned; they look like half-bunches of grapes or a purple version of an osage orange. The lemons are better in the realism department, but they've got this weird crumb coating that ruins it actually passing for lemons. Prue praises her basket. They both taste great; Prue looks slightly resigned as she watches Paul cry out, "Yes, Georgie!" like he's fantasizing about sex. 

It's ok, Prue. We all are.

Last week, I said if Gill didn't go home, she would this week. It's not fair. She's a good baker, better than Georgie, and Georgie knows it. But she's older, stouter, and she wouldn't take Paul's crap even if he were attracted to her, which, let's be frank, her being "unattractive" in Paul's eyes is his real issue with her bakes. Good on Georgie for trying to do the right thing; let's hope Alison gets a giant raise with Channel 4's next re-up of the series. Christiaan gets Star Baker because he was the only one to pass the Signature, and Paul wants to pretend Dylan won't win next week. Sure, Paul, have fun with that.

Remember, don't blame Georgie for this or for whatever happens. Demand the show admit the real problem is Paul.

The Great British Baking Show continues on Netflix with new episodes every Tuesday in the U.K. and Friday in the U.S. through the end of November. The double episode Christmas 2023 & New Years 2024 specials from last year will arrive Friday, December 9, 2024.