'The Great British Baking Show' Season 15 to Debut Exactly When It Always Does

The Great British Baking Show has had a rocky couple of seasons. After audiences overlooked the growing boy energy in the tent during the pandemic, grateful that the show was continuing at all, the hosting team of Noel Fielding & Matt Lucas was finally deemed unworkable after Season 13's disaster of Mexican proportions. However, Matt's exit, though a correct choice, wasn't enough to fix the series in Season 14. Despite the delightful hire of Alison Hammond to pair with Noel (and their instant perfect chemistry bringing back shades of when Sue & Mel ran the tent), the problem was, is, and always will be, judge Paul Hollywood, whose insistence in pushing his favorite into the Grand Final in Season 14 created the worst finale the show has ever witnessed.

Season 14 was preceded by the producers of Love Productions doing damage control from the previous season and removing foreign theme weeks since Paul Hollywood could not be trusted not to be racist about them (or at least show his utter incuriosity and ignorance). Season 15 is also doing damage control, but less overtly, with Fielding standing in for viewers as he reveals how angry he gets at the judges sometimes.

Speaking to The Guardian on the eve of becoming the longest-serving host of the series, he said, "I’ve always really enjoyed hanging out with the bakers. I befriend them and get them to open up. Nobody expected that to be my strength. I assumed it’d be the sketches and banter. In fact, I’m fascinated by the people. I feel protective of them. If Paul and Prue [Leith] are hard on them, I’m absolutely livid. It’s devastating when they leave. This year, I was particularly fond of one baker. When I had to send them home, I cried.”