'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.”

Speaking to RadioTimes Magazine, Hammond was a little more diplomatic. "A few things got burnt; a few things crumbled. There were accidents. I fell off a workstation. I was showing off, and I went backward and ended up on the floor. There are tears, mainly from Noel." She also warned viewers that favorites will be dismissed this season: "The standard is so high. It's been really different. I feel sorry for the judges this year."

Fielding was more specific: "There are three incredibly innovative bakers. Any one of them could have won...I did actually cry when one of them went home," Fielding admitted. "They were like nobody I'd ever met before."

So, who are these bakers to whom Noel is so attached that he cried when one was dismissed? Let's meet the dozen contestants vying to be named Britain's Best Amateur Baker in the tent for 2024. The lineup, as always, includes a couple of youngsters of 19 and 20, a couple of pensioners, and a few U.K. residents who were born elsewhere, including Slovakia, the Netherlands, and, for the first time, an American ex-pat.

Here is the 2024 contestant lineup: 

• Andy: 44-year-old Car Mechanic from Essex 
• Christiaan: 33-year-old Menswear Designer from The Netherlands 
• Sumayah: 19-year-old Dentistry Student from Lancashire 
• Dylan: 20-year-old Temp from Buckinghamshire 
• Georgie: 34-year-old Paediatric Nurse from Carmarthenshire 
• Gill: 53-year-old Senior Category Manager from Lancashire
• Hazel: 71-year-old Pensioner from Kent 
• Illiyin: 31-year-old Birth Trauma Specialist/Midwife from Norfolk
• Jeff: 67-year-old Pensioner from New York(!!!) 
• Mike: 29-year-old Farm Manager from Wiltshire 
• Nelly: 44-year-old Palliative Care Assistant from Slovakia 
• John: 37-year-old Directorate Support Manager from West Midlands

As always, Paul Hollywood will be the judge who bullies everyone into letting him have his way, while Prue Leith will be the judge who acquiesces. Alison Hammond returns as host with Noel Fielding, bringing what sanity they can to the proceedings.

The Great British Baking Show Season 15 (which Netflix still pretends we all call "Cycle 13") debuts on Tuesday, September 24, at 9 p.m. BT on Channel 4 and will follow on Netflix in the States on Friday, September 27, 2024. The series will stream weekly, with new episodes landing in the U.K. on Tuesdays and the U.S. on Fridays through Thanksgiving.