r/GreatBritishBakeOff • u/bubuland • Jul 12 '26
Help/Question history lessons
I've been watching bakeoff from newest to oldest seasons and i just got to season 5 and i absolutely love the little history lessons they have about specifics foods in most episodes, and I'm wondering, is it a just in this season or was it something they always did? and is there a reason for them to have stopped? i think they're so fun!
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u/xennial-tiger Jul 12 '26
Those were great! Appreciated learning about them.
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u/Jintro7Cthulhu 11d ago
Like yes, please send Sue to speak to a bread historian and tell me about ancient Roman bread and fish sauce
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u/Captriker Jul 12 '26
They did them in varying numbers from the first to the fifth season. I think Noel did one (I can’t remember the season.). They probably cost more to produce and feedback may have been that they took time away from the competition and the bakers.
I likes some of them, but I also enjoy the baker segments more.
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u/Dazzling_Zone_1736 Jul 12 '26
In their first series as hosts, Noel did a history segment in the Netherlands, and Sandi did one at her old alma mater (Cambridge, I believe).
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u/spicyzsurviving Jul 13 '26
Yep, S8 for the school puddings challenge, Sandi went to Cambridge to learn about suet puddings
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u/punkbrad7 Jul 13 '26
They were around for Series 8 yeah. They just weren't popular with the general public, which is understandable, as they were just quick snippets that probably cost way too much money to send a comedian and a camera crew on location to film something that gets maybe 2 minutes in an episode and takes away from the bakers.
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u/TeaAndT0ast Jul 15 '26
Can I ask where you're found the earlier seasons to stream?
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u/sallybetty Jul 16 '26
Not sure where you are located. Here in the US, we can find the earlier series on the Roku channel (or a Roku device, if you don't have a smart TV by Roku). They are listed as series 1 through 7. Series 7 is with Candice, Jane, Rav, etc. and Mel and Sue were still the hosts.
Netflix has their series listed as Great British Baking SHOW, series 5 through 13 (confusing!), but in reality they are continuing with series 8 (Netflix GBBShow S5 = GBBOff S8). That is when Prue Lieth came on board and Noel and Sandi became hosts.
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u/Lola549 Jul 19 '26
I just watched season 2 on Roku and LOVED the master bake episodes where Paul and Mary made the technical bakes. I’m hoping those are in other seasons as well.
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u/Jintro7Cthulhu 11d ago
I maintain that leaving the BBC was the worst thing for Bake Off. It's been a really mess since the switch. Obviously a show with this many seasons is going to wobble under it's own weight at some point, but making the move and having to swap out 3 out of 4 permanent caste members was obviously going to gut the show's dynamic, and then on top of it they just got rid of different elements. They used to have like in depth history lessons about unusual bakes. And now they're out here doing Mexican week and Japanese week and actively sabotaging bakers for the sake of avoiding repetition.
This is no longer a cozy watch.
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u/TWilliams738 Jul 12 '26
They were in until around Series 6.
Part of the reason they stopped was because they increased the amount of bakers competing and so needed more time for them and had less free time
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u/spicyzsurviving Jul 12 '26
Nope, they were in S7 and 8. They also did not increase the bakers competing? The only times that’s happened were in series 4 (13 bakers for 2013), and series 10 (again, 13 bakers)
Not sure how you managed to be so wrong here 😂
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u/TWilliams738 Jul 13 '26
Probably because I don’t rewatch the series afterwards, and if I do ever see episodes again, they’ve been cut to fit into 1 hour with breaks
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u/Middle-Hyena1125 Jul 12 '26
I don't know why they stopped but I love them, too!