Some Contestants Think This Is Why The Great British Baking Show Never Has Enough Freezers
The freezers on The Great British Baking Show seem to see as many tears as they do cakes that need to chill quickly. According to a recent Insider article, some past contestants believe it's an intentional lack of said freezers that contribute to such drama. Who can forget on season 11 Laura's meltdown (pun intended) over an ice cream cake not solidifying enough (via Grub Street)? Or, #BinGate, from season five, in which Diana removed Iain's Baked Alaska from the freezer to make room for her own dessert, allegedly reducing her fellow contestant's creation to soup (via The Guardian)?
Fans of the show have been so upset by the seemingly impossible conditions under which contestants are expected to whip up and then maintain ice cream cakes or temper chocolate that they've called for The Great British Baking Show to either stop posing such challenges on hot days or even end them all together (via Digital Spy). Sure enough, the weather plays a massive role in upping the show's stakes. TGBBS films in a tent, exposing bakers to the elements. Some contestants believe producers purposely plan certain challenges on certain days, i.e. ice cream cakes when temperatures are highest (via Delish). However, other contestants, like season eight's Tom Hetherington, chalks it all up simply to the United Kingdom's unpredictable weather. Whether cool desserts on hot days are planned or not, one thing's for sure: more freezers would help contestants.
The fewer the freezers, the greater the drama
In addition to a split among contestants who believe challenges are planned according to weather and who don't, there's also a divide over whether the number of freezers in the baking tent is strategically limited. According to Insider, there's a theory that there certainly could be more freezers based into the show's budget and the size of the tent, but then that would eliminate the kind of baking scandals that go viral like #BinGate now, wouldn't it?
"It's not a coincidence that even though they're one of the biggest shows in the country for some reason they never seem to have enough freezers," season 4 contestant Ali Imdad told Insider. "Obviously they can get enough freezers if they want but they want people to mess up because that's where the drama is."
However, even if some contestants think decisions like this from the producers drive up the drama, they do not believe something like weather or limited freezers are meant to make anyone completely fail. As season 9's Antony Amourdoux explained, "They'd never set anyone up for failure. Even with that heat, there are a lot of technical things that you can do to make sure your bakes go right." In other words, warm days and a fight for freezer space aren't geared toward immediate defeat, but they might be arranged to separate the good bakers from the great bakers—and a little compelling TV, of course.