UH OH EVERYONE THERE’S A NEW TRAILER FOR THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF AND THE INTERNET IS GOING CRAZY.
But not only the internet: our office, too. Some people like it, most people hate it – so we asked someone on either side of the ‘debate’ to put forward their case on this extremely important and potentially life-changing matter.
But firstly, the trailer:
Thoughts?
Here are ours:
Emily Reynolds HATES it
Remember when you were 14 and you insisted on letting everyone you met know how ‘random’ you were? Remember the ‘rawr means I love you in dinosaur’ slogan T-shirts? Remember how annoying that was? Remember how annoying you, personally, were?
Now: cast your mind to the guy on your Facebook who insists, over and over again, that he is ‘wacky’. The guy who recounts mediocre anecdotes about his nights out or his interactions with other people as if he’s some kind of Gonzo journalist. The man who still, in 2017, thinks The Mighty Boosh is funny. Think of how annoying he is.
The Bake Off trailer is this man in advert form. The SHEER EFFORT that Channel 4 have clearly taken to make the advert quirky and zany and surreal is not only palpable but also TOTALLY UNBEARABLE. We don’t watch Bake Off for smiling, anthropomorphic cakes fucking about to The Frog Chorus or to hear self-consciously weird riffs on Victorian ghost children or whatever the fuck it is Noel Fielding does these days. We watch it to see nice, normal people get teary about, and overly invested in, custard.
It’s not 2007, lads. Put down the shag bands and the stupid fucking dancing cakes and just show us a supercut of middle-aged men doing wholesome things with dough. It’s what the public wants.
Gary Ogden LIKES it
I might as well admit it straight off the bat: I am not a big fan of The Great British Bake Off. I watched a couple of the last series because I caught a glimpse of Val as I was walking past the living room, and her kind face, her sweet, oval head, made me want to watch it.
So I did, and the first ep that I watched was the one in which she was unceremoniously fired into the sun, which devastated me to a degree that I didn’t think was possible. I had only spent 45 minutes in the company of this woman, and her banishment affected me greatly. I actually almost cried.
Regardless, I watched the rest of the show because I fancied Candice and yearned for her to encase me in wet pastry and put me in an oven. But despite enjoying a part of one series, when the whole Channel 4 debacle started, I’ll admit I didn’t care. I had no investment in this TV show that stretched further than a misplaced love for a woman based entirely on the shape of her head, and a newly-discovered fetish to be filled with cream and eaten by a lady with bright red lipstick.
So when I saw the trailer for today’s show, I didn’t care, again. Everyone in the office seemed to hate it with a passion though, so as an unexpected rebuttal, I watched it, and liked it. Not on purpose just to be the annoying one in the office that thinks that “No, actually, The Big Bang Theory is really clever and good”, but genuinely because I think it’s a good advert.
Main reason being: ‘We All Stand Together’ by Paul McCartney and The Frog Chorus was my favourite song for about a year when I was a very small child. We only had it on VHS, and I knew exactly where it started, so would put it in regularly and watch it and sing along.
Maybe that’s clouded my judgement, but I watched it on mute and I still think it’s good. It’s going to be different to the BBC version, and people don’t like change. I don’t mind it, so I’ll probably watch it. Maybe there’ll be a new Val whose head I can tearfully admire, or a new Candice to send DMs of me coated in egg and butter, ready to be cooked – who knows.
Good advert, 8/10, would watch.
Final Verdict
There isn’t one, obviously. It’s up to you, really – stop listening to people on the internet. They know nothing.
The Great British Bake Off will air on Channel 4 later this August.
