The Great British Bake Off returned to our screens on Tuesday night, and while viewers were overjoyed to have the show back with another season, some took issue with one of the challenges presented to the bakers. The popular Channel 4 series, hosted by Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding, sees a fresh batch of contestants join judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood in the iconic white tent, where they face a variety of themed tasks, including signature bakes, technical challenges, and showstoppers, in the hopes of being crowned Star Baker.
In the opening episode of the new season, the contestants were asked to bake nine fondant fancies for the Technical challenge. However, in a new twist, the bakers had to complete the task without a recipe or list of ingredients, with only a single fondant fancy to use as a sample and figure out what ingredients were needed.
HELLO!'s TV Writer Abby Allen said: "When I realised the crafty twist judges Paul and Prue had in store for this year’s cohort, I was shocked. The technical is notoriously hard for the bakers even with a recipe, so taking it away and adding in rogue ingredients is brutal."
What did viewers say about the Technical Challenge?
Taking to social media, viewers criticised the task, saying it was a "cruel" and "harsh" challenge for week one. One person wrote on X: "#GBBO no recipe thing was a nonsense too. You're not testing technical skills properly, you're asking for guesswork and then criticising guesswork," while another added: "Not a format change to the technical - it's hard enough as it is without making it a guessing game too!!"
A third viewer penned: "The technical is so ridiculously hard this week #GBBO," while another wrote: "This is such a stupid technical challenge. Don't give them a recipe and purposefully give them the wrong ingredients if you don't want them to use them. It's setting the bakers up for failure #GBBO."
Elsewhere in the show, Hassan, a scientist from South Yorkshire, was the first to leave the tent, while office assistant Nataliia was named Star Baker after wowing the judges with her Showstopper cake.
What to expect from the new series of Bake Off
For the next ten weeks, hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond will guide a new line-up of bakers through 30 new challenges, set by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
Teasing the new season, judge Paul said he was "shocked" by the high standard of baking. "I think this is an exceptional year," he told Channel 4. "I think the standard of the baking has been phenomenal. I was really shocked – it was unbelievable. Proper borderline-professional from the off. And the bakers all bonded really quickly as well. Straight out of the traps, there were a number of bakers that made me think, 'Wow, we're in for a good year.' And it is a really good year."
The Great British Bake Off airs on Tuesdays on Channel 4.