GBBO’s celebrity spin-off

Popular television programs always seem to beget spin-offs, so it’s no surprise that we now have one based on The Great British Bake Off. The new version – Celebrity Bake Off – might not be spawning any cookbooks, however (and we may not want it to). It’s still a fun romp, and judging from Scott Bryan’s review of the show in The Guardian, I hope it finds this version of GBBO finds its way across the pond. 

Bryan thinks that Celebrity Bake Off might even be better than the original. It’s not because the celebrity bakers are better than the regular show’s contestants (far from it), but rather because the show doesn’t take itself seriously. Bryan thinks that the “regular Bake Off feels ever more like an exam,” while Celebrity Bake Off delights through the personalities of the contestants. 

Who wouldn’t want to watch John Lithgow bake a bread version of himself as Winston Churchill in The Crown, witness Russell Brand attempting to create an expressionist scene depicting the birth of his daughter out of dough, or view Joanna Lumley flubbing up a cake by adding too much raising agent? I generally am not a fan of celebrity reality shows, but this is one I could possibly be interested in viewing. If you’ve watched Celebrity Bake Off, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show.