BAKE OFF: What got Paul Hollywood hot under the collar?
THE Great British Bake Off cooked up a recipe for disaster last night when all the bakers failed on the technical challenge – to the dismay of Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
In a first for the series, not a single one of the remaining 10 contestants managed to produce a batch of decent Maids of Honour tarts for the pair of judges.
And there was further controversy for the show’s nine million viewers when trucker Phil
Thorne became the fourth baker to leave the tent – despite Priya O’Shea having an “absolute catastrophe” with her tarts and Michael Chakraverty even crying over his failed attempt.
The technical challenge set by Prue for Dairy Week was to make 12 of the tarts, which were a favourite of King Henry VIII. The flaky pastry case needed to be filled with lemon curd plus “well- risen” cheese curd and topped off with a Tudor rose design. “All the elements are equally important so don’t mess up on any of them,” she warned.
But Paul said they had all failed to rise to the challenge, branding their efforts “awful”. He added: “They’re really bad,” before storming out and kicking the wall.
Priya’s were unfinished, leaving her to ask: “Is there really any point?” when told to present them. “These can’t get any worse. An absolute catastrophe,” she said during her bake. “Priya’s were a car crash,” Paul said afterwards. Michael fought back tears after his tarts came second from last and he was told the fillings were “boiled” and “overdone”. He said: “If I go, I don’t want to go feeling like this.”
Steph Blackwell’s were deemed to be the best of a bad bunch.
Phil managed a more credible sixth place in the technical challenge, but was let down by his signature bake of Indian milk desserts, which Hollywood said tasted “fake”.