The Bake Is Back - the countdown to Great British Bake Off 2026 starts here

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Trailer for the new series just dropped - no transmission date yet though.

Anyone else excited to see how Nigella gets on as the new judge? A worthy successor to Pru and Mary, I think.

I think it’s probably quite awkward to be filmed taking repeated giant mouthfuls of cake, and she doesn’t necessarily want to provide a close-up of the inside of her mouth full of stout cake…

I haven't watched Bake Off in a few years but I really enjoyed it this evening.

Loved the girl who's cake fell saying she was 'a bit bored' in the first challenge!

Really admired Molly for making a second cake after hers fell out of the oven. Incredible resilience.

Not sure about Nigella... she's very pouty. She must have felt a bit sick after all that cake.

I think they seem like a nice bunch of people... looking forward to watching this series.

Any thoughts on Gary who seems to be a very good cook, but surely his decorating method is extremely old fashioned. Had to laugh at Paul when he said make it a bit more lemon party 😂
Do not Google lemon party..!! 😅

I very much think so.

She's Portuguese, not Polish.

Oh no she dropped her cake 😯😔

My bad. She still reminds me of DVO.

Yes me too! I said to DH that must be Chelsea as it sounds exactly like her 😁

Nigella was perfect .!I’ll all about the science of baking , and the balance . Good bunch too , loved the older bloke -unrepentant classic bake no gimmicks he may surprise us if he develops . Standard v high this year. Off to make a coffee and walnut cake …

I quite liked Nigella. I can imagine her becoming the most popular judge and Paul being replaced eventually. Be interesting to see how she develops in this role over the series.

Definitely agree re the wheelchair adapted bench though - why did she not seem to have one? If not, that’s a massive inclusivity fail from Ch4.

No. There were three of them. They named all three.

Danni is almost certainly autistic but it doesn’t stop her from being exceptionally annoying.

I loved Nigella, thought Paul seemed a bit less full of himself with her which is no bad thing. He daren't tease her for liking the booze a bit too much, I thought she was warm and funny, so far so good.

I thought her voice and enunciation sounded a little strange too, compared to when Ive seen her on her own tv shows, so maybe it was simethjng up with her teeth?

Pictures please!

Switched off before the first cake challenge finished - too many annoying contestants!

Enjoyed first episode very much but DH, DS2 and I all found Danni and Gabe unbearable. Jury out on Shannon.

Alan partridge and Ginger Cat lad both excellent.

Just watching on catch up now (I tentatively love it!!) checking in for later!

I enjoyed it. Danni grated, but not more than some previous contestants. There seems to be a deep, innate sadness about Mo. I can't quite put my finger on it; but I sensed that he seemed troubled. I felt so sorry for Molly when she dropped her first cake.

On the Bake Off Website, Gabe gives his pronouns as "He/They/Any". He said his partners were Ellis and Tyler. I also thought that Paul asked Molly "why do you sit"!

My mum makes coffee and walnut cake all the time; I think she's been pretty much keeping the Camp people going single-handedly, since well before they changed the label on the bottles so that the Indian lad looked less like a servant. But I am allergic to nuts, so the joys of C&W would be fatal ones for me.

My go-to cake for years was Nigella's Coca-Cola Cake. Amazing. Not dissimilar to the stout cake.

I will miss Extra Slice though. Not all aspects of it, but Tom and Jo and the disastrous home-bakes cheered many an evening.

Husband is currently doing his dads shopping as he’s had a fall. Camp coffee is on the list. He’s 89 though. FIL not husband.

I was trying to wrangle stats -- is the annoyingness quotient up this year because the age range is skewed so young?

There are three over-50s, and pretty much everyone else is in their 20s, many in their early 20s. It changes the vibe.

Just watched last night's show. So many of the bakers are very annoying, Danni in particular.

Nigella's voice didn't sound right and her keep going on about salt drove me mad. I hate the taste of salt plus it's not good for you.

Me too. I really miss ‘old’ bake off without the performative Instagrammers looking to increase their ‘followers’.
Im so sick of quirky and drag queens .

You shouldn't taste the salt though - it should just enhance the sweetness. And let's face it, nothing from the Bake Off is health food.

I'm feeling it for Danni, she is so very young and comes across as over confident but I think it's a kind of social awkwardness. I think she's going to get a lot of hate and probably go out quite early.

I'm caught up! I actually loved it although the efforts for diversity felt a bit like 'we need one of these and one of those' and therefore a bit contrived rather than just choosing the best bakers.

I loved Nigella, although I always have - roll on next week!