The Great British Bake Off: The Ninth Baker Leaves The Tent

The nation’s most famous tent was pitched in the grounds of Welford Park once again. Presenters Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond came to lead the latest batch of 12 bakers through thirty brand new challenges set by Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, in ten episodes.

In Tuesday’s night’s episode of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4, Jasmine was named Star Baker and sadly Toby was the ninth baker to leave the 16th series.

It was the semi-final and the four remaining bakers faced the hardest week yet, Patisserie. 

Starting with a Signature that demanded utter precision and perfect lamination, the bakers had to make cream horns worthy of a Parisian pâtisserie window, before taking on a sugar glass dome, which required patience and precision, in the Technical.  Finally, the bakers faced making a spectacular and impressive macaron sculpture, depicting something meaningful to them. 

At the end of the ninth episode Noel announced that Jasmine was Star Baker and Alison had the difficult job of telling Toby that he would be leaving the tent.

Toby said:  ‘It’s tough to comeback from serving a puddle of mousseline…I had good comeback today … It’s the good bits that I find hard to talk about.   The best thing of being in the tent is definitely the people.   The handshake was good, the Star Baker was good, but yeah the people were the best bit.’

Paul said  ‘It took a while for Prue and I to discuss everything.  It goes to show how tight things are on Bake Off. It came down to that one mistake and that unfortunately was the downfall of Toby. ‘

Prue added:  ‘I think Toby in a way, was our least confident baker when we started. He has learned so much. He's a really talented baker. ‘

Toby talks here about his experience in the tent.

*How did you feel when they announced you would be leaving?

I was expecting it to be honest. After the technical puddle I knew it would take something incredible to pull it back and as close as it was, my showstopper just didn’t quite cut it. I felt so overwhelmed with emotion after the announcement and as my post judging interview will have showed I really struggled to hold it together in any shape. 

As soon as Tom looked at me with teary eyes, he set me off. I was obviously gutted to hear my name as there was a slight glimmer of hope after I managed to pull off a completely reimagined showstopper but overall I just felt so proud of myself.

*What do you feel that you have learned the most from your experience in the tent? 

I think the main takeaway for me is just to be creative and branch out. I used to confine myself to the same old elements and styles of bake but I now have a whole new sense of adventure for food. Almost as if my creativity has been renewed. I love it! I also feel so much more confident in myself and in the value I can bring. I never had a high enough opinion of myself to think I could really bring something to this sort of environment but really, you just need to be yourself and have fun. The rest comes naturally.

*Overall what was your best and worst moment in the Tent?

My absolute favourite moments were just the ones I spent with the people in there. More towards the later episodes because of how close I was with the bakers by then but I guess if I was to relate it to a bake, it would be my mini meringue pies for my top moment. I’d practiced them so many times and to have them come out how they did and get the Hollywood handy was just an amazing experience and such a proud moment. My worst moment had to be the judging for chocolate week on my showstopper. That was roughhhhh!

*Favourite challenge overall and why.

My favourite challenge had to be the week 9 technical. Joking, obviously! For me it really was the mini meringue pies. I really enjoyed the recipe development and I loved eating them after my practice runs. I think it’s probably the one I enjoyed the most. The basque was also a lot of fun to create!

*Worst challenge and why?

Worst challenge was definitely chocolate week showstopper. I almost had a full breakdown in recipe development and the imposter syndrome was killing me. I knew it wouldn’t be good and I’d actually not managed to do a full run before the tent attempt. Traumatic is the best way to describe that one.

*Funniest moment in the tent throughout your time there?

I think some of the funniest moments in the tent were the bits with Noel that probably didn’t make it into the show.. 

*Did you have a costume disaster any week in the tent, and did you have a lucky T shirt/Top you wore?

The only costume disaster I had was thinking I should wear a thick hoodie in week one. I was so stressed and hot that the sweat was just pouring out of my face. Not fun at all!

*Would you wear any of Noel’s jumpers or shirts?

I’d love to wear Noel’s clothes. Maybe just for a day or once a year and I’d probably avoid the high heels and skinny jeans but the shirts and jumpers.. I could be tempted.

*Did you do anything daft with Noel during your time in the tent, and did you get to either sing or dance with Alison?

I get shy when it comes to any dancing but Alison was particularly fond of a moustache twirl, and once even a moustache sniff which was encouraged by Tom… I think he was probably a little jealous after but I have no way to validate that and he’ll never admit to it.

*What do you love most about all your fellow bakers

I just love how different we all are as people but how close we became. You always hear bakers talk about how close they are but you never really realise how true that is until you’re part of it. You spend hours and hours with each other with no phones or distractions. Just pure conversation. And handstand competitions.

*Did anything from the tent happen to slip into your travel bag when you were leaving (no judging)