Netflix’s Version of ‘The Great British Baking Show’ is Better Than The Original. I’m Serious.

I began streaming the newest season of The Great British Baking Show (aka The Great British Bake Off) so I could make fun of it. Considering the controversial changes the series has endured, I thought there was absolutely no way the new version — which Netflix premiered as “Collection 5” on August 31, a year after it first aired in the UK — could be anywhere near as good as the old.

Turns out I was wrong.

In September of 2016, my three favorite personalities on the show — celebrity judge Mary Berry and comedic hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc — announced they would be leaving the tent in a messy fallout surrounding the series’ move from the BBC to its competitor, Channel 4.

If I’ve learned anything after watching all five collections of Baking Show on Netflix, it’s that baking is about precise measurements. Too much flour and you’ll end up with a brick, not a cake. Too little salt and your caramel will taste flat. Until Collection 5 (season 8 in the UK) aired, Baking Show always had the perfect recipe — two experienced judges (Berry and Paul Hollywood), two relatable hosts (Perkins and Giedroyc), and a diverse bunch of British bakers ready to compete for the title of Grand Baker.

Mess with a well-tested recipe such as this, and the end result is bound to be a mess. All year I’ve been asking myself — what would Baking Show look like if one subtracted Mary, Sue, and Mel, and then stirred in new hosts Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig and celebrity judge Prue Leith?

Now that Americans can stream the installation, I finally have my answer: The resulting Bake might be better than the original.

Here’s my caveat: The original series still checks every box, and I will recommend it to anyone, whether they’ve mastered a mille-feuille or they only eat cookie dough out of a cylinder. It’s accessible, kind-hearted, and educational.

To my surprise, the new season is all of these things, too. However, from the first ten minutes of the first episode, it was clear that this “Baking Show 2.0″ also had a secret ingredient:

The newest season of The Great British Baking Show has the best cast of competitors I have ever seen on reality TV. Out of all the Baking Show seasons I’ve seen, this bunch absolutely takes the cake. (And then decorates it to perfection.)

Baking Show has always succeeded in making its contestants appear as three dimensional individuals instead of easy reality TV archetypes. Viewers have always been able to see each contestant at home with their families, to learn what they do for work and in their free time, and to understand why they began baking in the first place.

Baking Show 2.0 does all of this and more. Every single contestant in that famed tent feels well rounded and, well, more real than ever before. I fell for magnetic bakers like Yan, a biomedical scientist for the NHS who met her wife while playing for a local football club, and Sophie, a former Army officer who is now training to become stunt woman.

And that’s just what we know of them from the first episode! As the season unfolds, these competitors share more about their lives as new challenges reveal their inner workings. An inspired biscuit design that Stacey, a stay at home mother of three, creates gives us a peak into her challenging day-to-day. A chocolate pattern that Yan nails is inspired by the story of her father, a member of the Royal Navy stationed in Hong Kong who risked everything to bring his family to Britain. Bake Off 2.0 presents a surprisingly detailed look at how something as commonplace as baking tells our life’s story.

But don’t think that all of this family talk distracted me from keeping an eye on our new hosts. It’s a hard job, to step into the shoes of the incredible Mel and Sue. These iconic hosts always provided viewers with a way in to the complicated world of British bakes — all while providing crying contestants with a warm word of comfort, or a helping hand while placing a tricky piece of sugar decor.

No one does it like Mel and Sue. That remains true. But now I believe that there can be many ways to host this wholehearted program. The spin that Noel and Sandi provide is distinct, but it does not alienate long-time viewers.

Their humor is a bit pricklier (I counted, on average, at least one penis joke per episode), but they go the extra mile when it comes to providing context for viewers about complicated bakes. Like, literally, the extra mile. Noel or Sandi will often travel to the location that a specific bake originated and learn its history. This serves as a sort of mini-documentary that breaks up the action of an episode nicely, and makes me think that Noel and Sandi may push Baking Show into more of a variety show format in the future, full of history lessons, classic competition, and comedy sketches, which they’ve begun to tackle as well.

The new addition to the judges table, Prue Leith, does a fantastic job as well, and serves as a nice foil for Paul Hollywood. She will never be my dear Mary Berry, but she’s a certified professional with an eye for creativity in the kitchen, which allows her a position on the esteemed judges table, as far as I’m concerned.

So, does the addition of these new ingredients change the Baking Show recipe? Yes and no. At the end of the day, this is unmistakably still “The Great British Baking Show.” If you like to see people being extremely nice, or if you want to learn more about baking, this is still the perfect show for you. It really hasn’t changed all that wildly.

But the biggest change of the show is the clear focus on this year’s dynamite set of contestants, which is the smartest choice the series could have made amidst all the external changes. These incredible bakers, their amazing stories, and their magnetic personalities are the true center of Baking Show 2.0, and with the addition of new hosts, a new judge, and a new broadcaster, I believe staying true to the people that sit behind the baking stations is the best way for the series to move forward and create a new recipe that everyone can enjoy.

Cody Schmitz is a filmmaker living in New York City. You can find his work at: youtube.com/c/codywyatt

Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix