‘The Great British Baking Show’s Semi-Finals Ended in Tragedy and Controversy

The Great British Baking Show‘s Semi-Finals are always the most stressful episodes for fans to watch. After eight weeks of competition, the remaining bakers are all our favorites and we have strong opinions about who deserves a chance to take the final prize. Everything is on the line and heartbreak is destined to happen. However, the 2020 Semi-Finals of The Great British Baking Show are likely the most upsetting to date. Not only did the decision come to a razor thin margin, but British fans were so incensed by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith’s choice, they began cyberbullying the surviving baker. Yes, for maybe the first time in Great British Baking Show history, the bakers had to stand up to trolls!

So what happened in The Great British Baking Show “Patisserie Week” that was so controversial? Was the judges’ decision fair? Should Laura Adlington have gone home — as everyone from Noel Fielding to British tea company Yorkshire Tea have suggested — or did Hermine really whiff it enough to get the chopping block. The answer, I fear, is complicated. Hence why this episode of The Great British Baking Show stings so much…

After last week’s blissfully boring episode of The Great British Baking Show, the powers that be jerked the show back into a stressful hellscape with some of the most difficult challenges we’ve seen thus far. Pâte á Savarine, Danish Cornucopia Cake, and tiny cube cakes stymied the bakers and pushed Laura to tears. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Nope. It was clear by the midpoint of the episode that Peter Sawkins and Dave Friday were breezing through to the finale. The battle lines were drawn between Hermine, who constantly talked up her love of patisserie, and Laura, who seemed to be blessed with the talent of saving herself with a delicious Showstopper every week.

Laura fumbled through the first few challenges only to have a literal meltdown over her mirror glaze. (No, like, the glaze melted to nothingness. Her cakes were atrocious-looking.) However it was Hermine who really seemed off her game. After skating through the first two challenges in the middle, Hermine made a doozy of a mistake. She told Paul and Prue that she had thrown out her original plan and was winging it off of a recipe she only dreamed up the day before. Worse? She had literally no recipe to consult. She was eyeballing the amount of gelatin she was putting into her recipe. As she said herself, it was almost like Hermine was just leaving it up to the universe.

And the universe let her down. Paul and Prue decided that her first and only disaster cake would be the one sending her home.

Was it fair? To be honest, I’m torn because Hermine was not mentally on her A-game for the whole episode. While I wholeheartedly believe her to be the superior baker, but Hermine whiffed big time on her Showstopper. She did! She made the cardinal mistake of having an ugly cake that didn’t taste good. Laura’s cakes were a grotesque train wreck, but they were apparently delicious. And so the judges — who have been pretty consistent all season, choosing the taste and quality of a bake over the appearance — leaned towards Laura.

The issue, as Noel even brought up, is Laura consistently struggles in earlier rounds and saves herself with the Showstopper. Hermine, on the other hand, had been consistently good until this pivotal moment. The judges themselves said that it came down to looking at them overall versus this one bake. Their choice was upsetting because it meant that someone who was widely considered a better baker was given the boot. By the rules of the show, it was a fair call. But it still didn’t sit well with viewers that such a choice could be fair.

However controversial Hermine’s elimination is, I don’t think it’s as upsetting as what apparently happened next. Apparently Laura received an avalanche of online abuse. So much so, Hermine herself posted a plea on social media for fans to stop. “Please don’t be unkind in my name,” she posted along with an impassioned essay about mental health.

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The fact that The Great British Baking Show contestants have to endure trolling is wildly heartbreaking. The show is supposed to be a celebration of all things good and cozy. That makes this truly the most controversial episode of The Great British Baking Show since #Bingate.

If you’re upset over Hermine’s elimination, you can blame the producers or the judges. Heck, you can blame Hermine for literally winging her final bake. You could even blame Laura for being so freaking talented at saving herself with her showstopper. But don’t harass Laura on her personal social media accounts.

It’s one thing to be disappointed; it’s even one thing to politely argue your issues with the show (as I have to do as a critic!! It’s my job!). But if you have an issue with this week’s elimination, I’m going to echo Hermine and say please don’t be unkind in her name.

After all, what is The Great British Baking Show‘s crowning glory if not serving as a constant reminder of the power of kindness in all situations.

Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix