Last night's Great British Bake Off saw contestants get their hands dirty with Pastry Week, navigating every facet of the difficult delicacy from soggy bottoms to flat filo.
Incredibly, not one soggy bottom appeared, with Mary Berry surely cheering in her cosy sitting room somewhere. Not only that, but this week's episode showed the contestants' flair for baking and ingenious imagination.
Creations included a vegetarian mermaid and what Noel Fielding aptly called a "sea transsexual". Fans of the Might Boosh could insert a green-coloured reference there....
The mighty splash. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/6CAVF3XXkl
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) October 2, 2018
The tasks included took bakers and viewers on a whistle stop tour of lesser known areas of baking, with the contestants asked to produce samosas, a Banquet Pie, and Puit D'Amour ("well of love") tartlets.
From the get go, Dan struggled to get to grips with pastry, finding his samosa pastry overworked, his choux flat and ending up with Paul brandishing a carving knife at him. Yikes. Manon wasn't fairing too well, either, fumbling with her Puit D'Amour.
Briony, however, was tops and named Star Baker for her venison pie shaped like a hat from 'Alice in Wonderland' that she managed to match her dress to. Better than this, possibly, was Prue declaring her a dark horse.
Speaking of Prue, we got our first glimpse of her version of the Hollywood Shake - the Prue death grip - when she grabbed Rahul's wrists and shook them in delight.
Prue Pat + Hollywood Handshake = Emotional Rahul! #GBBO pic.twitter.com/IyaiqTncU4
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) October 2, 2018
In the end, it was Dan who had to leave the tent, predicting that his pastry confections would eat him alive. Sadly, no one wanted to eat his silver fish-shaped pie.
As usual, our favourite part of the night was tracking the #GBBO fans mouthing off on Twitter. Here are our faves...
A new Halloween tradition?
It's rumoured that if you say bake off in the mirror three times Paul Hollywood appears and gives you a handshake #GBBO
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) October 2, 2018
A mini reunion!
Watching #GBBO with Tez and my gorgeous hubby Steve 😍 #pastryweek #terry pic.twitter.com/qR6LLbrr67
— Briony May (@brionymaybakes) October 2, 2018
The accuracy...
Each week on #gbbo: Paul and Prue don’t know who has made what technical bake
— Louisᵃʰʰʰ Robinson (@LouisaPearlRose) October 2, 2018
The bakers whenever their bake is being judged: pic.twitter.com/ATisn7q3tq
A hard pill to swallow
Yeah. Looks lovely Dan 😷 #GBBO pic.twitter.com/4JQze8Lq0D
— Tony Shepherd (@tonysheps) October 2, 2018
The future of GBBO
Business idea: a button on Deliveroo that brings you everything they have made on #gbbo- as you watch.
— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) October 2, 2018
Mr Handshake
Rahul and Paul by the end of the series. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/F3VYbQ7aCV
— A Lonely Gray Couch (@lonelygraycouch) October 2, 2018
Multicultural representation at its best
Manon delivering the Frenchest of all French shrugs in history #GBBO pic.twitter.com/ODDM8zQ37p
— Dudley Cruse (@dudleycruse) October 2, 2018
Shaken, not stirred
"Hello Paul i... "
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) October 2, 2018
*Paul goes in for a handshake*
"No I haven't made anything yet"
*Paul goes in for a handshake"
"Paul your car is being towed"
*Paul goes in for a handshake*#GBBO
