Written Before Watching the Finale:

For the last two months, millennials (and me and my sister) have been crowding around their screens to watch the latest episode of the Great British Bake Off. And this Friday, after weeks upon weeks of waiting, the finale will air. 

The Great British Bake Off is fabulous because it is exactly what you’d expect it to be. British people with their British accents and their sometimes odd British desserts (What is a caterpillar cake? Why are they acting like this is a normal dessert?) baking together in a tent that is literally outside. Then, their desserts are judged by a slightly aggressive, older British man with too-blue eyes named Paul Hollywood and a very nice (but still slightly aggressive) older woman called Prue with a very bright taste in fashion. To top it all off, there are two people whose jobs are to walk around and annoy the contestants and do little skits. 

At the beginning of the season, we start off with twelve amateur bakers. Each episode, the contestants engage in three challenges. A signature, where they are asked to make a dessert with their own personal twist on it; a technical, where they have to recreate a dish as close to perfect as possible; and a showstopper. At the end of each episode, one baker is chosen as the Star Baker and another baker is chosen to go home. As of the finale, we have three contestants. Tragically, I like them all so it’s difficult for me to root against any of them.

The Great British Bake Off is a great show. It is quite possibly the best show ever, and absolutely my idea of reality TV. 

Now, let’s get to the contestants in the finale. (GBBO spoilers ahead!)

Dan:

I like Dan a lot. At the beginning of the show, his almost constant, very dazzling smile unnerved me, but I’ve greatly warmed up to him. He takes some risks with flavors or ideas that sometimes don’t pay off but I appreciate him taking the risks nonetheless. He’s won the most technicals out of the finalists, but his ranking at the end of the week varies greatly episode to episode. His showstoppers are usually pretty good. What they might lack in looks (sorry!) they make up in character. When Dan is good at something, he’s very good at it, but I’ve definitely seen some bumps in his GBBO journey. Personally, I think he should’ve been eliminated instead of Christy the week before semi-finals, but I’m glad he wasn’t. I’m rooting for him (even if I don’t really think he’ll win), but there’s another contestant I’m cheering for more.

Matty:

Matty is my sister’s favorite. I’ll be honest, I was not expecting him to make it this long (neither was he). I do like him, but he is definitely my least favorite of the finalists. I also think he’s the least likely to win, mainly because his rankings usually range from being at the middle to being at the bottom (except the two weeks he won Star Baker). I actually think on average his showstoppers look better than Dan’s, but they lack fun. Nonetheless, he’s a very impressive baker and he seems like a nice guy. If he won, I’m sure it’d be a great underdog story due to his shaky ranking record, but I’m not really rooting for him. 

Josh:

I love Josh. He has been my favorite for weeks. He usually plays it pretty safe with the flavors, which can be a little boring, but I think he more than makes up for it with his designs. Out of all the finalists, Josh is definitely the best and the neatest at decorating. Josh is pretty quiet and when there were more contestants, he fell into the background, but with the smaller group I think he really shines. I believe he’s overlooked by Paul, but I’m hoping that he’ll shine in the finale and ultimately take home the win. 

So, for the moment everyone’s been ranking for, my (very biased) GBBO finale ranking is:

Josh as the winner!!!