‘The Great British Baking Show’ Season 10 Finale Is No Picnic

When The Great British Baking Show premiered on the BBC in the summer of 2010, it wasn’t the show we know today. The six-episode series blended ideas: history, U.K. geography, fundraising (and getting others involved in starting their own baking fundraisers), and a reality competition to tie it all together. Ten seasons in, it is now entirely a reality show, with contestant tears, mean judges, friendly hosts, and seemingly impossible challenges. Despite the hurdles, including a massive scandal and cast turnover when the show moved from the BBC that nurtured it to Channel 4, which profited from it, the show remains a widespread phenomenon on both sides of the pond.

Netflix’s week-to-week approach this year has made U.S. audiences more aware of how the show has changed since the BBC/PBS days. Fans are starting to wonder whether the show has run out of ideas or is simply failing to attract the amateur talent it once mined so expertly. But despite the debates over this year’s Technical Challenges and Showstopper concepts, the show remains as popular as ever going into the 2020s.

It’s popular because, no matter the challenges, the talent shakes out by the finale every year to create extraordinary final bakes. This season, those bakers are:

1. Steph, who won Star Baker 4 times, only one shy of Richard’s Season 5 (PBS Season 1) record
2. Alice, who won Star Baker twice
3. David, the never-Star-Baker, Always-2nd-Place-In-Technical underdog.