Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith Show off Their Sadistic Side in ‘The Great British Baking Show’ “Dessert Week”

Forget what I said a few weeks ago about Great British Baking Show judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith cutting the new bakers some slack. The claws were out during “Desserts Week” with mind-boggling challenges that inspired panic and sparked disaster. There was a Technical Challenge that forced the bakers to make unnecessary tuiles, a Showstopper that combined a murderers’ row of challenges, and a real snarky energy coming from Paul and Prue. On the one hand, “Desserts Week” marks the point where the competition heats up and starts to get exciting. On the other, I’m with Giuseppe and think 90 minutes for a toffee pudding challenge is certifiably insane.

The first indication I got that this week’s all-new episode of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, “Desserts Week”, was going to be rougher on the bakers came when Maggie, the veteran of the tent, explained she was doing a rather traditional pavlova for the Signature Challenge. While Great British Baking Show contestants usually like to show off unusual flavor combos or challenging designs, there’s typically been nothing overtly wrong with going back to basics. Classic flavor combos are why certain desserts are iconic. So when Maggie cheerily told the judges that “I feel there’s no real need to enhance things,” I was taken aback when Paul Hollywood all but sneered at her. The tension was not lost on host Noel Fielding, who sarcastically tried to lighten the mood by saying, “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”

So the judges wanted spectacle this week. They wanted bold flavors. They wanted non-classical bakes. And if that frosty exchange early on didn’t clue you in, then Prue’s sadistic Technical Challenge did.

For the bakers’ Technical Challenge this week, Prue Leith asked that they make four sticky toffee puddings and tuiles and sauces in…90 minutes flat. Even if you weren’t sure how much time such a task would take, Giuseppe’s stunned expression probably clued you in on the fact that Prue’s challenge was insane. So much so that British viewers tweeted en masse about how pissed off they were about the “Desserts Week” technical challenge. The thing that irked our fellow Bake Off fans across the pond? The needless addition of tuile biscuits and crème anglaise. Two troubling additions that were clearly there only to up the ante on the stress.

Oh, were bakers stressed out this week! Specifically, the poor aforementioned Maggie. Since dazzling the judges in “Cake Week,” Maggie has struggled to keep up with some of her fellow baking superstars. Nevertheless, nothing hit her morale quite like forgetting to add the flour to her sticky toffee puddings. In Maggie’s defense, the single ingredient line listing “flour” was on a separate sheet of paper. And even if you think it’s a really silly mistake, Paul and Prue’s catty response to the mess felt a little harsh. “Caramelized onion chutney”!?! Rude!

Maggie took all this on the chin, but later fell apart technically-speaking when her Joconde Impremé collapsed. (Through it all, Maggie was a heroine, full of grace and wit and I want to be her when I grow up.) Maggie wasn’t the only one to struggle with the insanely difficult Showstopper. Freya struggled to make it work in vegan form, Amanda’s sides’ split, and the tent was thrumming with the kind of stress you’d normally expect from an episode closer to the semi-finals. (Also what is it with the judges making derogatory comments about how some of the bakers looked like they did nothing for four and a half hours? Paul keeps saying this and it keeps ticking me off!)

Through it all, though, there seems to be this vibe with Paul and Prue that the oven mitts are off. The bakers truly have to bring their A-game, and by “A-game,” Paul and Prue mean “creative reinventions of classic bakes.” Paul and Prue want to be dazzled. They want to be blown away. They want to be able sarcastically smirk at sweet elderly women who like their pavlovas to be normal, damnit!

The Great British Baking Show “Desserts Week” proved that it’s not just the competition that’s going to be fierce this season. Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are going to be, too.

Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix