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GBBO contestant Rebs messed up her caramel sauce.
Photo: mark bourdillon / Mark Bourdillon / Love Productions / Channel 4
Life in the UK is no picnic at the moment, and the future is uncertain.
How the monarchy will continue, how and if Charles III.
renewed or just ticking off cholerically from time to time, whether broad debates are finally being held about Great Britain's colonial past and what a Liz Truss will bring to this country - all open.
What counts is a down-to-earth sportsmanship
Perhaps, given this uncertain transitional situation, it is all the more important to focus on where everything really always stays the same, Brexit plays just as little a role as the question of why Charles III.
is exempt from inheritance tax: Since this week, the reality show "Great British Bake-Off", or "GBBO" for short, has been honoring the best bakers in the country on the TV channel 4.
It is the 13th season of a show that creates a space beyond political and social struggles.
Twelve contestants face each other in kitchenettes under a white marquee in Berkshire, southern England, in a setting that's a hybrid of British garden party, country house and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
They bake in competition and in their actions proclaim a British utopia that has been almost forgotten in the political discord of recent years: Geographical and social background, profession, sexual orientation or salary no longer play a role under cooking aprons and mixers.
What counts is a down-to-earth sportsmanship, skills in dealing with unhealthy food and the verdict of a strict but fair jury.
Juror Paul Hollywood had to apologize five years ago for disguising himself as a Nazi at a party 15 years earlier, and moderator Matt Lucas became famous with shows like "Little Britain" or "Come Fly With Me", in which he was in sketches with black make-up on his face for years aping people of color.
The small scandals that the show itself produces are, however, unsportsmanlike at best: In the case of the "Bin-Gate" in 2014, for example, a participant lost his temper at the sight of his melted ice cream and then tipped it into the bin.
Viewers then accused his competitor – unjustifiably – of having taken the dessert out of the fridge in an act of sabotage.
Even the genesis of »GBBO« is a modern British fairy tale: for several years, producers Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie pitched their idea to various television stations until the BBC took pity on it in 2009 and included it in the programme.
Within six seasons, »GBBO« surprisingly became one of the most popular shows in British television history.
At its peak - at least 13 million people watched the final in 2015 - the show switched to competitor Channel 4 for £75m and has remained there to this day.
Even at the beginning of the new season, which will be broadcast until mid-November (and in Germany, just like the other seasons, can only be streamed via Channel 4 or bought via Amazon Prime), everything is moving in the area of small tragedies: too much liquid caramel almost messed up the coffee-drunk sandwich cakes of Rebs, a student from Northern Ireland.
London houseman Will twice ruined the buttercream in a challenge and chick Maisam, 18, cut her sponge cake while it was still warm.
"Ooh," sighed juror Prue Leith knowingly at the tasting, "fatal."
Three candidates eclipse all others after just three competitions: Angola-born Londoner Sandro has a relevant past in boxing and ballet and is now, at 30, working full-time as a full-time nanny.
He also goes to the gym twice a day and sees baking as a form of therapy that got him through his father's early death.
His little cakes in the shape of white roses growing out of a chocolate flowerpot filled with red wine ganache and raspberries were a sweet dream.
Quirky, flashy, campy
Competitor Janusz lives in Brighton with a boyfriend and a dachshund and wowed the judges with a fondant replica of his mother's flower-lined balcony in Poland.
And Syabira from Malaysia put the perfect 12-layer Red Velvet Cake on the plate in two hours.
»GBBO« is colourful, quirky, flashy, campy, total escapism.
By everyone for everyone.
"My attitude towards cake is: I'm all for having it and for eating it," ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson once said in the fight for a hard Brexit.
The foam hitter is out of office, but nobody knows what will happen next in Great Britain.
The idea of a cake for everyone - and this time really everyone - lives on in the 13th season of »GBBO«.
