Bake Off fans reckon they’ve worked out why popular feature was scrapped

The Great British Bake Off has seen many changes over the years, not least the big move from the BBC to Channel 4.

With that channel change also came a switch-up of judges and hosts, with Mary Berry replaced by Prue Leith and Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins stepping down to make way for Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig.

Toksvig later announced her departure after just three series, with comedian Matt Lucas taking her spot, only for him to leave the show in 2022.

Fielding is now joined by Alison Hammond, who seems to have been a hit with viewers, although there’s one thing some people miss.

Posting to Reddit, one fan wrote: “I miss the clips of home life. I feel like they used to show more short scenes of the bakers going about their usual business in their out-of-tent lives.

“For example, if a baker was making a cake from their nan’s recipe, the voiceover might say, ‘Ellie makes this every Mother’s Day, which she spends with her mother and grandmother in Kent,’ or whatevertheheck, and you’d see Ellie and her relatives smiling and talking together. Then, back to the tent.”

They added: “Am I hallucinating? They did this, right? It was such a great way to get to know the bakers a little better. I feel like we used to get a fair amount of this kind of thing. But little to none in recent seasons. I miss it!”

There's one key thing many viewers miss from previous seasons (BBC)

Of course, when it comes to the final, we get to meet the friends and family, but this is reserved for the last three standing.

This series, we’ve also seen the occasional call home for the star baker, but much less insight to the bakers’ home lives than usual.

Someone else commented: “This season so far is an amazing set of bakers, but I agree with you that the ‘slice of life’ segments are missing and it takes away from the show.

“The last season where this was much move obvious (and IMO that entire season was lacking... something) was the one with Rebs, and Kevin, and Janusz.”

Another agreed: “I miss that too! I was just thinking about that yesterday when I watched the latest episode.”

And some people reckon they know why it is that we no longer see as much behind-the-scenes detail.

When another pointed out that producers ‘do more of this with the final three or four’, one person replied: “Yeah they do. Episodes are always the same length so they need to fill the time when there are only three or four bakers left.

“They maybe had a little bit more time to play with on the BBC with there being no adverts.”

While the show used to be an hour long on the BBC, since the move to Channel 4, things have been slightly different. The programme starts on Tuesdays at 8pm and finishes 9.15pm, obviously allowing a little extra time for the adverts.

However, those extra 15 minutes are unlikely to make up for all the lost time. “They removed a lot of these segments when the show moved from the BBC to Channel Four,” someone else claimed.

“BBC channels don’t show adverts so they had a lot more room to fill in order to reach the one hour mark. Whereas when Bake Off is broadcasted on Channel 4 they do show adverts. So much of the original fluff and personal arguments went the way of the dodo in order to accommodate them.”

Others also lamented another segment they missed from earlier seasons back in the BBC days.

Some viewers also miss the historical segments from Mel and Sue (BBC)

"They’ve cut a lot of stuff out since the beginning of the show,” one fan commented.

“They used to go into history of cooking too, back in beginning seasons - had one of the hosts go talk to people about different types of biscuits, cakes, etc.

“There was one where they visited a flour mill and talked about how dangerous it was and then set up an explosion to show how flammable flour can be lol.”

Another replied: “How have I not noticed this stopped happening????? It's how I knew about the nuns who made Pastel de Nata in Portugal.”

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said in a statement: "The historical segments have not been part of the show since 2017. Naturally there was no filming in bakers homes during Covid."