If you are one of many viewers impatiently waiting for the next glimpse into The Tent of Great British Bake Off fame, good news! The newest season of The Great Celebrity Bake Off benefitting Stand Up to Cancer is here! The new season features big-name celebrities to take our minds off everything but beautiful, delicious bakes. Daisy Ridley of Star Wars fame starred in the first five episodes this season, which began airing on Tuesday, March 10 on Channel 4 in the UK.
Bake-Off: An Extra Slice co-host Tom Allen, Strictly Come Dancing host Alexandra Burke, and Celebs Go Dating Rob Beckett join Ridley in the first episode. This season also includes X-Men: Apocalypse and Deadpool 2 actor James McAvoy.
Unfortunately for US audiences, the Celebrity Bake Off seasons are not available to watch on Netflix like many Great British Baking Show spin-offs are. However, previous seasons of Celebrity Bake Off can be found on the Channel 4 website, channel4.com. But to watch, all you have to do is use a VPN, go to the website, and create a free “All 4” account using an email address.
Also differing from regular Bake-Off seasons, each celebrity episode is stand-alone: no one goes home, and only one celeb each week is named Star Baker. This is probably for the best as previous series’ episodes showed many of the celebrities having problem after problem.
With most of The Great British Baking Show repertoire, viewers tune in to see which contestants cook or bake the best. From the original Bake-Off series to GBBO: Holidays and GBBO: The Beginnings, bakers push themselves just to see how fantastic—and fantastical—they can make their bakes.
However, this is not always the case with the more personality-driven Celebrity Bake Off. In prior seasons, viewers and judges alike have had a lot of fun watching celebrities absolutely fail while making hilarious self-deprecating quips all the while.
“I’m that person!” Ridley yells in a teaser trailer for the new season, just as something has gone wrong. “I’m the person that everybody laughs at! This is just absolutely rancid.”
“I always love it when the celebs mess up,” confessed returning judge Prue Leith in another trailer. Paul Hollywood joins her in judging, as always. Comedian Matt Lucas returns as host without Noel Fielding, as Fielding is still under parental leave with his partner Lliana Bird after the birth of their second child, Iggy.
The rest of the celebrity line-up for the season is: Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes, rapper Dizzee Rascal, internet star and rapper KSI, comedian David Baddiel, comedienne Katherine Ryan, singers Jade Thirlwall, Anne-Marie and Nadine Coyle, TV presenters Anneka Rice, Stacey Dooley and Nick Grimshaw, actors John Bishop and Reece Shearsmith, wheelchair basketball player Ade Adepitan, and interestingly, renowned psychotherapist Philippa Perry.
“Let’s start off with the most important question:” a host from Collider began in a recent interview with Daisy Ridley herself, while she was promoting her new movie Chaos Walking. “How much did you pay to be in The Great British Bake Off?”
As she was not prepared for the question, Ridley threw her head back with a big smile and let out a hugely infectious laugh.
“D’you know what’s amazing? You’re the first person to ask, thank you,” she says, laughing once again. “The best thing about being on the Bake Off is it’s one of my favorite shows, obviously, love it, but for every contestant that goes on, they donate money to charity. It’s amazing.”
As far as how she did on that first episode, no spoilers! “I had THE BEST time. Didn’t do a great job, but I didn’t cry,” Ridley said, looking incredibly pleased with herself in the cutest way possible. “So, y’know.”
So fire up your VPN and head on over to channel4.com to watch Ridley, McAvoy and others baking for a good cause. And maybe even pick up a few lightsaber pointers?
