LONDON -- In The Great British Bake Off, the best baker wins. It's a simple concept, but one that saw this season's semi-final pull in a phenomenal 10 million viewers.
In case you were wondering, that means more than 40% of people watching television in the UK on the night it aired were watching it. Seems like a lot for a show where people bake cakes, doesn't it?
The hit BBC 1 baking show has managed to secure an additional 2 million viewers each year it has aired, meaning it's been steadily winning more people over year after year, securing its status as a national treasure. It's on course to be the biggest TV event of the year.
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Of course for those in the know, Bake Off was a major success story waiting to happen from the very first episode in 2010.
It does, after all, have the best recipe (for success).
Which, incidentally, is as follows...
Step one
Organically source (through an online application process) a selection of top class home-bakers who are passionate about what they do.
Step two
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Test that batch of home-bakers to their absolute limits.
Step three
Ensure that some of the home-bakers begin to mean more to viewers than their own families do.
Step four
Mix in two dastardly judges, who aren't really all that dastardly.
Step five
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Sprinkle with sexual innuendos.
Step six
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Bake for 10 weeks on high intensity before cooling to room temperature.
And there you have it -- the GBBO recipe for success.
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