It was The Great British Bake Off semifinal.
This is manic.
The bakers were determined to stay in the tent...
There's a bit of rivalry going on here. I can hear you whispering!
..what ever it took.
Oh! Bakers, two hours left.
Are you doing me out of a job, mate?
Do you want us to come and bake for you?
Honestly, don't you hate it when people try and do your job for you?
It's time for An Extra Slice.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Hello and welcome to the show.
So, no prizes for guessing which baker left the tent this week.
Selasi, of course.
AUDIENCE: Aw!
He's just popped over to Gardeners' World to show Monty Don
how to prune a shrub, then he'll be straight back.
But at the start of the semifinals, it was all to play for.
When it came to judging the technical,
Paul seemed to have become completely invisible to Mary.
A little bit over baked still.
LAUGHTER
And in first place is this one.
While, at the start of the fondant fancy Showstopper, Paul excitedly
listed the huge range of flavours the bakers could choose from.
To bring flavours into a fondant fancy, you could use
a caramel, you could use a toffee,
you could use a caramel.
LAUGHTER
Meanwhile, Andrew was in some discomfort having put
too much starch in with his jeans wash.
LAUGHTER
And the ever patient Mary continued to show sympathy
for Paul's ongoing hay fever symptoms.
PAUL SNEEZES
LAUGHTER
So, we now know who our three Bake Off finalists are,
and the title could go to any one of them.
Yes, it's congratulations to Andrew, Candice and Jane.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
But we've all got to start somewhere.
Amy from Ormskirk made some chocolate orange cupcakes
inspired by this rather inviting looking example.
Amy thinks she might have added slightly too much baking powder,
so they didn't come out looking exactly the same.
LAUGHTER
As Amy told us, "We're students, we still ate them."
LAUGHTER
More of those later.
And I'm delighted to see so many of our studio audience have been
getting busy with patisserie. Show us your bakes!
CHEERING
Our panel will be trying some of those a bit later,
so let's meet them while they're still...here.
First up, none other than the reigning Bake Off champion,
who went on to bake a birthday cake for the Queen, it's Nadiya Hussain.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Next, it's the leader of the Scottish Conservatives,
who says she'll eat parsnips with anything.
It's Ruth Davidson.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
And finally, a comedian who reckons if he was in the tent,
Paul and Mary would treat him with profound respect,
it's Tom Allen.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So, Nadiya, what did the Queen say about your cake? Not much.
Apparently she doesn't say very much.
But I went up to her and I showed her the cake, and she said,
"What tier does one cut?"
That was it, that was the sentence I got.
I was so starstruck when I met her.
I kind of fluffed my three lines that I had, completely fluffed them.
I was meant to say, "Happy birthday, Your Majesty."
And I said, "Good afternoon, Your Highness," instead.
LAUGHTER
Ruth, tell us, why are you so partial to parsnips?
I think it's an underrated vegetable.
I want to make sure... There is nothing that doesn't taste good
that's made with a parsnip. Parsnip soup, parsnip crisps, parsnip...
The stuff that they smear on plates on the posh cooking shows.
Everything tastes good with parsnips.
The problem I have with parsnips is they're sneaky,
Machiavellian little narnas!
Because they sit in a roasting pan pretending to be roast potatoes.
LAUGHTER
And then you bite into one,
and it's the biggest disappointment in my life...almost.
Now, Tom, why do you think Paul and Mary would treat you with
profound respect? Why are you so special, Tom?
Well, I've always had this sense that... Well, ever since I was
a teenager, I was very good at food technology.
My chicken fricassee was the best in my class.
LAUGHTER
I spent a lot of my teenage years baking as
a means of distracting myself from my sexuality.
And I do recommend it to anybody.
If you're not sure about coming out or whatever,
just channel it into baking.
By the time I was 16, I could have opened a Greggs. But...
LAUGHTER
Yeah, so I've been interested for a long time.
Time now to find out if any of our viewers are good enough
to bake for the Queen.
Let's start off with a polenta cake made by Holly from London.
It's flavoured with oranges and lemons and
has white chocolate chips and blueberries inside.
Oh, and it goes without saying that on top,
Holly's done an offshore wind farm.
LAUGHTER
Ironically, Holly used up quite a lot of energy producing that.
LAUGHTER
It can be really helpful to have a picture of the bake you're
aiming for as a reference.
Kerry from Dorset enthusiastically set out to produce this very
attractive raspberry and cream sponge,
with its well-defined layers and distinct colours of red and white.
And the picture really helped because, after a lot of hard work,
Kerry was able to produce this.
LAUGHTER
Meanwhile, in Newport Pagnell, Malcolm and Andy were
determined to make these cheeky looking monkey cupcakes for
a baby's christening party.
They used chocolate drops for the eyes and jam for the mouth,
but apart from that, you wouldn't really notice the difference.
LAUGHTER
When Isabel from Surrey went off to university recently,
her family wanted to make sure she wasn't missing her terrier,
Dexter, too much. Here's Dexter. AUDIENCE: Aw!
Mum Maria and siblings Amy and Mikey opted for a chocolate sponge
covered with buttercream to capture Dexter's perky little face.
LAUGHTER
Isabel is studying law, so at some point in the future she can
qualify as a barrister and sue them.
LAUGHTER
We love seeing your photos.
And there's still one week to go. So keep sending them in.
Details at the bottom of the screen.
Now, let's remind ourselves what happened when Patisserie Week
arrived in the tent.
It was the Bake Off semifinal with just four bakers remaining.
Semifinal.
It's just so empty in here.
The pressure was on in the palmier Signature...
Feeling it here today.
Butterflies.
..when the judges got tough over perfect puff.
They are underbaked. It's not good.
The bakers had everything to prove in the savarin Technical...
Wowee.
Smells amazing.
..before tackling fondant fancies in the nerve-racking Showstopper.
I don't think I'll ever make these again.
Andrew won Star Baker for a second time...
Yes!
Selasi...
..and Selasi left the tent...
Get off! I want him! Get off him! Aw!
..leaving Andrew, Candice and Jane to battle it out
in the 2016 Great British Bake Off final.
APPLAUSE
There is a lot of love for Selasi,
but was he the right person to go, Nadiya, do you think?
They always say, when you are in the tent
they always say it's about the bakes THAT week.
And if you look at the bakes this week, then, yes,
he was the right person.
I didn't want him to go, but, yes.
Yeah, I think, on the bakes, it probably was him to go,
but I was so sad cos he was my favourite.
From the moment in the very first episode that he pulled up
on a motorbike looking like a reject from The Apprentice
and took the leather jacket off and came out with the pinstriped suit,
I just... You know, and then he was just so laid-back and chilled
throughout the whole thing.
He's my favourite contestant, apart from yourself, for many years.
I... I really loved Selasi. And I was really sorry to see him go.
But I think he did have to go because he was too nice.
And I think at this point in the competition,
if you look around the rest of the tent,
it's a dog-eat-dog world in there and he would have got torn apart.
But I do think Jane reminds me of a character from a prison drama.
LAUGHTER
You could imagine it, can't you, in something?
Especially with Candice as well...
Started going, "Oh, I can hear you whispering!"
Someone shouting that down the landings on D Wing.
"Watch out for Jane. She's a real tough cookie!"
And then that night you see cake smeared all over your bedsheets.
And she's... I think... I think she's tough. I think they're both...
They're all quite tough. We even saw it with Andrew.
They're at each other. So I do think it's a very violent place in there.
And because I love Selasi, I'm glad he's out of there.
LAUGHTER
As we've seen, Selasi started doing Mel and Sue's job for them,
and then when it came to his Signature, he was at it again.
Tell us all about your... Palmiers.
Um, I'm making... You're finishing my sentences!
He's getting ahead of himself!
It's as almost as if he's heard there are some jobs going.
LAUGHTER
APPLAUSE
Selasi decided to go for butterfly-shaped palmiers
flavoured with salmon, spinach and sun-dried tomato.
And whilst the flavours were good, some of the palmiers were raw.
Did the flavours appeal to you? Sounds delicious. Spinach, salmon...
All the flavours sound great.
But pastry and... They're quite wet. It's quite a wet filling,
so he could have perhaps gone for a slightly drier filling,
and then, you know, the last thing you need is soggy pastry.
And, you know, Paul and Mary don't miss a trick,
so you've got to be really careful. Yeah.
I think he'd be fine if they weren't judging it!
If anyone wasn't judging it I think they'd be absolutely fine.
Ruth, are you a fan of salmon?
Or do you prefer sturgeon?
LAUGHTER
I was very pleased to see that Selasi was baking his own salmon
rather than getting stuff that was pre-smoked from the shop.
But... But, yeah, I have to say his dough did look a bit raw,
so I'm not sure I would have been totally on board with that.
Selasi brought a lot to the tent.
Great flavours, great personality
and a great flair for accessorising with a tea towel.
LAUGHTER
Lovely to see Val there in the background
busily not making whatever it was she was meant to!
LAUGHTER
So the Star Baker in semifinal week was Andrew,
winning the honour for a second time.
Andrew himself looked surprised to hear his name called out.
LAUGHTER
Do you think he deserved it, Tom?
I think he works with great precision, I think he's...
I think he's very good at what he does.
I think he's got a murderous streak...
You see it when they went up to him and said, you know, "What are you going to do?
"If you're going to be the only bloke in here, who's it going to be? You or Selasi?"
He said, "Well, it'll have to be me."
And so I don't think we should trust him. And... And...
But I think he's done very well.
Yeah, I thought it was a good week for baking for him, yeah.
He reminds me of...
our year's Ian. He is so clever with his bakes.
It's more than baking for him.
He creates outside of the bake and that's what I love about him.
And I can imagine everybody in there is really nervous of him,
because I remember in our year when Ian would...
He would be like, "So I'm doing this."
And he'd whack something out and it would be just like...
It moves and lays eggs and... He does all this fancy stuff.
And I used to look at him and think, "I can't do that."
Ruth, how did you feel about Andrew winning Star Baker?
I mean, is it like the Brexit referendum?
You know, a very close call and you don't agree with the result,
but Star Baker means Star Baker?
LAUGHTER
I think that I would have been on the side of Andrew
winning it this week as well. I think it was quite close, actually.
But, no, I mean, he brings quite a lot to the tent.
And he definitely has a different approach.
Um, but I don't think the girls should be scared of him.
Because just like you took Ian down to Chinatown,
I think it is pretty close for the final as well.
I think either of them, any of them, actually, could win.
Tom, is neatness always a good quality?
Absolutely. Without fail.
It's precision. You cannot... You cannot give Mary a sloppy palmier.
You cannot give Paul an ill-formed fondant fancy.
It's the semifinal. Come on. It's The Great British Bake Off.
Andrew went with a musical theme for his fondant fancies.
We know he loves musicals,
and as we can see in this bit of unseen footage,
he's quite the crooner.
HE SINGS INDISTINCTLY
♪ Wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo... ♪
MALE VOICE-OVER
'And get Val's hit single...'
LAUGHTER
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Let's talk about Jane.
Now, in the Showstopper, Jane went for heart-shaped fancies
flavoured with pistachio and raspberry.
Her second batch were flavoured with lemon.
She mixed up her fondant carefully,
if thrashing it about with a massive whisk is mixing it up carefully.
NADIYA: Oh!
Let's just hope she never gets a job on the paint counter at Dulux.
And she had a novel method for applying the fondant to the fancy
using a potato masher.
Nadiya, are you a dipper, a dunker or a pourer?
I am a sideway dunker. So I stick them on my finger
with some fondant and then I go sideways.
And you do it... You have to do it all in one quick motion.
That's... That is how I do it.
That sounds complicated. It is. It's...
Just...buy them.
LAUGHTER
APPLAUSE
It all seemed a bit weird.
She sort of went, "Oh, I'll put it on a potato masher and dip it in."
She wasn't sure if it would work or not.
And yet she still did it, which I thought was very foolhardy of her.
She knew the risks and she said,
"It's a risk, but it's worth taking."
Well, I'm afraid, Jane, it wasn't!
Well, Candice displayed her palmiers in an old bird cage.
Her chocolate, praline and cherry Bakewell fondant fancies
were displayed around a mini piano.
What do you think of her presentation, Tom?
It all just seems a bit nonsensical. Having a palmier in a bird cage...
Bird cage hasn't got anything to do with palmiers.
I mean, it's all very appetising until you have to get one off the bottom of the cage.
Nobody wants that one! LAUGHTER
And then she wheels out her fondant fancies with
a piano next to them for no reason. I mean, it's a baking show.
It's not an Elton John-themed episode of Cash In The Attic.
LAUGHTER
As usual, Candice created work for herself by baking
two different genoise sponges.
I mean, is it a good strategy to keep doing more
than is actually asked of you?
If you can pull it off, then absolutely do it.
Because she has done that from the very beginning.
You know, she's pushed herself.
She's done more than she's needed to. But she's pulled it off.
She is so ambitious. And you can tell she really wants it.
She's got that pathological glint in her eye. And, yeah, I just...
I really like her Showstoppers. I like her bakes.
I would love her to come through and...to win it.
Who would you like to hand your crown over to, Nadiya?
I could not possibly give you a name at all. No way.
Is it Jane?
I'm not going to... I just... I think either of them.
Andrew? I think...
LAUGHTER
I think any of them... Candice? I think...
I think... No. Any... Look, I think... I think that... It's...
When it gets to this stage it's really hard to tell
who is going to win. It's about what happens on the day.
But... I think any of them could win.
Well, it's time now to take a look at the bakes brought along
by our audience. Susan, where are you?
Hi, Susan. Now, what have you brought along?
I've brought one of your five a day. Oh.
But it's a variety you might like.
Which is? They've all got cake inside.
AUDIENCE GASPS Are they all just cakes?
They are cakes, honest. You haven't hollowed out a pear and...
LAUGHTER
I promise, they're all cake. Wow.
How long did that take you to paint them?
It was a long day yesterday!
What's around the outside of them, then?
Marzipan. Oh, dear.
LAUGHTER
Are the flavours the same as the fruit that they're... They are.
..representing? Wow. Fantastic.
Thanks. They look absolutely incredible. Well done.
Now, Helen, where are you? Hi, Helen. Tell us about your cake.
Well, we've brought a tribute to Candice and her lipstick.
OK. Oh, gosh. Oh!
What sort of cake is that?
It's a vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and fondant.
And then we've painted some metallic paint on, which is edible.
Was that difficult to do?
It was tricky. It was a team effort, wasn't it?
I left the tricky bits to my mum.
What were the tricky bits that you had to do, Mum? Making the cake?
Oh, OK. Yeah. LAUGHTER
That's lovely.
On to Becky. Where are you, Becky?
Now, you've had a go at this week's Technical, I believe? I have.
It's a savarin. Wow.
Chocolate, blackberry and liquorice flavour.
And it's got a liquorice and blackberry liqueur syrup over it.
It looks absolutely stunning.
Crikey. Have you got your own show?
LAUGHTER Well done, Becky. Thanks very much indeed.
APPLAUSE Thank you.
Joyce, where are you?
Tell us about your patisserie.
There's quite a lot of it.
Quite a lot of it. Yes.
There's blue cheese gougere at the top. There's eclairs.
They've got candied bacon and cheddar cheese in.
And there's candied bacon and dark chocolate tarts
with caramel with pork scratchings.
LAUGHTER
Crikey. So they all look sweet but they're all savoury?
So, Nadiya, if you have the top and, Ruth, can you have the middle,
which is the chilli and bacon eclair? OK.
And, Tom... You get the enormous one. The one at the bottom.
I don't mind trying a bit of that.
Do I get a pastry fork or anything?
Oh, Tom! Honestly.
LAUGHTER
Thank you. Thank you. What do you think of yours, Ruth?
Um, it's weird, because it is proper choux pastry,
so it tastes like it should have chocolate on the top
and cream in the middle, creme pat in the middle. But it's pretty good.
It's nice, yeah. The choux pastry is great.
You've got a lovely hollow in the centre,
and it tastes like a big cheese puff. It's delicious.
I've never had anything like it.
It's like... It's a chocolate tart with a bit of bacon on top.
In a good way.
I'm not saying it's not good. It's quite unusual.
Is that quite common to combine? Are you mad?
LAUGHTER
What's that cream stuff? What's that on the bottom? It's cream.
That is cream? LAUGHTER
Yes, weird.
But lovely.
Thank you very much indeed, Joyce. Thank you.
And thanks very much to all our studio bakers.
Back now to the tent and time to meet a baker
who is also a banker and a biker, a man who stayed chilled
even when his bakes were slightly charred.
Will you please give a warm welcome to Selasi?
CHEERING
That's nice. Very nice. Now, it's lovely to have you with us, Selasi.
Congratulations for making it to the semifinals. How did that feel?
It felt really great, actually. I enjoyed the whole process.
And it was the best thing ever.
What's been your family's reaction to seeing you in the tent?
They've been really great. My dad actually still thinks
the show is going on. So every week he messages me and says,
"You should do better than this."
LAUGHTER
You know, but it was great, yeah. Bless him. Yeah, they're happy. Aw!
Let's remind ourselves what you told us as you went into semifinal week.
I had a funny dream, right? Um...
that I made it to the final and I baked in a dress.
So...
if I make it to the final this week, then it looks like I'm going
to have to be baking in a dress, a nice floral dress, actually.
So you had a dream that you baked in a dress? Yes.
It's not exactly Martin Luther King, but...
LAUGHTER
Having said that, I think we're all disappointed... I know.
I'm disappointed. ..not to get to see you in it. Yeah.
Would you have done? Yeah, of course.
With a lace strap or something. Yeah. Definitely.
Now, as you went into the palmier Signature,
you seemed to be actually really feeling the pressure.
Now, might it have taken some of the pressure off
if you'd bothered to practise them at home?
LAUGHTER
No comment. LAUGHTER
You're going to do well. Um...
In the fondant fancy Showstopper,
you made a startling confession to Mary.
Let's have a look at that.
I never really sieve my flour, even at home.
If you don't sieve your flour,
sometimes you get pockets of flour.. Yeah. ..in the genoise.
LAUGHTER
Now, a bit of a glare there from Mary, but well done, you,
cos you stood your ground. So let's see who finally blinked first.
CROWD CHEERING
Come on, Selasi! Mary! Come on, Mary!
Selasi! Mary, Mary, Mary!
You can do it, Mary!
DING, DING!
CROWD CHEERING
I declare Mary the winner there. Yeah. She's always going to win.
Do you sieve your flour now?
Not really.
LAUGHTER
Sorry, Mary.
In Dessert Week,
you stunned the judges with your lemon and strawberry roulade
when Paul pronounced your sponge the star of the show.
I have to say, what I loved about it was your presentation.
What made you serve your roulade a photo frame?
LAUGHTER
So, we all know Candice has been the, you know... Oh, yes.
She's been great at, you know, presenting her stuff on,
you know, pianos and all that kind of stuff. And...
there was a pressure there.
cos I was just using chopping boards and slates, etc.
And then I thought, "Actually, let's try to be Candice."
So I went into a shop... Right.
..saw it and said, "Actually, this is quite great
"and, I guess, ingenious." I don't know, however you want to call it.
Um...
Presented on it,
got it cleaned by the guys in the kitchen, by the kitchen,
and then returned it after.
LAUGHTER
And, presumably, they had no idea where it had been? No, no.
I kept the price tag on and everything.
LAUGHTER
I don't need a photo frame. No, exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Well, another highlight came in Batter Week when you received
a Hollywood handshake... Yes.
..for your Yorkshire puddings...
and especially your cracking crackling.
They taste amazing. Thank you.
That crackling is spot on. Thank you. Well done, Selasi. Thank you.
You've had a handshake. That's the first today.
What was it like to receive the coveted handshake?
Um...
I don't know what to say now.
But I genuinely had butterflies in my stomach.
It sounds wrong, but I did. I did. I had butterflies in my stomach.
Really? Yeah, it was...
Cos I just went in and just thought, "Let's try it," and just went for it.
And he absolutely loved it and it was great. Yeah.
And who's got the firmer grip? You or Paul?
Hands down - me.
LAUGHTER
Now, in Biscuit Week you made lime and chilli biscuits
in the shape of your motorbike.
And when the time came to arrange them ready for judging,
in this bit of unseen footage
you said what anyone would say in that situation.
It's time to chop my slate.
LAUGHTER
Why did you have to chop your slate?
Why didn't you just bring a plate-sized bit of slate with you?
I brought one, but it was too small cos my biscuits were...
..big, basically. So... Big biscuits?
Yeah, so I brought an extra slate just in case.
And, obviously, BBC, being health and safety conscious,
I had to wear gloves and everything.
It's like something out of Poldark. I mean...
LAUGHTER
Well, here on An Extra Slice, we do like to give you the opportunity
to have another go at a bake that didn't quite go to plan in the tent.
So what have you brought with you? My savarin.
Oh!
ALL EXCLAIM
Wow. So, would you like to try some, guys?
Have you segmented your orange pieces this time?
I tried to, but... Who does...? But who does that?
LAUGHTER
Who does that? You're so right there.
It's evenly baked. And I know...
I know what it's like to be in that tent, and they say, "Here you go,"
and you have to make this.
And really you need a lot more time to do it.
That's evenly baked and... The alcohol is right the way through it.
Is it? Yeah. Mm-hm.
The caramel is perfect, though.
Tom? It's wicked, yeah.
LAUGHTER
Did you think about putting maybe a piece of bacon in it?
LAUGHTER
So, I think a thumbs up all round there. Well done, Selasi. Yeah.
Congratulations. APPLAUSE
Now, we're so sorry to see you go
because we've loved watching you in the tent.
We've made you one of our special cakes.
Tom, don't look so worried.
LAUGHTER
Brilliant. Well done. I mean, can you imagine...if I dropped it?
All right. There we go. Great.
Thank you, Tom. OK, here we go.
This is you with your floral cake. And...
ALL EXCLAIM
APPLAUSE
And also we have your handshake-worthy Yorkshires,
your marchpane crown and, of course,
it wouldn't be you without a tea towel over your shoulder.
So...will you please give Selasi a Great British send-off?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Are you all right to take that? Yeah. OK. Thanks, Selasi.
That's it for this week.
A big thank you to Selasi, to all of our studio bakers
and to our celebrity panel -
Nadiya Hussain...
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
..Ruth Davidson...
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
..and Tom Allen.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Next week it's the final.
Who will be crowned winner of The Great British Bake Off 2016?
We're on as usual next Friday, but at the earlier time of 8.30.
So see you then!
APPLAUSE