You know you’re a Great British Bake Off fan when the mere mention of a custard tart induces a cold sweat. Bakers and viewers alike were full of anxiety during Pie & Tart Week, which also had a few soggy bottoms (and one soggy top!) thrown into the mix…
It was full on Tartageddon… and not even Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and a dodgy Aerosmith song could salvage that perilous predicament!
“Shouldn’t laugh but hilarious!!” wrote Sam Blair on our official Facebook fan page about Howard’s custard tart carnage. “Funniest thing I’ve seen in a while”. “I couldn’t stop laughing as they tried to get the tarts out of the tins! Priceless!” giggled Wavenie Jones.
The poor baker in question, @HowardMiddlebun, tweeted: “Thankfully no sabotage this week. Well, perhaps someone did superglue a couple of custard tarts to the tin!”
A Snake Cake (or should that be Pie-thon?) could not rescue Ali from being sunk like the Pietanic after his fruit pie failed to find favour amongst the judges. It didn’t help that he was unwilling to taste it.
His elimination certainly provoked a passionate reaction online, especially combined with a fellow baker’s tearful reaction:
“We were just about holding it together but Howard set us off #farewellAli,” sobbed @KellyThorley.
“@BritishBakeOff makes for very emotional viewing. Ali cried, Howard cried, I cried. Will miss that lovely fella Ali!” added  @Fi_MK.
While there were few dry eyes in the house, there were plenty of soggy bottoms in the tent! That helped the immortal phrase trend on Twitter on the night alongside Mary Berry, Mushroom Club (cheers Rob!) and our #PieMovies hashtag.
We also encountered ‘The Berry Slap’, as Mary slammed her dough onto the table with gusto. It’s set to be a global sensation to rival twerking. “Loving that Mary went all 50 shades on Ruby’s filo dough,” tweeted @cathrynroseard.
Amidst the chaos, Kimberley landed the Star Baker accolade, prompting Keng Tan-Clover to write: “I am glad she has finally been recognised”. “Good bloomin’ work Kimberly,” gushed last year’s Bake Off legend @cat_dresser.
So onto next week’s theme, which will leave the remaining bakers less likely to suffer from that well-known complaint ‘Rhubarb Splashback’. Bring on the biscuits!
(P.S. Thanks to @LimeCheesecake for the #BakeOffFriends title of the week!)
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