Great British Bake Off 2018 episode 4: The biggest talking points from dessert week

Who knew baking could be so difficult? Dessert week proved particularly tricky for the latest batch of Bake Off contestants, even the frontrunners struggling with a particularly tough technical challenge – making a raspberry blancmange. By the time we reached the showstopper, all the competitors were struggling to keep their chocolate balls together – not helped by a sweltering sun trying to melt their creations.

Now that our pastry practioners have finished rolling up their meringue roulades, we look back at all the biggest talking points from the episode.

Terry’s week away

Every year, there’s that one competitor who makes for increasingly tense television as you see them flirt with exiting the tent time and time again. This week, though, we avoided watching Terry go through the motions of managing to mess everything up only to pull off an incredible last-minute showstopper. Why? Because the retired steward was ill, and everyone decided to give him a free pass through to the next round. You wouldn’t get that competitive compassion on Love Island.

Desserts are hard!

Did we mention that desserts can be really, really hard to get right? While the signature dish was a relative breeze, perfecting the blancmange was an almost impossible task. Just look at Manon – the French baker who began the episode by confidently reminding viewers that she had not messed up so far. How quickly someone’s tune can change: after her signature meringue roulade cracked in two, the former frontrunner came last in the technical challenge thanks to an unset blancmange that looked like a miserable blobfish. Luckily for her, she pulled it back with a breathtaking showstopper – unlike poor Briony from Bristol, who just about managed a savoury smiles through all those tears.

Rahul, the very sorry wizard

Taking his incredible two-tiered showstopper back to his work area, Rahul managed to say sorry to every other contestant watching on. Not in a “Sorry I beat you” way, but in an “I’m so sorry I have disappointed everyone” way. At one stage, while Paul and Prue judged the beautiful chocolate balloon before them, Rahul looked like he was going to cry, only for Paul to rightfully call it stunning. How can someone who has won star-baker twice lack that much confidence? Who knows, but I’m backing the culinary wizard to win.

Daddy cool

Jon dressed as a ballerina this week. Jon named a showstopper after his kids this week. But mainly, Jon helped a struggling Ruby finish her white-chocolate ball. And while the results weren’t exactly great – that white dome was going to be harder to piece back together than an 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle – Jon’s behaviour won the nation’s heart.

Dan scores a triple handshake

Yes, we have mentioned multiple times how difficult dessert week was, but Dan has now scored three Paul Hollywood handshakes in a row. This week, the sovereign form of congratulations was offered to Dan for his miraculous meringue roulade. And with that third handshake, Dan is hot on Rahul’s heals to take home the Bake Off crown.

Bake Off returns next Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4.