‘The Great British Baking Show’ Says Goodbye to a Singular Contestant

(spoilers for episode 6 of collection 12 of The Great British Baking Show)

In every season of The Great British Baking Show, there comes a saturation point where the talent present in the tent exceeds the number of bodies that are allowed to remain. Typically around mid-point of the season, deciding who goes home is relatively straightforward, insofar as luck and abilities go (excluding the occasional controversial decision over the years), but once you’ve got a tent full of talented, reliable bakers, tough calls need to be made.

It feels like a thorny bit of fate that the bottom two last week came down between fan favorites Dylan and Nelly. In the past, I’ve clearly sided with one baker over the other in terms of who deserved the title of Star Baker a few weeks back, an article whose motivation came solely from my observation that a bad call was made. But last week’s episode was a more nuanced state of affairs, with two genuinely great bakers experiencing alternating bouts of bad luck.

The Signature Bake saw Nelly with an underbaked pie, while Dylan’s was burnt. In the Technical Challenge, Dylan’s parkin lacked the necessary ginger, whereas ginger was the only detectable flavor in Nelly’s (the former received fourth place, with the latter receiving fifth). As for the Showstopper Challenge, Nelly’s ‘Woman in Autumn,’ a spinach sponge with layers of chocolate-avocado cream and plum jelly, looked fantastic but was marred by a smidge of over-ambition, with concertina-ed layers and a few too many flavors. On the other hand, Dylan’s Diwali cake, featuring a beetroot sponge with cardamom cream cheese icing, suffered in looks thanks to the disastrous loss of one of his sponges, but was otherwise well-flavored. When it came time to announce who would be going home for the week, my fingers were firmly crossed, but when Nelly’s name was announced, I understood. Disappointed, but not surprised.

Nelly’s departure, however, was single-handedly made triumphant despite the flood of tears that came from her fellow contestants (I was barely hanging on, myself); the boisterous nurse, with her infectious combination of pride and ebullience, chose to go out with an exuberant bang, sharing the pride she felt in how far she made it in the competition, and the effect it had on her sons (“I know my children are so proud”). It’s the sort of concession speech that can’t be faked; you can see the joy and gratification beaming from her as she looks just off-camera declaring, “In each of your hearts is a piece of Nelly, and you’re never gonna forget me, and that was my aim. Cake, we can bake. Piece of Nelly, you got.” She may be gone from the season fifteen tent, but I’m certain that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of this charming woman or her delicious bakes.



“I’m leaving with my crown on, still.” Yeah, you are, Nelly. Yeah, you are.

Each new episode of The Great British Baking Show collection 12 (as it’s labeled here in the U.S.) is available to stream each Friday on Netflix.

Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba. She can be found on Bluesky here.