Oh good lord, the maniacs making Netflix‘s The Great British Baking Show finally did it. They unleashed one of the most iconically British and ludicrously naughty-named desserts into the tent. Folks, for the Technical Challenge on The Great British Baking Show “Dessert Week,” Prue Leith forced the bakers to make…Spotted Dick!!! Yes, that classic steamed pudding with a name so raunchy even the Brits who grew up with it can’t mutter it aloud and keep a straight face. The vibes in the tent immediately went off the rails in the silliest, kinkiest, stupidest ways possible — and I was honestly here for it.
**Spoilers for The Great British Baking Show “Dessert Week,” now streaming on Netflix**
Cheeky double entendres have been a part of The Great British Baking Show since its earliest days, when we original hosting duo Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc would ask bakers about their buns and soggy bottoms. We’ve seen poor Alice Fevronia spark naughty giggles online for naively making “chocolate starfishes” and people are still circulating Prue’s own advice for filling a Chouxnut: “Quite often, I need to holes so that I can squirt.” So like, Great British Baking Show fans are used to the show tiptoeing into the realm of the tawdry. However, Spotted Dick might have just about broken everyone down.
As soon as Great British Baking Show host Alison Hammond revealed that the bakers’ Technical Challenge would indeed be Spotted Dick, the giggles began. Fellow host Noel Fielding couldn’t keep a straight face when describing the parameters Prue set for their Spotted Dicks and soon Alison and everyone in the tent was losing it. Alison then went for the jugular: “You have two hours and fifteen minutes to get your dick ready.” The camera cut to the two remaining male bakers, Dylan Bachelet and Christiaan de Vries, keeling over and spinning around in hysterics, respectively.
“Come on now, kids!” Noel cried. “This is a family show.” Thankfully for me, and my puerile sense of humor, no one took this note to heart.
Whether the bakers intended to beef up the double entendres or not is honestly not clear. When Dylan said he’d never seen a Spotted Dick before, he was definitely talking about the pudding, but out of context, it could have a double meaning. After Christiaan admitted, “Actually, Spotted Dick is very nice,” he blushed and burst into laughter, showing he was in on the joke. When Prue Leith explains to Paul her rationale for choosing Spotted Dick as the Technical Challenge, she fully owns up to being naughty. “My main memory of steamed puddings are school dinners. We all thought Spotted Dick was hilarious.”
As the challenge went on, the innuendo only amped up. After Welsh baker Georgie told Noel Spotted Dick is something she would pass on, he pushed her to describe her dislike of currants, leading to her to explain she doesn’t like how they “swell up.” “You like them when they’re small and dry?” he asks. “Yeah, like shriveled up,” Georgie says. The camera cuts to Dylan side-eyeing the convo before Georgie giggles at what she’s been saying.
When the bakers begin tying string around their pudding bowls to help with the steaming process, Gill casually says, “I need a finger. This is what I have a husband for. It’s his only use.” Then Alison visits Christiaan and asks if he’s going to tie her up with his rope. It’s a prelude to what would come later in the episode, when, during the Showstopper Challenge, Paul hears that Dylan is working with “shades of gray,” and he ribs Prue. “You know Shades of Grey?”
Back during the Technical Challenge, nearly all the bakers succeed in producing a decent Spotted Dick, save for Sumayah. Last week’s Star Baker struggled this week, first forgetting to put sugar into her pudding and then presenting an undercooked Spotted Dick. After coming in last place, she begins to cry. As her fellow bakers comfort her, she laughs at herself. “I’m crying over Spotted Dick!” Gill says, “Never, ever cry over dick!”
All in all, if you thought the energy in the Bake Off tent would be less chaotic without the ebullient Nelly running the show, you were wrong. The Great British Baking Show let chaos and comedy reign this week, with a naughty Technical Challenge that turned the show’s penchant for innuendo up to 11.
Some Brits who watched the show earlier this week were left fuming, per The Sun. As for me? I appreciated the levity. We live in a tumultuous world and it’s a comfort to know that at the end of the day, we all laugh at the mention of Spotted Dick. In Dame Prue Leith and her dirty sense of humor, I trust.
