Welcome to this week's stressful/delightful recap of The Great British Bake Off!
This week, the remaining seven bakers went head-to-head with pastry. Here are 19 undeniably delightful moments from the episode, plus 14 exceptionally stressful ones.
Warning: Spoilers (and potential emotional turmoil) ahead.
1. DELIGHTFUL: This shoe/choux pun, and Noel's expression of utter disapproval in response to it.
2. STRESSFUL: Thinking about whichever poor baker was recruited to make an edible sneaker on their day off. Was it Jürgen? Chigs? A group effort?
Signature Challenge: Chouxnuts
3. DELIGHTFUL: Hey, it's a falcon! (Full disclosure: It may not be a falcon. Either way, cool bird, it's been a tough 18 months, let's celebrate it.)
4. DELIGHTFUL: The fact that Chigs is so in the zone, he lunged for his supplies before anyone even said "bake."
5. STRESSFUL: Seeing Lizzie look around the tent and wonder, "Have I been damned to make chouxnuts for an eternity?"
6. DELIGHTFUL: Realizing that "baking stances" are a recurring theme of this season.
It's not quite as extreme as Giuseppe's from German Week, though.
7. STRESSFUL: Watching Lizzie face her fear of the deep fryer, which I've never thought too much about but yeah, it is just a vat of boiling oil, huh?
8. DELIGHTFUL: Paul, at long last, breaking his policy of silently glaring at bakers to tell George how to open the tongs he's been fiddling with for 15 silent seconds.
George is the most relatable baker left in the tent.
9. STRESSFUL: The fact that while everyone else is filling their chouxnuts with pastry bags, Crystelle went and found herself a giant syringe.
10. STRESSFUL: Watching this miniature tragedy unfold.
11. DELIGHTFUL: George keeping things light in a tense moment.
12. DELIGHTFUL: Prue saying this, which I present without comment.
13. DELIGHTFUL: Jürgen's chouxnuts and their bright purple ube filling.
14. DELIGHTFUL: Giuseppe's chouxnuts. I didn't know what a chouxnut was before watching this episode (and I'm still not entirely convinced that they weren't made up for the purposes of this show), but if the concept were described to me, Giuseppe's version is what I would've imagined.
15. DELIGHTFUL: Lizzie triumphing over her fryer phobia and getting what she called her "best Signature feedback."
Technical Challenge: Large Baklava with Filo Pastry
16. STRESSFUL: Crystelle reacting like this to the announcement that they're going to have to make their own filo dough. I think we've established by this point that I really don't know all that much about baking, but this seems like a bad sign. (A few seconds later, Matt's narration confirms that this is the first time ever that contestants have been asked to make the "notoriously complicated" filo pastry for a Technical, so yeah, not good.)
17. STRESSFUL: This glimpse of the elaborate diagram bakers were given to explain how their baklava should be cut up, as if they didn't have enough to worry about.
18. STRESSFUL: Lizzie forgetting to set her timer, scandalizing the other contestants.
19. DELIGHTFUL: The fact that every single baker is able to produce something that at least resembles the example, which seems like a truly Herculean task.
20. DELIGHTFUL: Jürgen placing first in the Technical...
...and then having this to say about it.
Showstopper Challenge: A Terrine Pie
21. DELIGHTFUL: Discovering that Jürgen has an allegiance to three great nations: Germany, Great Britain, and the city of Boston.
22. DELIGHTFUL: Amanda's itty-bitty pork pigs.
23. STRESSFUL: George accidentally freezing the main component of his pie. Also, Matt's narration about it, which I once again present without comment.
24. DELIGHTFUL: This Greek dance break that occurs while everyone is waiting for their pies to cook.
25. STRESSFUL: George deciding to pull his pie out of the oven to fix its top, and risking the possibility of a raw Showstopper.
26. STRESSFUL: This Paul Hollywood balloon, which will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.
27. STRESSFUL: George infusing the phrase "soggy bottom" with more despair than I thought possible after all of the juices from his pie start to leak out.
28. STRESSFUL: The top half of Amanda's pie breaking away when she tries to take it out of the tin. I've never shed tears over a pie, but today, my friends, I came close.
29. DELIGHTFUL: Giuseppe's embarrassingly perfect pie.
30. DELIGHTFUL: Jürgen's exquisite Showstopper.
31. DELIGHTFUL: Crystelle receiving a coveted Showstopper handshake for her chicken curry pie. Even more heartwarming, the pie was a tribute to her late great-grandmother and designed to look like her house.
Final Results
32. DELIGHTFUL: Crystelle being named this week's Star Baker, and making this face in response.
33. STRESSFUL: Saying goodbye to Amanda, a warm and fun-loving presence in the tent.
