The Most Awkward Moments On Great British Baking Show We'll Never Forget

To recall the Bingate affair, you'll have to cast your mind back to season 5, which aired in 2014 in the U.K. It's probably the "Great British Baking Show" scandal that's caused the most backlash — and we can see why. It was a dramatic moment in an otherwise calm show, and one wherein the contestants let things get extremely awkward.

On an unusually warm day in the British countryside, the contestants were tasked with making a baked Alaska, a layered ice cream cake inside a shell of toasted meringue. There's science behind why baked Alaskas don't melt, and it relies on the ice cream properly setting first. This was a challenge on a hot day in a tent. What's more, on this particular episode, there was limited freezer space, so the bakers were having to juggle things around. One contestant, Diana, removed fellow baker Iain's ice cream from the freezer to make room for hers, and forgot to replace it. 

When Iain attempted to remove his ice cream from its mold, he ended up with a partially melted pile. Rather than taking it in stride, he let the pressure get the better of him, and threw the whole lot in the trash — hence the "Bingate" name — which was totally awkward. Diana defended herself, saying the ice cream was out of the freezer for less than a minute, which wouldn't have caused it to melt that much. Iain later said he didn't blame her, but this didn't stop Diana from getting abuse on Twitter.

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Back in 2017, "The Great British Baking Show" judge Prue Leith made a monumental mistake. She made things awkward for herself, and ruined the surprise for everyone else, when she announced the winner ahead of time on Twitter. That's a big mistake, and one that must have taken her a while to live down, especially considering it was her first year presenting the show.

In 2017, the show had just moved from the BBC to Channel 4 in the U.K. All eyes were on it, with people concerned the show wouldn't have the same heart. Sophie Faldo, Steven Carter-Bailey, and Kate Lyon were the three finalists, and people were eagerly awaiting the last episode of the season to find out who won.

Then, on the morning of the day the finale would air, Leith tweeted a note of congratulations to the winner — hours before the show began. She hastily deleted the tweet, but it was too late. People had noticed, and they weren't happy that she'd spoiled the surprise. Leith blamed the blunder on the fact that she was in Bhutan, and said she got confused about the time zone, but it was a huge mess up.

If you were watching "The Great British Baking Show" in 2025, you might have noticed a particularly awkward bit of banter between Dylan and Alison Hammond. Dylan, a young contestant on the show, made some assumptions about Hammond and co-host Noel Fielding that she didn't seem best pleased about. The interaction descended into something incredibly awkward to watch.

It started when Hammond said that Dylan was so young, aged just 20 years old. He came back saying that his parents were surprised to learn that Hammond and Fielding are in their 50s. To that, Hammond replied that she was just 49, which led to Dylan saying that she was "closer to death" than he was.

The scene was already awkward, but it was about to get worse. Hammond said that she might be older, but that Dylan could get hit by a bus, and die before her. The whole interaction, which Dylan called morbid, could have been played for laughs. But the tone was off, leaving it feeling more awkward than funny. It's hard to say which of the pair was being more awkward, but regardless, the combination was a doozy. It just goes to show that age might be just a number, but some people don't want to discuss that figure. And it also teaches us that nobody should be speculating about when someone might shuffle off this mortal coil.

In 2013, before Bingate swept the nation, there was another big hoo-ha in the "Great British Baking Show" tent. This time, it was all about custard — a dish that seems simple, but is hard to perfect. There are some custard mistakes that everyone makes — leading to a consistency that's too runny, too thick, or scrambled and lumpy — and the show's contestants aren't immune to them. Getting the recipe just right is a challenge. One person did just that, though, and then his custard went missing.

In the third week of the season, Howard put in the effort, and made a spectacular custard for his trifle in The Signature Bake challenge. But when the time came to use it, there was confusion. Deborah had accidentally used Howard's custard instead of her own. This was an honest mistake, as both were chilling in the same fridge, but it made a big difference. Howard had carefully thickened his custard, whereas Deborah's was much runnier. This meant that Howard was unable to unmold his trifle as intended, and it had to be presented with a plastic collar around it. 

The judges did a good job of considering the custard and cake components separately, so Howard still got credit for his good work. However, it created an awkward situation, and meant that neither Howard's nor Deborah's dessert was as it should have been.

No marks for guessing why 2020 was a strange year in the tent. While much of the world was in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the bakers, cast, and crew formed a "Baking Show" bubble, which meant that relationships between the contestants were even tighter, and emotions may have been running even higher. It was this year that Sura's accidental sabotage made waves, and might have made things awkward on set.

During Cake Week, the bakers were tasked with whipping up mini pineapple upside-down cakes. As any fans of the show will tell you, once the technical part of such a challenge is over, the contestants bring their cakes up to the table to be judged anonymously, side-by-side. After Sura set her cakes down, she seemed to spot a fly, and waved her hand to swat it. Little did she know, Dave was right behind her, and her hand-wave knocked four of his six cakes to the ground. Dave walked away, leaving Sura scrabbling around on the floor to try to rescue his knocked-over cakes. Matters were made worse by the fact that Sura won the technical challenge, but ending up crying because she felt bad about what happened. 

At the time, some folks called it sabotage, even though it seemed accidental. Nevertheless, she ended up being a fan favorite, which is why people were upset when Sura left "The Great British Baking Show" in Chocolate Week. So, a bit of accidental cake mangling didn't hurt her popularity, even if it was awkward. 

Alison Hammond brought new life to "The Great British Baking Show" when, in 2023, she joined as Matt Lucas' replacement. Thanks to her infectious laugh, big personality, and great chemistry with Noel Fielding, there's always fun to be had when Hammond's around. On occasion, things can be equal parts funny and awkward — and we're here for it.

During 2025's "Baking Show," Hammond managed to get stuck climbing a fence. Was it awkward? Sure. But we really appreciated her commitment to the bit. It started when she and Fielding started talking to Toby during Patisserie Week. He was stressed, and busy, and when asked if there was anything the hosts could do to help, he said the best thing they could do was go away.

At that, Hammond and Fielding moved away slightly, and Hammond asked if it was far enough. Toby said that she should hop the fence, meaning the white picket fence that surrounds the show's tent. Not one to shy away from a joke, Hammond actually went to do as he said. However, after getting one leg over the fence, she got stuck. After laughing, and struggling for a moment, she called Fielding over to block the view as she swung her other leg over, making sure the cast and crew didn't see too much.

The fence incident wasn't the first time Alison Hammond made an awkward move on camera. In fact, she's made somewhat of a habit of doing so, and we love her for it. The previous year, during the 15th season, which aired in 2024, Hammond managed to fall off a countertop. Don't ask us how she managed it, but it was awkwardly brilliant.

It started when Hammond hopped up onto one of the empty countertops, saying she was going to lighten the mood. And she did, but presumably not in the way she intended. While trying to pull off a move, she accidentally took a tumble off the counter. She was then filmed laughing hysterically, lying face-down on the floor.

Noel Fielding then ran off, jumped on top of her, and said it was the best thing to ever happen on "The Great British Baking Show." It might have been an awkward move, but it was funny, especially since the audience knew that Hammond didn't get hurt, and that she actually found the whole thing funny herself. It was one of those bits of TV magic you rewind again and again to relive the moment. Hammond is always entirely herself, and we never want that to change. It's one of the things that makes her such a great host of the show.

The challenges on "Baking Show" are rarely simple. Contestants might be asked to make a cake that looks like a different type of food, or a meringue roulade that speaks to their favorite childhood memory. In the first episode of 2023, the showstopper challenge tasked contestants with making a cake that looked like an animal of their choice. This was all well and good until Nicky made a beaver cake, and Prue Leith couldn't stop making accidental innuendos.

After Nicky explained that she'd chosen a beaver because she once dressed up as one, Leith made her first gaffe. She said that she wasn't sure if she knew what a beaver looked like, which elicited laughter from the tent but left Leith looking confused at first. Then, when it was time for judging, Leith said, "So, Nicky, tell us about your beaver." After that got laughs, she laughed along, but it seemed like she didn't mean to make that joke. It unleashed a barrage of other innuendos — so much so, that Noel Fielding commented on it being like a "Carry On" film. 

Whether you found this all funny or awkward depends on your sense of humor. Yes, it was a bit infantile, but it was also harmless fun. And if you can't laugh about something like that, what can you do? 

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Now, we're about to take you further into the past in search of more awkward moments. "The Great British Baking Show" isn't totally packed with them, but it has its fair share — like the time in 2013, when presenter Mel Giedroyc basically destroyed something one of the bakers had worked hard on. Just imagine how awkward you'd feel after messing up a contestant's bake. Mortifying.

The challenge was to make a biscuit sculpture with a minimum height. Contestant Frances decided to make one that was inspired by a haberdashery. All was going well, until Giedroyc chose to be "helpful" by measuring the tower with a ruler. In the process of doing so, she managed to knock it over. Frances took it well, which didn't exacerbate the awkwardness of the moment. But the fact that Giedroyc offered to hold it up during the judging process made the cringiness of the moment last longer.

It was a good lesson for the presenters, and the judges, to stay out of the way of the bakers while they're doing their thing. Sure, coming up to chat is part and parcel of the show, but there's no need to get up in their business. And while it might have been a blow for Frances, she ultimately won her season, so all's well that ends well.

Cast your mind back to 2014, when Mary Berry was still a judge, and Mel and Sue took on presenting duties. The winner that year (spoiler alert) was a woman called Nancy, who made things awkward by the way she consistently called Paul Hollywood something other than his name. At first it seemed awkward for one reason, but then it opened up whole new levels of awkwardness.

Whenever Nancy talked about Hollywood, she didn't use his name. Rather, she referred to him as "the male judge." It seemed sweetly awkward, and maybe like a bit of a power move, that she didn't know his name. After all, she was presumably a "Baking Show" fan before she became one of its contestants, so why could she remember Berry but not Hollywood?

At the end of the show, when she got through to the finals, and was ultimately crowned winner, the truth became clear. Nancy admitted that she had a crush on Hollywood, and that was why she wouldn't say his name. After all, what better way than a light hazing to get the attention of your crush? This may have been the start of a long line of people in the tent with a crush on Hollywood. To each their own.

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In case you're not familiar with the format of "Baking Show," a quick recap: Each week has a theme, and they're often straightforward — like Cake Week, Patisserie Week, and Bread Week — but sometimes, they're more elaborate. Over the years, there have been weeks named for specific countries, meant to celebrate the food of those particular nations. And that is all well and good until you get into cultural appropriation territory, which was very much the case with the whole of Mexican Week.

This one went way beyond awkward, venturing into racist stereotypes. It got a lot of backlash, and rightfully so. It started out with presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas in sombreros, making light of Mexican names, and it continued with an oversimplification of what Mexican food is all about. With an all-white (at the time) cast of judges and presenters, and no Mexican experts brought in to consult, it truly missed the mark. It's no surprise that "The Great British Baking Show" no longer does themed country weeks after that fiasco.

There's never any excuse for showing these kinds of stereotypes on TV, but in 2022, they really should have known better. It showed deep cultural insensitivity, and a lack of understanding of any nuance in the food of the nation. It could have been a chance to highlight the rich culinary history of Mexico, but instead, it was a problematic farce. Anyone involved with that episode of television should be feeling awkward, and ashamed.