Contestants haven’t even served up as much as a fairy cake yet, but this year’s Great British Bake Off has already been scorched by critics for an alleged sexist incident over icing.
You might think the most genteel reality show on TV would have nothing more controversial than a soggy bottom to worry about, but promo shots of the contestants stirring bowls of icing have landed the BBC in hot water already.
The pictures show the bakers with “gendered” icing – blue for the men and pink for the women.
The women on the show were pictured with pink icing, while the men had blue (Mark Bourdillon/BBC/PA)
People were quick to pick up on the styling when the snaps were released to introduce this year’s batch of contestants ahead of series seven, which launches next week.
Like if there's any show that just blythely ignores gender stereotypes it's Bake Off so why the different icing?! #GBBO #BakeOff
— WH (@will_full) August 16, 2016
I am so ridiculously excited for new #GBBO but is gendered blue/pink icing in promo pics realllly necessary??? 🙄🙄🙄
— Ellie Mae (@LittleEllieMae) August 16, 2016
Hey @BritishBakeOff, why is the icing pink for a woman, blue for a man in the contestant pics? Seems a bit pigeonholing and backward! #GBBO
— Bethan Smith (@BethSaysThings) August 16, 2016
Even the Lib Dem leader waded into the row.
Looking forward to catching #GBBO but I hope the pink icing for girls, blue icing for boys is dropped. https://t.co/L3PiPqPGwQ
— Tim Farron (@timfarron) August 16, 2016
However, not everyone was offended.
On what planet is the leader of a mainstream political party concerning himself with the colour of icing on #GBBO?
— Chríss (@Chriss_m) August 16, 2016
People complaining about what colour icing the men and women have on the #GBBO pictures need to get a serious, serious grip…Morons
— James Martin (@youngJimMartin) August 16, 2016
The BBC declined to comment but later seemed to have backtracked when it tweeted a new image of the bakers in exactly the same poses… but with different colours of icing.
On Your Marks, Get Set, BAAAAAKE! Meet this year's batch of #GBBO contestants. Starts Wednesday 24th August. 8pm. 🍰 pic.twitter.com/btcQzvn7Ea
— BBC One (@BBCOne) August 16, 2016
Past controversies on the show have included baked Alaska-gate, where one contestant took another’s chilled dessert out of the freezer and left it to melt, and a confusion over custard when one baker took someone else’s and used it in their own trifle.
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