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The Great British Bake Off 2026 judges detail "jeopardy" from filming conditions during hottest summer on record

The Great British Bake Off 2026 judges detail "jeopardy" from filming conditions during hottest summer on record

If you can't stand the heat, then the Bake Off tent is trouble.

Nigella Lawson and Paul Hollywood sat down on a table next to each other smiling. There is a camera in vision filming them.

Patch Dolan / Channel 4

Tilly Pearce

Published: Monday, 21 September 2026 at 3:55 pm

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The Great British Bake Off contestants are under pressure with every new challenge – but heatwaves during filming this year’s series added a few extra degrees of stress.

The Channel 4 competition is back with new judge Nigella Lawson and tricky new tasks for the bakers to complete – from wearable bakes to nougatine sculptures.

But it seems the weather was the unexpected added ingredient that really tested their skills in the iconic white tent.

Speaking to Radio Times and other press ahead of the show’s launch, Nigella, longstanding judge Paul Hollywood, and hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond admitted that the heatwave – the hottest on record when the show was filmed earlier this year – really threw a spanner in the batter when it came to the bakers’ creations.

A group of people stood and sat in the Bake Off tent wearing light brown aprons over everyday clothes, all smiling for a photo.

Gabe, Nikki, Shannon, Danni, Mo, Clara, Tom, Molly, Yannis, Gary, Moyin and Connie. Channel 4 / Patch Dolan

"It was hot in the tent, and it's getting hotter every year. Global warming," noted Paul.

"This was the longest it was hot, wasn't it?" said Alison. "It's the longest. Like last year [2025], I remember it was quite cold in the tent."

"Imagine it's 33 [degrees], you're in a tent, and then they've got 10 ovens on. It was absolutely ludicrous," said Noel, "So for them, bless them, they're in there the whole time. I don't know how they did it."

"It was like a greenhouse," added Paul.

Alison agreed the heat "causes a lot of problems", and noted: "There's definitely jeopardy until the final."

However, Nigella – who joins the team for the first time this series – thinks it added to showcase the bakers’ abilities.

"Sometimes [it was a problem], but it's quite interesting," she said. "The ones who know how to adjust and know how to deal with it, because you have to. And in a way, they are all working under the same conditions, so that makes it, you know, it's fair. It's not like one person's doing it on a very hot day and one person's not.

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"So everyone's doing it, you know, in the same temperatures, everyone kept their own temperature, you know, cool.

"I'm not in the tent all the time, obviously. No one, I couldn't hear anyone ever, you know, lose it. No one threw anything!"

"People are a bit hot and bothered," said Noel. "Yeah, a little bit hot and bothered in the longer challenges by the end. You're rushing around. You're trying to get this thing done…"

You can see how well the 12 new bakers will fare in the tent when Bake Off begins – but Paul has already noted it’s the highest standard of any year so far.

"It had its moments. Some real genius, some real genius work, and I saw a couple of bakers this year that could have been any five-star hotel or could have been in the middle of Fauchon in Paris," he said. "I think the standard at times was incredible."

The Great British Bake Off 2026 begins on Tuesday 22 September at 8pm.

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Authors

Tilly PearceFreelance Writer

Tilly Pearce is a freelance TV journalist whose coverage ranges from reality shows like Love Is Blind to sci-fi shows like Fallout. She is an NCTJ Gold Standard accredited journalist, who has previously worked as Deputy TV Editor (maternity cover) at Digital Spy, and Deputy TV & Showbiz Editor at Daily Express US.

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