Let me introduce you all to the concept of “doing a Richard,” a term that my mom and I coined. Richard Burr was a finalist in 2014, and he absolutely dominated his season, winning five Star Baker sheriff badges (don’t ask, it was a weird choice for that season) out of a possible nine. And then, in the final, he completely fell apart. He couldn’t get anything right, he took unnecessary risks, and his bakes were pretty much failures. Thus, “doing a Richard” has come to refer to any baker who comes into the final as an overwhelming favorite, and then just collapses (think Steph in season 10, for instance). And, as you can tell from the title of this recap, that is the fate that met Dylan this episode. 

But before we get into the details of this collapse, let’s discuss the series as a whole, and our three finalists. I have to admit, this hasn’t been my favorite series. While the cast and the challenges were good, my favorite bakers went out early, and I was never as enamored with Dylan as the majority of the internet seemed to be. I also feel as though the edit of this series has been a bit overly focused on the hosts and hasn’t featured enough baking technique.

Our three finalists are Dylan, Georgie and Christiaan. Dylan is the bright young thing, the charismatic aspiring-chef who goes for fancy flavors and elaborate decoration. However, he struggles to keep his emotions under control and his perfectionism can often be self-sabotaging. Georgie is the wholesome yet anxious British baker with good technique but not a lot of confidence. She’s also the first Welsh baker to ever make the final. And lastly, we have Christiaan, the quirky white gay guy with a penchant for weird flavor combinations. Seriously, we’ve had a bunch of them on “Bake Off”. He seems like the underdog, having only won his first Star Baker accolade last week, but he could also be peaking at just the right time.

The mood is serious as the bakers march into the tent. Said serious atmosphere is immediately shattered by Allison, who’s just so thrilled to be hosting the final, and Noel. Well, more specifically, Noel’s sweater, which features a weird green, purple and blue alien creature with an eye on each of its abs. I’m starting to suspect that Noel doesn’t have a wardrobe team and just brings in whatever he wants from home.

The signature challenge is remarkably simple: scones. Something every self-respecting British baker should know how to make. However, the judges are expecting perfection, and the bakers must produce 24 identical scones, 12 savory, and 12 sweet. Each batch must have a complementary filling, as well. 

Now, scones use the same technique as shortcrust pastry, but with more flour, more water and less butter. Making a decent scone is pretty easy, but making a perfect scone is much harder. Add in the pressure of the final and this challenge isn’t as easy as it first appears, even with a very reasonable two hours of allotted time.

And so, the bakers set off to create the bougiest scones known to man. Christiaan is making coconut and lime scones for his sweet batch, with a passion fruit curd. His savory scones are curry flavored. Coconut and curry…I see you, Christiaan. Although I’m less enthralled by his whipped feta filling. Dylan is trying to put a new spin on the classic strawberries and cream scone by pickling his strawberries in a mix of rice vinegar and chamomile. Now, strawberries and balsamic vinegar is a classic, but rice vinegar doesn’t bring much to the party. Dylan’s savory scones also don’t fill me with confidence. They are fennel and celeriac flavored, and while fennel might work, celeriac is one of my least favorite vegetables. I also can’t see it doing much in scone form. Meanwhile, Georgie is taking a risk by putting raspberries in her scone dough. She also plans on filling them with a passionfruit curd. Her savory scones are Mediterranean-inspired, with olives, herbs, cheese and anchovies. Not my thing, but flavors that Paul is known to love.

Next, we have our lovely wholesome cutaways to the finalists’ friends and family. We learn that Georgie comes from a big family and has struggled to balance her responsibility to her kids while practicing for the show. It’s a typical cutaway for a British mum finalist: it’s the first time she’s done anything for herself. British women stop being long-suffering martyrs challenge!

Next, we get the most adorable picture of baby Dylan, followed by learning that he got four A-stars at A-level, and dropped out of a biomedical engineering degree program to pursue his dreams of being a chef. And his Japanese/Indian immigrant family was…fine with it? Dylan, count your blessings. You don’t know how lucky you are. 

Finally, we get another adorable childhood photo, this time of little Christiaan in a chef’s hat. We meet Christiaan’s partner and learn that Christiaan’s major obstacle is his anxiety. Relatable, honestly. The family cutaways are all very cute, especially when you contrast the calm environment of the bakers’ homes with the absolute chaos in the tent.

Georgie’s raspberry scones don’t have a good rise and she chooses to remake them. Dylan’s savory scones have also risen weirdly and he’s remaking them, too. While Georgie is able to plow on despite the setback, Dylan immediately becomes grouchy. He needs Christiaan’s help to finish and all he can say is “they look a mess.” And we get our final Dylan Depression Moment.

Onto judging! Christiaan, who was the only baker who sailed smoothly through the challenge, receives high praise for his scones, even though his curry scone is a tiny bit doughy. Georgie’s scones don’t look as good. Her savory scones are tough but taste good, while her sweet scones have a good texture but a little brand. Paul deems them “decent but not quite polished enough.” Dylan’s scones are really messy, and Dylan himself is very sad. His savory scones taste good, but his sweet scones are tough and the strawberry flavor isn’t strong enough. Turns out you cannot improve a strawberry by soaking it in rice vinegar. Who knew?

Dylan and Georgie’s different personalities are on full display in their interviews after the challenge. Dylan is incredibly angry with himself, while Georgie just shrugs it off. Christiaan, the clear frontrunner after one challenge, is cheery.

Onto the technical! The challenge is an afternoon tea display (without the scones, because the bakers just made them). It features four lemon sandwich cakes, four strawberry tarts, and four plaited egg and cress rolls. This tests a wide range of techniques, but making the bakers multitask like this in a final is evil.

Sensibly, all the bakers start with bread, which needs time to rise. The next logical course of action is to make the tart pastry, since it needs time to chill. Christiaan and Georgie do just that, but Dylan decides to go rogue and makes his sponge first. No, Dylan! Think for a moment! Improvising in the final technical is what made Richard fall apart. Alas, Dylan ignores my sensible advice. And the problems don’t stop there. Georgie and Christiaan make eight tiny sponges, but Dylan chooses to make four that he’ll halve later. This means that they’ll take longer to bake and cool, and precision will be difficult.

Dylan also manages to add too much baking powder to his sponges, and he has to remake them. “Everything is going wrong,” he moans. Allison rushes over to comfort him. “I don’t like seeing my Dylan low,” she says. Allison, I love you, but you know as well as I do – “low” is kind of Dylan’s default state.

Dylan can’t seem to catch a break, and his rushed tart pastry starts tearing as he tries to roll it out. He’s not alone in having problems, as Georgie overbakes her tart cases. Once again, only Christiaan seems to be happy. Georgie pushes through, but this technical very nearly reduces Dylan to tears. At this point, his “doing a Richard” crown can be officially awarded.

In judging, Christiaan executed everything close to perfectly. Georgie did okay, but her tarts are quite overbaked and her sponges are a little overbaked. And Dylan has executed pretty much nothing well, and his whole technical is deemed “not good.” Unsurprisingly, Dylan is in third, Georgie is in second, and Christiaan is in first, finally giving him his technical challenge win. 

Going into the showstopper, Christiaan is clearly ahead, followed by Georgie, with Dylan a distant third. The judges explain that the showstopper will be all about dealing with problems in a level-headed manner, which does not bode well for Dylan.

The showstopper challenge is a three-tiered hanging cake. Essentially, those suspended upside-down wedding cakes that trend on Pinterest every so often. It’s giving shades of the notorious biscuit chandelier from 2018 and I don’t like it. 

“If I was a baker, I would be absolutely terrified,” says Prue, cackling gleefully. You know, Prue, once upon a time, “Bake Off” asked for a normal wedding cake as a final showstopper. You could have done that. You totally could have done that. But no, the bakers must stress about hanging their beautiful cakes upside-down along with everything else.

Georgie has decided to use classic British summer flavors: strawberry, champagne, lemon, and elderflower. Yum. I am all over this. Christiaan is also using strawberry and lemon, but he’s pairing those classic flavors with thyme and elderflower. I can kind of see the logic behind adding thyme. But licorice? Really? Have we learned nothing from 2015 Sandy’s licorice crème brûlées? But take everything I say with a grain of salt – I personally despise licorice.

Dylan, true to form, is going for something very ambitious – three tiers of génoise sponge inspired by Murano Italy, with blown sugar decoration (as a nod to Murano blown glass). Now, génoise is a horrific sponge choice for a cake like this – it’s soft and fragile, and you need something structurally sound. Also, Dylan is once again pouring his sponge from a great height, like he did in the semifinal, and it’s something you should not do. This pops all the air bubbles in your batter and the sponge won’t rise properly. Shockingly, Dylan’s sponges don’t rise properly, and it’s filled with flour pockets. He doesn’t have time to remake his largest one, but does remake the small ones. As always, he struggles to deal with the setback. While Christiaan and Georgie happily zoom along, Dylan is having a minor breakdown.

Then, Noel calls me out and reads me like a book. He holds up a little tin of piping nozzles to the camera and shouts “piping nozzles!” I pause the episode to ooh and ahh at the beautiful nozzles – literally every shape you could possibly want. I go back to watching, and Noel immediately says “all the baking people at home are like ‘oooh!’” It’s me. I’m baking people.

Then we get the anxiety-inducing footage of the bakers trying to hang their cakes. Mercifully, none suffer any collapses. Dylan acknowledges he’s too far behind to make his blown sugar decoration. Christiaan struggles for a while, but finally gets his cake hung (that sounds weird). And Georgie is doing really well, happily adding the final touches to her gorgeous cake. At the end of the challenge, you can hear the whole crew cheering for the bakers, which is lovely. 

And now, the final judging of the series. Dylan’s cake is said to be “quite abstract,” which feels like a polite way of saying “ugly and unfinished.” His flavors aren’t strong enough, his bottom sponge is dense, and his layers are uneven. It’s clear Dylan won’t win, but, finally, he seems at peace with that. Georgie’s cake, meanwhile, is absolutely gorgeous. It’s feminine, summery, and everything you could want in a final showstopper. Her sponges are baked perfectly and her flavors are amazing. Georgie came into showstopper day in second, but this cake has put her in serious contention for the win. Christiaan’s showstopper looks very cool, but his sponges are slightly overbaked and his flavors are a little too strong.

As the bakers walk out of the tent to a big cheer and join their family and friends, Paul and Prue deliberate. They try to act like Dylan is still in contention, but it’s clear that the decision will come down to a close call between Christiaan and Georgie. The big question is whether Georgie has done enough to overcome Christiaan’s sizable lead coming into today.

On a side note, the cutaways to the eliminated bakers are about 90% Nelly. AS THEY SHOULD BE. In an alternate, better universe, Nelly won this series (along with another powerful woman winning something here in the US. Just saying). 

And then, the hosts and judges march out with their flower bouquets and the iconic glass cake plate to announce the winner of Season 15. And the winner is…Georgie!

Did you see this coming back in episode one? Because I didn’t.

Still, Georgie’s showstopper was truly phenomenal, and she’s a worthy winner. Paul reminds her she promised to roll down the hill if she won and she does so, laughing all the way down. The episode ends with updates on what the bakers got up to after filming “Bake Off” – Sumayah’s headed off to university, the bakers had a big reunion party, Nelly and Andy went on a trip to the seaside together with their families (can I join the next one?), and Dylan landed a job in a Michelin star restaurant. Well Dylan, you might have “done a Richard”, but you’re on track to making your dreams come true. I hope to see you on Great British Menu in a few years time. And of course, a big congratulations to Georgie.

Well, that brings us to the end of another season of “Bake Off”, and another ten weeks of recapping. I hope you’ve enjoyed these recaps as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. And what will next season bring? Well, join me next year to find out.