Alison Hammond Saves ‘The Great British Baking Show’ “Bread Week” from Being “Dread Week”

Alison Hammond continues to be a source of light and love in The Great British Baking Show tent this week. The British television presenter has only been a co-host of the Netflix hit for three weeks and she’s already proved she knows how to balance comedy and compassion. Whether she was taking a literal hit from sweet Saku Chandrasekara with a laugh or calming Cristy Sharp down by emphasizing that Paul Hollywood‘s cruel question wasn’t actually a school exam she had to nail, Alison ensured that “Bread Week” wasn’t “Dread Week” for the bakers. Alison Hammond continues to be a wonderful addition to The Great British Baking Show on Netflix and we can’t imagine how poorly “Bread Week” could have gone without her…

The whole point of The Great British Baking Show is to challenge home bakers, but no episode quite pushes the contestants to their limits like “Bread Week” does. Bread baking is a whole art in and of itself, and not everyone who can bake a mean cake can nail the precise science of baking a perfect loaf of bread. No one knows this as well as Great British Baking Show judge Paul Hollywood, who is world famous for his bread. Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are always tough on the bakers, but Paul is especially hard to impress during “Bread Week.” And all the bakers knew it.

The nerves were palpable as this year’s crop of bakers entered the tent for The Great British Baking Show “Bread Week” and Paul did nothing to allay the tension. As Paul, Prue, and co-hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond made their initial rounds, checking in on what each baker was planning for their Signature cottage loaf, Paul asked Cristy Sharp a technical question about her bread. “Do you think it hinders the growth of the dough at all if you add too much flavor?”

Cristy immediately looked like a deer in headlights, terrified of saying the wrong thing to the bread maestro. “Yeah, erm, no? I don’t know.”

While past presenters might have teased Cristy for her long pause, Alison came to her rescue. “It’s not a test!” Alison said, grabbing Cristy’s hands and immediately defusing the tension. As Paul and Prue took this as their cue to move on, Alison reminded Cristy that she’s baked this loaf before, leaving her feeling more confident.

This was Alison’s vibe throughout the episode. When she saw bakers struggling, she swooped in to calm them down. If Alison noticed that the bakers were anxiously struggling to distract themselves while their dough was proving, she’d provide the distraction with a dance or impromptu cricket game. And if, say, Saku accidentally threw the cricket “ball” right at Alison’s leg by accident, Alison laughed off the injury with style.

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Throughout this week’s episode, people — including Alison — wondered aloud if they were participating in “Dread Week,” not “Bread Week.” Besides the fact that the bakers were consumed with jitters, Paul and Prue were left less than impressed with the bakers’ bread as a whole. I’d argue that the one thing that kept the whole of “Bread Week” from teetering into depressing disaster was Alison Hammond. She not only lightens the mood of the tent, but inspires co-host Noel Fielding to meet her at her effervescent level.

It’s still too early to know if this season of The Great British Baking Show has what it takes to win back fans put off by last year’s shenanigans. However, one thing is for sure: Alison Hammond was a great pick to replace Matt Lucas. She puts the bakers and their experience in the tent first and foremost, empathizing with them when they’re low and meeting their euphoria when they’re high. Alison Hammond is keeping The Great British Baking Show light, fun, and full of joy.