Perthshire contestant Michael Chakraverty has made it through to the next round of the Great British Bake Off despite a rocky performance during last night’s episode.
The Roaring Twenties challenge saw the Scone baker, theatre manager and fitness instructor lose his cool under intense pressure.
Paul and Prue praised how his cake looked but not how it tasted. Paul said: “You’ve got the colour but not flavour.”
Meanwhile, two contestants have hung up their aprons after being eliminated – Helena and Michelle.
The double-ditching came during the programme’s 1920s-themed week, which saw the remaining nine bakers tasked with creating custard pies in the signature challenge, beignet souffles in the technical and a prohibition-era tiered cake for the showstopper.
Helena, 41, made lemon and lavender custard pies for her first challenge, decorated with a monster from the lagoon reminiscent of films from the era.
Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith were impressed with her decoration but said the flavour was “a little bit soapy”.
Michelle, 36, baked blueberry and white chocolate creme brulee pies, which the judges claimed were lacking in flavour despite their neat appearance.
Helena then came first in the technical challenge for her beignet souffles – deep fried choux pastry donuts – while Michelle was seventh.
The showstopper challenge saw Helena’s vampire’s kiss raspberry vodka cake – inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula – described by Hollywood and Leith as being both “sinister and very pretty” for its appearance, but “bland” for its taste.
Leith said that Michelle’s pina colada-themed creation based on her sister’s wedding day was “interesting and quite pretty”, but that she “overthought it” and that there were too many concepts in the decoration.
Despite’s Helena’s strong result in the technical challenge, her overall performance in the episode was not deemed good enough, and she and Michelle were given their marching orders by presenter Sandi Toksvig.
The Great British Bake Off continues next Tuesday on Channel 4.
