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With creative challenges, witty hosts, and darling contestants, Season Eight of “ The Great British Baking Show” is shaping up to be an excellent escape from the chaos of the world. The return of the beloved series, coupled with the fact that the episodes will air weekly on Netflix in the US three days after their UK premiere, is one of the few headlines of 2020 that have inspired tears of joy rather than tears of frustration.

The pandemic has naturally caused significant changes in the competition’s format. Formerly, contestants would spend weekends on set and have the weekdays to return to their regular lives. This year, all 12 contestants have agreed to isolate from their loved ones in the first-ever “British Bake-Off Village.” Bakers, along with judges, hosts, and crew are spending the duration of the competition at an undisclosed hotel, and the process, which usually lasts 12 weeks, has been condensed into six. While the bakers do express their homesickness, the camaraderie is still immense, and the rapport between the contestants and judges is full of a warmth and hilarity quite uncommon for television during these turbulent times. Despite these changes, however, the structure of each episode is largely the same, making watching Season Eight feel like returning to an old friend.

Season Eight kicked off with Cake Week, and the challenges for this year’s bakers were as intense as ever. The signature challenge required the competitors to make a classic battenberg (a carefully crafted cake with geometric patterns and colorful marzipan), the technical portion asked for six pineapple upside-down cakes (deceptively tricky treats that require impeccable timing), and the showstopper round demanded celebrity cake busts made in only four hours (featuring dessert versions of Lupita Nyong'o, Freddie Mercury, and Charles Darwin). Per “The Great British Baking Show” standard, contestants shot for the stars with mixed results, leading judge Paul Hollywood to dish out advice of “say less, and then do more.”

With every task doled out by the judges, there was a talented, lovable crew of bakers ready to rise to the challenge. As the show revealed the contestant’s personalities through a variety of clips from both in and out of the tent, each baker quickly transformed into a hero worth cheering for by the end of the first episode. Early standouts include Peter, this week’s star baker, whose exquisite technique and warm compassion were obvious from just the first round. In Peter’s introduction, he talked about bringing the recipes he makes for his gluten-intolerant brother into the tent, encouraging audiences to root for Peter as he executed more technically challenging bakes, and making his wheat-free battenberg success all the more exciting.

Sura, often shown dashing to assist her fellow contestants, was a model of good character as well as good baking. Sura was also caught in an unfortunate mishap this week — during the technical, when she was swatting a bug away from the gingham altar of completed bakes, she accidentally knocked over a tray of treats belonging to fellow contestant Dave. With clips of the two discussing the incident, as well as confirmation from the hosts that the judges would only evaluate Dave on the cakes that stayed intact, it was clear that there was no blame nor any hard feelings between the two. Despite this, Sura felt so guilty that she couldn’t muster a smile even as she won the challenge. A bittersweet moment, this is the worst of the drama that the tent offers, and it makes one adore the contestants even more for their genuineness and vulnerability.

Unfortunately, viewers also had to say goodbye to their first baker this week. A fast favorite for her sense of humor and willingness to think outside the box, Loreia was sent home for a series of ambitious but flawed bakes. Despite her setbacks, Loreia’s openness about her mistakes and her enthusiasm for bringing her identity into her baking made it all the more devastating to see her go, and the sadness evoked by her elimination proves how effectively the show conveys the best of each contestant.

In addition to the new starry-eyed bakers, the season premiere welcomed another unfamiliar face to the tent. As former host Sandi Toksvig announced her departure from the show in January, actor-comedian Matt Lucas has joined the host team as Noel Fielding’s new partner in crime. Though one might worry about the time it could take Lucas to become completely integrated into the show, Lucas’s good-natured personality quickly curbed any anxieties. Lucas fits into the humor and whimsy of the show like a missing puzzle piece. His banter with Fielding and the contestants was delightful and sincere. A highlight of Lucas’s debut occured after the mishap between Sura and Dave: Lucas can be seen coaxing a smile from a sullen Sura, telling her that it was really his own fault, since he was looking at her when it happened and she must have been “hypnotized by his beauty.” The vibrant atmosphere of the tent is best described by judge Prue Leith, who laughingly laments that between Fielding, Lucas, and her co-judge Hollywood, “there’s not a grown-up among you!”

All in all, this season of “ The Great British Baking Show” is shaping up to be deeply wonderful. After one episode, this wholesome competition enraptures audiences to continue watching the bakers’ journeys unfold in the tent.