‘The Great British Baking Show’ Left the Bakers in Tears This Week: “You Just Think It’s Never Going to End”

There were tears aplenty on Netflix‘s The Great British Baking Show this week, as the four remaining bakers tried their best to impress Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith one last time before next week’s finale. Emotions typically run high during “Patisserie Week,” thanks to the pressure the bakers feel to not only get to the finals, but also to nail those fiddly French creations. However, this year, frustration, disappointment, and the sorrow of saying goodbye is what prompted all the bittersweet tears in the tent. This year’s Great British Baking Show semi-finals might be one of the most emotional ones ever.

**Spoilers for The Great British Baking Show “Patisserie Week,” now streaming on Netflix**

Going into this year’s The Great British Baking Show semi-finals, it was fairly obvious that 23-year-old medical student Jasmine Mitchell would swan her way into the finals. After all, she’s been the clear frontrunner all season, delighting Paul and Prue with her “neat as a pin,” yet classically-flavored, bakes. The question, then, was which one of the three remaining guys — Tom Arden, Toby Littlewood, and Aaron Mountford-Myles — would get to join her.

Tom, Toby, and Aaron had each won Star Baker once before, but all three of them had also been in danger of elimination during the season. Coincidentally, all three of them also found themselves in danger of going this week, too. First, Tom and Toby fumbled the Signature Challenge. Then, Toby and Aaron struggled in the Technical Challenge. Finally, Toby impressed Paul and Prue with his Showstopper, while both Tom and Aaron fell short. When it came time to this week’s deliberations, Paul and Prue were clear that Jasmine was the only baker who had matched the brief. She was Star Baker for a record-setting fifth time* and through to the finals. But who would go home?

After the Showstopper Challenge, I was pretty sure that Tom was in trouble. Throughout this week’s episode, Paul Hollywood was especially tough on Tom. Early on, Paul asked if he could see Tom’s fingernails. Why? “Because you’ve been hanging on by them for a while.” Tom gasped. I gasped. You, too, probably gasped! That’s the sort of read you expect on RuPaul’s Drag Race, not The Great British Baking Show! Then, during the all-important Showstopper Challenge, Paul straight up dragged Tom for making a massive chocolate beehive for what was meant to be a macaron challenge. “I can’t accept that,” Paul said. During his confessional, Tom cried about the judging, noting he felt “chopped down like a tree.”

Silly me assumed that Toby’s impressive Showstopper had given him the final edge, but in the end, the 29-year-old from Warwickshire got the boot. While he emotionally teared up reflecting on how the people he met on the show meant more to him than any Hollywood handshake or Star Baker honor ever could, both Jasmine and Tom cried over how much they were going to miss him.

“It just sucks that Toby is gone,” Jasmine said. “It’s sad that I don’t get to do the final with him.”

“Toby said this really sweet and sad thing in there which is like, you just never think it’s going to end,” Tom said.

To put a pin on how tenderly the remaining bakers all felt about each other, the show let us see the final polaroid the ground took together. Alison Hammond took the photo, which shows Noel Fielding standing arm in arm with Tom, Toby, Aaron, and Jasmine.

The Great British Baking Show also left us with an explanation for why Paul and Prue chose Toby to get the axe. Although his Showstopper was great, what became Toby’s literal “downfall” was his disastrous Technical bake. Even during his final confessional, he laughed that he couldn’t live down a melted créme mousseline. Paul confirmed that as soon as he and Prue remembered the sight of Toby’s melted framboisier, his fate was sealed.

There’s only one more episode left in the 2025 season of The Great British Baking Show. While it appears to be Jasmine’s cake stand to lose, she doesn’t have history on her side. Although she’s now tied with Richard Burr for the most Star Baker honors in a single season — a whopping five — Burr eventually lost his season of the show.

Nevertheless, what this week’s edition of The Great British Baking Show may have reminded us is that it’s not necessarily about who wins or loses in the tent. It’s about the friendships made and the days lightened by love and laughter.