The Return of Nice TV?

Leave it to the Brits to come up with a reality show featuring polite contestants.

In the United Kingdom, “The Great British Bake Off” is a well-mannered, low-key baking competition of passionate amateur bakers. In America, the show is called “The Great British Baking Show” and airs on PBS and Netflix.

The baking show stands in stark contrast to the competition cooking shows Americans are accustomed to, filled with adrenaline pumping music, intense side looks, quick edits, bleeped profanity and dramatic reveals.

In Britain, the show is wildly popular. And while contestants are polite, fans are quick to lash out on social media when they determine that one of the show’s perceived villains needs to be checked.

Baking Fanatics
In one “controversial” episode of the baking show, amateur contestant Diana Beard had taken her rival Iain Watters’ ice cream pudding out of the fridge. When he went to retrieve it, he discovered that it was melted and unusable. Beard responded sincerely, convincing Iain she hadn’t left it out for long. But the cameras showed another story.

Yet, instead of yelling at the elderly woman, Watters politely demurred, appearing defeated as he tossed his melted baked Alaska in the trash bin.

In contrast, fellow Brit and Hell’s Kitchen Chef Gordon Ramsay probably would have yelled expletives at Watters and told him to “get out” of his kitchen. But no, not on this baking show.

The judge in this case encouraged him to stay, but Watters seemed dejected. Without a fight or even a word, he left the scene. No drama, no tantrum.

Beard was not prepared for the wrath she would receive from the fans of the baking show when the episode aired.

British media obsessed over what Beard had done to Waters’ dessert. Adam Hills, a Channel 4 television host, deduced that the episode was proof that British people are far more upset about baking show controversies than ISIS.

“Forget everything else in Iraq, this is how you rile British people! Maybe jihadis should be posting videos of themselves holding a bowl of ice cream under the sun on a hot day. ‘We don’t get one million pounds, we let this go off.’ Or instead of beheading British journalists, just hand them an overly dry piece of carrot cake. British people would be mighty more incensed if adulterers were sconed to death.”

Staying Classy
The online abuse descended upon the elderly contestant, accusing her of “sabotage.” The intensity of the criticism got so intense, her rival (and “victim”) Watters jumped in to condemn the attacks on her.

“I feel bad for Diana because she’s had quite a mauling on Twitter and I don’t like all the nasty comments that have been directed towards her,” Iain told The Guardian.

The baking show’s contestants represent a breath of fresh air for reality television, and quite a contrast to American shows in continually being classy to each other whether on air or off air.

Reality vs. Reality TV
Washington, D.C., celebrity Chef Geoff Tracy doesn’t believe the high drama in the American reality TV kitchens could last very long.

“If kitchens were as crazy as they are portrayed, people would die from hypertension in a month. It is made-up drama, and I don’t think it is giving the business a very good image in some cases,” Tracy told LifeZette.

In comparison, his kitchens strikes a completely different tone in reality.

“My kitchens are amazingly quiet. Especially now with expediting management going from verbal to on computer screens. I think most kitchens now are very professional environments where people speak respectfully to one another under fairly intense conditions,” he said.

Heath Hall, co-founder of Pork Barrel BBQ and restaurant in Virginia, saw firsthand how reality television shows come together when he appeared on (and won) the cooking competition television show “American Grilled” and the ABC reality show “Shark Tank” (they got an investment from “shark” Barbara Corcoran).

“I think the biggest stress factors on these shows are time, time management and ingredients you’ve never worked with, and sometimes never heard of. For some, having the cameras in their face during the taping is a factor,” Hall told LifeZette.

He believes some reality cooking shows have become “pretty campy,” but his favorite shows include “Top Chef,” “Chopped” and “BBQ Pitmasters” because they “really test the contestants’ cooking ability.”

More Stressful: Baking or Cooking?
Baking and cooking both have stressful elements in the kitchen, but Tracy notes the deadline driven nature of cooking makes it “more stressful.”

“Cooking on a professional line is more stressful than professional baking because orders need to be completed under a very demanding deadline. Any delays are duly noted by the guests.  Professional baking has less demanding deadlines. That being said, it’s still a hard job,” Tracy said.

U.S. vs. U.K.
American reality cooking shows thrive on cat fights, aggression and backstabbing, while on British baking shows, villains are created by the fans, not producers and editors.

The baking show is not composed of ego-driven sous-chefs aiming to be the next celebrity chef like in “Top Chef,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Chopped.” It is a show all about a competition of amateur bakers and humble ordinary people, including grandparents, construction workers and students. In other words, it’s very “British.”

As “The Great British Baking Show” grows in popularity in the U.S., only time will tell whether Americans will fully embrace a well-mannered baking show or stick with their cooking shows stuffed with volcanic, high-strung wannabe celebrity chefs.