12 Times The Great British Bake Off Actually Got Dramatic

"The Great British Bake Off" isn't exactly known as high-drama programming. In fact, its wholesome vibes are what made it such a hit — but, it's not all camaraderie between contestants while squirrels scamper around outside the tent bathed in golden sunshine. We're about to look at some of the most dramatic moments from the series.

Although it's mostly a gentle watch, sometimes this quaint baking show gets tense. From bakes going awry to the occasional accusation of sabotage, there are times things aren't as pure as you might expect, given the show's reputation. And, yes, a big part of why we love GBBO is that it's soft and easy compared to some of the more intensely competitive cooking shows, where contestants talk about being the best and crushing their opponents. Still, a little drama can be fun at times.

Whether you're a devoted fan who's watched every season, or you're new enough to the show that the names Mel and Sue don't mean anything to you, it's time to get into the juicy details. Here are some of the most notable times when "The Great British Bake Off" actually got dramatic.

One of the most unforgettable "Great British Bake Off" injuries came in Season 3, when contestant John Whaite somehow managed to slice open his finger on a food processor. Not a knife, not a mandoline — a food processor. It happened during the showstopper challenge; first, audiences saw Whaite wearing a blue glove, saying he'd cut his finger. Then, things escalated — Whaite said he was feeling woozy and had to sit down. Blood was seen pouring out of his glove. It was bad enough that he had to seek medical attention and missed the rest of the challenge, despite his protestations.

What makes the moment even more dramatic is that Whaite wasn't just a background baker. He was a standout talent in that year's competition — and would eventually go on to win the whole thing. So when he was whisked away in the middle of the episode, viewers weren't just worried about the blood; they were genuinely concerned about whether this would cost him his spot in the tent.

Of course, because this is "Bake Off," the rest of the bakers responded with concern rather than opportunism. No one said "one less competitor" — they just hoped he was doing alright. In the end, nobody was eliminated that week. The judges thought it unfair, given Whaite's injury. He returned the next week, ready to roll, and went on to be that year's winner.

Arguably one of the most dramatic "Great British Bake Off" moments of all time involved Iain Watters and some ice cream. This drama unfolded in Season 5 during dessert week, when the bakers were tasked with making a showstopping baked Alaska. It was a hot day in the tent, and Watters was struggling to keep his ice cream set. Things only got worse when, according to Watters, fellow baker Diana Beard took his ice cream out of the freezer ... and left it out.

What happened next is the stuff of GBBO legend: faced with a melted mess and no time to recover, Watters calmly walked over to the bin and chucked the whole thing in. Then he presented an empty cake stand to the judges. It became such an iconic moment that it even has a name: bingate.

Fans were furious. It's the "Bake Off" moment that caused the most backlash. Some blamed Beard, accusing her of sabotage. However, the show denied this, saying the ice cream was only out of the freezer for less than a minute and wasn't the cause of the meltage. Others thought Watters overreacted and should've tried to salvage something. Whatever your stance, the drama was undeniable. Complaints flooded in. Beard even left the show shortly after — officially due to health reasons, but the drama didn't help.

Ruby Bhogal's cake collapse in Season 9 was one of those classic "Bake Off" moments when things actually got dramatic. It was vegan week and the bakers had been asked to create a tiered cake from plant-based ingredients for the showstopper. This meant it had to be sturdy enough to hold its shape.

Bhogal, always a strong contender, was doing well in the challenge — until the very end. The cakes were made and assembled and all the contestants stepped outside for a quick breather. But, while everyone was winding down from the day of baking, disaster struck. Bhogal's cake started to slip. One tier fell from the other and the whole thing collapsed. Host Noel Fielding had to go and break the awful news.

Of course, Bhogal was distraught at her bad luck. It would upset anyone to have their cake collapse. Even so, the judges praised the way it tasted, and fans admired the way she handled the setback. Things might not have gone to plan but she dealt with it gracefully. And, although her cake didn't reach the judges in one piece, she still managed to stay in the tent another week due to her great flavors.

You're quietly cooking, minding your own business. The last thing you expect to happen is for a glass jar to explode, sending shards flying everywhere. But that's exactly what happened to Rahul Mandal from Season 9 of "The Great British Bake Off." And in the final, no less.

It was the last challenge — the showstopper — in the grand finale, when things went from relatively calm (given the circumstances) to dramatic. Out of nowhere, a storage jar just exploded and the glass went everywhere, ruining what Mandal was working on. The explosion was likely due to the high temperatures in the tent. It was 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and presumably far hotter inside. But whatever the reason, this must have seemed like a nightmare given that he was trying to secure himself the top spot.

In a move that some found controversial, Mandal was given 15 minutes of extra time to make up for the disadvantage this put him at. Despite this setback, he ended up winning the challenge and being crowned Season 9's top baker.

In the tent, the biggest scandal is usually a soggy bottom or an underproofed dough. But "The Great British Bake Off" has still managed to deliver a few eyebrow-raising moments over the years. A prime example came courtesy of Sue Perkins, one half of hosting duo Mel and Sue, and some English muffins belonging to contestant Howard Middleton.

Perkins was doing her usual thing, talking to the contestants about their bakes. But when she leaned on a tea towel on the worktop, she didn't realize that some of Middleton's muffins were right underneath it. Her elbow went straight in and dented the muffins, in a classic "Bake Off" drama.

Middleton called upon that British restraint and handled it with good humor, even as his carefully risen bakes bore the marks of Perkins' accidental elbow intrusion. The incident sparked a ripple of mild chaos in the tent — not because anyone thought Perkins did it on purpose, but because it felt like the kind of tiny injustice that could sway the judges. After all, presentation matters, and a flattened muffin could mean the difference between star baker and being asked to leave.

Of course, in true GBBO fashion, there were no hard feelings. Perkins was mortified but owned up to the judges, who took that into consideration, realizing that Middleton's muffins would have remained undented if it wasn't for outside influence.

Sura Mitib was a contestant in Season 11 of "The Great British Bake Off." She might not have made it too far in the contest, getting knocked out in week four. However, she'll always be remembered for a nail-biting moment: when she knocked some of fellow contestant Dave Friday's cakes on the floor in the very first episode.

It all happened during the technical challenge when the bakers were told to make six mini pineapple upside-down cakes. As the bakers were lining up their cakes to be judged, Friday came up behind Mitib to put his bakes down as she was leaning over the table sorting hers out. As she stood up, she waved away a fly, but ended up waving her hand into Friday's cakes and knocking four of them on the floor. It's easy to make mistakes with pineapple upside-down cake, but you don't expect perfectly good cake to end up going flying.

In any other show, knocking another contestant's cake on the floor would have been seen as a serious act of sabotage and heated arguments would have ensued. But, because it's "Bake Off" it was accepted for what it was — an accident. And while it brought some drama to the proceedings, it certainly wasn't the end of the world. There were still two cakes for the judges to try and Friday ultimately made it to the final.

As if things weren't bad enough for poor Howard Middleton with the muffin incident, he also unwittingly became part of another drama. Deborah Manger was the perpetrator of what fans affectionately named "Custardgate."

It all unfolded during dessert week, when the bakers were tasked with creating a trifle for the signature challenge. Middleton had prepared a crème anglaise he was particularly proud of. However, in a moment of confusion, fellow contestant Deborah Manger accidentally used Middleton's custard in her own trifle, mistaking it for her own.

There was no high drama, with Middleton remaining calm, but it was still a tense incident in an otherwise chill show. The judges, recognizing the mix-up, decided to taste the custards separately from the trifles to ensure fairness. It turned out that the custard Middleton made was superior, while Manger had made a running custard that wasn't up to much.

The incident quickly gained traction on social media, with hashtags like #Custardgate and #PoorHoward trending as viewers expressed their sympathy. Manger was eliminated that week, but not due to the custard confusion. It was obviously just time for her "Bake Off" journey to come to an end.

You might be used to skilled bakers gracing your screen on "The Great British Bake Off." But, there's also the annual "Celebrity Bake Off" to raise money for cancer research — and this is much more of a mixed bag. While some celebs are relatively skilled in the kitchen, the same can't be said for all of them. Comedian James Acaster came onto the show having never baked before ... and left having had a full-on breakdown to the point where we're sure he hasn't baked since.

None of Acaster's bakes turned out right and his behaviour became more and more chaotic. After delivering a particularly poor flapjack to the judges, he uttered the immortal line: "Started making it, had a breakdown, bon appétit." So you can judge the vibes of the episode, even if you haven't seen it.

Acaster has since said that he was extremely jet lagged when he went on the show and felt the producers treated him unfairly. He absolutely hated the experience. So, it's not the most wholesome of "Bake Off" moments but it does give you a rare glimpse at true drama.

Sometimes, it's not sabotage or a collapsing showstopper that causes the drama — it's just plain bad luck. That was the case in Season 3, when contestant Danny Bryden had a proper "Bake Off" disaster: she dropped her puddings on the floor.

It was pudding week on the 2012 season of the show. If you're a GBBO regular, you probably already know that a U.K. pudding isn't like an American pudding, but just in case, here's the confusing British pudding course explained. Bryden was baking chocolate fondant puddings. All was going smoothly until she took them out of the oven, each sitting soundly in an individual mold. At which point, they slid off the baking tray they were sitting on, and half went straight on the floor, spilling their contents all over Bryden's sneakers.

You can only imagine the disappointment of making something you're proud of — in a televised challenge, no less — only to have it literally slip away before your eyes. Luckily, not all Bryden's puddings were ruined, so there was still something for the judges to taste, but they did remark on her having fewer than she should have.

You might have noticed that all the ingredients on "The Great British Bake Off" are stored in Mason jars. This is to avoid inadvertently advertising products to the nation. But it does leave more room for confusion — such as the time when John Whaite got the salt and sugar mixed up.

Whaite was baking rum babas as part of the technical challenge and all seemed to be going reasonably well — until the judging. As soon as Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry put the bake in their mouths and then promptly spat it out, you knew something was wrong. It turned out that Whaite had used salt instead of sugar ... and the results were inedible.

This was in the very first episode of the season, so you might have assumed he'd have been the first to go home. But his other great results that week made up for the mishap and Whaite went through to the next round. Ultimately, he ended up winning the season, so the judges were right to overlook this blip and pay attention to the bigger picture. After all, when all the ingredients are stored in identical jars, it's not hard to see how he made that mistake.

We all know by now, that everything in "The Great British Bake Off" should be made from scratch. Even notoriously hard items, like phyllo pastry, are made the long way in the tent. But contestant Enwezor Nzegwu didn't get the memo in Season 5. During biscuit week, when he was tasked with making a sculpture out of cookies, he made the rookie error of using store-bought fondant.

Okay, that admittedly doesn't sound all that dramatic on paper, but it's not the "Bake Off" way. All the other contestants who used fondant in the challenge had painstakingly made it by hand, but Nzegwu took a shortcut by using the ready-to-roll stuff, saving him time and effort. And the judges were not impressed. Mary Berry gave him a death stare that he probably still has nightmares about.

Sadly, this misstep is part of what cost Nzegwu the challenge. He was asked to leave the tent at the end of biscuit week, making him the second to be eliminated that year. It was a bad result for Nzegwu but set a precedent for future bakers on the show. Don't even try to bring in store-bought elements. If you haven't made it yourself, it's not going to fly.

Cakes are the foundation of baking. They're among the first things many people bake, but they can be tricky to absolutely perfect, which is why cake week always comes first on "The Great British Bake Off." But it was in this very first episode of Season 2 where Rob Billington had a dramatic accident.

He was just frosting his showstopper cake — a two tier creation coated in chocolate ganache — when disaster struck. We don't see the moment it happened on camera, but we do see the aftermath. Billington looked distraught, and his cake was face down on the floor.

But, in true "Bake Off" style, it was all hands on deck. Hosts Mel and Sue rushed over to help, and even Paul Hollywood got involved. Together, they managed to save the bottom tier of the cake, which hadn't hit the floor, and Billington had something to present to the judges. While he wasn't a frontrunner in episode one, he made it through and got all the way to episode five before his time in the tent was over.