Russell Brand was named the Star Baker in the first of this year’s celebrity specials of Great British Bake Off, after recreating a birth scene in biscuit form.
During the episode, each of this year’s famous contestants, which included Russell, comedian Jon Richardson, Paralympic athlete Hannah Cockroft and actor John Lithgow, were tasked with recreating their “greatest performance” through the medium of baking.
While his fellow contestants thought more in terms of his career, Russell – who has two daughters with his wife, Laura Gallacher, the youngest of whom was born in July last year – decided to pay tribute to parenthood.
He decided to make a miniature version of his wife in the throes of childbirth, complete with a birthing pool, a recreation of a vagina, a “confectionary placenta” and a figure of himself watching on.
Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith were both bowled over by Russell’s efforts, with the latter referring to it as a “celebration of womanhood Germaine Greer would have approved of”.
Paul added: “That biscuit was perfect. What he did was a bit of conceptual art. [It was] very clever, very brave and tasted amazing.”
A birthing scene is obviously a first for Bake Off, and viewers had a lot to say about it…
However, while it was Russell that impressed the judges, viewers were more won over by actor John Lithgow, charming everyone with his less-than-stellar attempt at making a swiss roll.
For his “greatest performance” challenge, he opted to make a scene from The Crown, in which he stars as Winston Churchill, but that didn’t quite go to plan either…
Celebrity Bake Off returns next week on Channel 4 with a new group of famous competitors.
Michelle Keegan is among those taking part, going up against comedian James Acaster, actor Russell Tovey and TV personality Rylan Clark-Neal.