WHEN Channel 4 took over the hit show The Great British Bake Off, they had the tough job of appeasing outraged viewers who were convinced they were going to 'ruin' it.

Luckily they proved everyone wrong by keeping the bulk of the shows winning formula the same, along with the innuendos, but mostly the kindness.

However this year the show seems to be derailing into something a lot more unsavoury (pun intended).

A fascist new regime has taken over and bakers are being made to sweat twice as hard with unnecessarily brutal comments and impossible technical challenges.

The ridiculously hard tasks and weird weekly themes have made it seem like producers are trying too hard to think of new ideas to ramp things up.

In the process they are transforming this previously charming and innocent show into one of the overly dramatic shows that Bake Off was always a push back against.

The series has seen Paul Hollywood describe one of contestant Priya's bakes as 'horrible'. Last week he walked out of the tent saying “they’re awful, they are really bad,” and on several occasions we have seen contestant Michael, 26 have what looks like a nervous breakdown when trying to tackle one of the new obscure technical challenges. The bakers have had to follow cryptic recipes for bakes they have never even heard of such as 'maids of honour', which are apparently a curd tart that has not been popular since the days of Henry VIII.

Elsewhere on television, shows are playing on peoples insecurities with psychological tactics and control.

Bake Off was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be a haven for people who didn't want to watch people crying and shouting at each other to escape to. It was nice people being nice to each other and making cakes.

Of course it is a competition but it is supposed to be a celebration of ordinary British people's love for baking.

None of these bakers are professionals. They are normal, everyday people with normal jobs and that is what makes the show work.

It is sad to see the negative sides of the conventionally cruel reality TV brands penetrating the one show that was standing tall above all the rest.