TV

James McAvoy’s Guest Appearence On ‘The Great British Bake Off’ Is All I Think About

Why can't all men be James McAvoy on Great British Bake Off?

by Merryana Salem  24 March 2021
james-mcavoy

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On the 18th of March, 2021, a cosmic force in the universe read my diary and James McAvoy guest-starred on The Great British Bake Off.

The Great British Bake Off is currently running its Great Celebrity Bake Off series in collaboration with Stand Up To Cancer. The series invites celebrities into the Bake Off Tent to raise money for the Stand Up To Cancer organisation.

In the 2nd episode of the series 4th season, James McAvoy baked alongside Olympic medalist Kelly Holmes, pop star Anne-Marie, and TV host David Baddiel. The four competed for the elite title of Star Baker, baking furiously through a menu of challenges that included decorative tarts, savoury scones, and animal-themed cakes.

It was a glorious 52 minutes of celebrities making non-descript anxious noises, meme-worthy cutaways, and feeling hungry. The first challenge saw my dream husband, James McAvoy swear at pastry in a tart-baking challenge. McAvoy made a raspberry and lemon tart that he’d eaten when he was, quote, “making X-Men: One Of Them.”

During the sequence McAvoy also repeated the phrase, “it feels a bit wet,” over and over, hoping the production team would give him hints about his pastry. They did not, but I almost passed out.

After winning for his tart, Mr McAvoy also wowed the judges and my ovaries by making near-perfect parmesan scones. It was a bind-judged technical challenge. I am a scone-hater, but if James Mcavoy served me some, I would say thank you (but still not eat them, sorry).

The final challenge involved the contestants having to bake a marble cake in the shape of an animal that represents them. James McAvoy modelled his cake off a snow-leopard, a nod to his character’s daemon in His Dark Materials. It’s a little complicated to explain, but in the His Dark Materials series, everyone’s soul manifests in an animal form called a daemon.

McAvoy’s daemon in the show is a snow-leopard called Stelmaria. While McAvoy’s cake version of his beloved daemon was a hot mess, it was apparently a very tasty skilled hot mess. Talk about understanding the challenge.

To everyone’s pleasant surprise, James McAvoy won the title of Star Baker for the episode, and yet another piece of my heart. The episode is sadly unavailable in Australia, but delicious morsels of Mr McAvoy being an adorable menace can be viewed via GBBO’s Twitter.

Merryana Salem (she/they) is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out their podcast, GayV Club where they gush about LGBT rep in media. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.