Very good article. I remember Ruby’s season quite well, and yeah Frances was pretty intense.
Thanks so much for sharing, @CaitlinM. Irresistible read for me as a fan of the show.
Makes me want to renew … again. Is there a workaround to read without a 30 day trial?
I know! Libby! Doesn’t seem to include the weekend essay. 
It’s in my email!
Thanks for posting this. Just finished the article and realized that it made me feel as calm and relaxed as watching the show.
It also persuaded me to sign up for a digital subscription. I had my own New Yorker subscription starting in high school, but I stopped reading it during the Tina Brown years. It’s time to get back on the horse, so thanks for that. 
I really enjoy my subscription, and there’s a lot more online than in the magazine proper. (If you happen to be a crossword puzzle person, the NYer Red runs them on their website Monday–Friday.)
“No show does so much to hide its true nature: namely, that it is a competition people desperately want to win. This is the essential hypocrisy of “Bake Off,” and it remains the most British thing about it.”
I love this.
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I had previously heard the hosts sometimes started cussing so the producers would have to edit it out in order to allow contestants to avoid something making it to air, but libel is a fun twist.
Yes, the Sue Perkins detail is fab-- especially the pharmaceutical thing, which I didn’t know. (I did know about the swearing).
And you don’t need a subscription to do the puzzles.
Good to know! The Atlantic, Vox, and WaPo also offer their crosswords subscription-free.
