Netflix Cut a Controversial Boris Johnson Sketch from the American Version of ‘The Great British Baking Show’

One of the only good things about life in 2020 is Netflix is serving up all-new episodes of The Great British Baking Show just days after the episodes premiere in the UK. No longer do we have to twiddle our fingers for months, or even years, to find out who gets to be star baker and which baker is our new cake-making crush. However, American audiences don’t always get the full Great British Bake-Off experience. Netflix seems to have cut out Matt Lucas‘s cold open lampooning British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from The Great British Baking Show‘s Collection 8 premiere.

The Great British Baking Show typically leads off with a groan-inducing sketch outside the tent, but this season kicked things off with something that felt more akin to Saturday Night Live, right down to the way it ended. New host Matt Lucas brought his sketch comedy chops to the forefront and delivered a fake news conference as Boris Johnson. Instead of commenting on the COVID-19 response, though, he riffed on baking in tents. A placard on his podium read, “STAY ALERT. PROTECT CAKE. SAVE LOAVES.”

However Americans would have no way of knowing that the new season of The Great British Baking Show opened this way unless they were obsessively stalking British Twitter for spoilers about all things GBBO. (What? I’m the only Yank who does that?) Netflix cut the whole sketch, opting instead to focus on the clip explaining the unique “Bake-Off Bubble” producers had created in order to film this season.

Interestingly, while the sketch in question was largely lauded by Brits, it was also a tad bit controversial. Yahoo reports that British programming watchdog group Ofcom “received 181 complaints about the episode, with most relating to Lucas’s sketch.” What’s so offensive? Well, for one thing, it’s poking fun at Johnson’s mishandling of a global pandemic that’s killed people. For another? The Great British Bake-Off premiere was pushed back 15 minutes this week so the real Boris Johnson could give a similar address to the United Kingdom. For context, Matt Lucas’s Boris Johnson impression is less a British analogue to Alec Baldwin’s Trump and more like their version of Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. It’s spot-on, scathing, and a long-time running bit for Lucas.

While you can’t watch the full sketch on YouTube, it is available on Twitter via the show’s official social media channel. Check it out for yourself and remember to save loaves.

Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix