Please help us understand WTF is going on in this new “Great British Bake Off” trailer

Channel 4 has been promising some major changes to The Great British Bake Off since buying it from the BBC. But the new trailer for Bake Off is really, really unexpected. It’s sort of like a surreal baking dream where all of the baked goods have faces, rising and falling in the oven while Paul McCartney’s “We All Stand Together” rings out. Did they put something funny in those croissants?

The A.V. Club called the trailer a stop-motion “horror show.” And it sort of is. Seriously, did anyone need to see baked goods vomiting their fillings? The Telegraph said, “Essentially, if Paul Hollywood had fallen down the rabbit hole rather than Alice, Wonderland would have looked like this.”

Yikes. Both outlets are not wrong.

The Great British Bake Off will likely be different now that it’s being produced by Channel 4.

But die-hard fans shouldn’t be too shocked. Maybe the new trailer was simply meant to show that just because there’s a new budget and a new channel, the show will remain just as good as it has always been — although there are more changes coming to the program.

After losing Mel and Sue as hosts, and Mary Berry as a judge, the show will bring on comedians Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig to host, along with restaurateur and food writer Prue Leith to act as Berry’s replacement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ7Jsd0yCLQ?feature=oembed

Channel 4’s creative officer, Jay Hunt, said of the changes:

"The Great British Bake Off will have a uniquely Channel 4 take when it airs this autumn. Paul and Prue have huge amounts of expertise and warmth. I’m looking forward to seeing them putting our great new bunch of amateur bakers through their paces. Sandi and Noel bring a fresh wit and quirkiness to the tent. It’s just the sort of innovative lineup audiences expect from Channel 4."

In addition to new hosts and a creepy, surreal trailer, Hunt has also said that the network plans to modernize the show a bit. Fans will just have to wait to see what that means.

Hopefully it won’t be too different from the GBBO we know and love. Part of the charm of the show was its super basic premise, sets, and cheesy jokes about bread. Fans don’t really want anything more than that. But who knows what the network has in store — it’s impossible to tell from the trailer, at least.