The Great British Baking Show is a soothing, must watch on Netflix.

There is a regal white tent out in the middle of the English countryside where the best of humanity spends its weekends. It’s a place where the people are kind, supportive, and creative. It’s a place that smells of sugar and spice and everything nice.

The Great British Baking Show is, by far, my favorite competitive food show, and it would also rank as one of my favorite shows, period. Recently, Netflix released a new season of the show, but it’s happening the old-fashioned way, one new show every Friday. No binging on sweet treats this time…

So what makes this show so wonderful?

First, the competitors on the show are unlike any group of people you will ever see. They are not competing for any money, but instead the prize at the end of this very long journey is a bouquet of flowers and a cake stand. That’s it. This final prize might be part of the reason the competitors are so incredibly kind to each other; the stakes are low. But maybe kindness courses through every single baker’s blood. Tears are shed at the elimination announcement each week. Oftentimes, the bakers will even help each other out when an extra set of hands is required, like putting the blades on a bread windmill or balancing the final cake at the top of a four cake tower. They’ll even share ingredients, and if competitors arrive at the same idea for a flavor combination, there is no whining, just maybe some good natured joking and depreciation that the other baker will probably do it better. They even cheer for each other, high fives and applause abound when someone get a good review from the judges.

Over the course of the show’s filming, the bakers return home each week. Yes, this show is filmed one week at a time. They are not holed-up for weeks on end, after two days, they go home, knowing what the next challenges will be. This means they are able to practice their skills. All while holding down steady jobs or going to school or running a household (or even some combinations of those things). That means the bakers who reach the final are competing for 11 weeks. I can barely manage my life when I have back-to-back busy weekends! It’s rather impressive.

As opposed to so many of the reality shows in the U.S, we are really not thrust into the lives of the bakers. We get a quick intro to where they live, what they do, and who is in their family. There are no clever chyrons, in fact, there are no chyrons at all. So it takes a bit of time to learn the names of the bakers. We learn about them mainly through what they bake. They all bring some form of inspiration with them to the tent, whether it’s regional flavors, a grandmother’s old recipe, or a family favorite.

The predicability of the show is comforting; it consists of three different baking challenges each week that all focus on one specialty or skill (bread, biscuits, chocolate, cake, etc.). Two of the week’s challenges allow for practice at home, but the middle challenge is a “technical” where the two judges, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, alternate in choosing a challenging, often unknown, bake for the competitors to muddle through with limited instructions. Each technical bake is judged blind. The “showstopper” allows for a lot of the folks to show off their insane imaginations and creativity.

Like any good show, there needs to be a villain, and Paul Hollywood, the silver haired, barrel-chested, baron of bread, is an excellent foil to all the revelry. He challenges contestants on their thinking, planting seeds of doubt (especially during bread week). He’ll prowl around the tent, hands shoved into pockets, seeking out missteps in order to hand out a fatherly, “I told you so…” Prue and the hosts, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding, all balance out Paul’s energy with jokes and ribbing, mostly at Paul’s expense.

The thing about Paul, though, is that the bakers all crave his approval. It’s like the tough teacher in school, praise from them means a whole lot more than praise from a teacher that doles it out all the time. Paul’s handshake is the ultimate stamp of approval, and if you get it during bread week, well then you might as well be knighted.

The goodness that reverberates through the show is soothing. There is no loud music or harsh cuts back and forth that leave the heart racing. It’s an hour of television that transports you away from the hustle and bustle (you know impeachments and stuff…), teaches you a little bit about baking, and shows you that, yes, there are good people out there, and they love to bake.