What in carnation? Another alternative spin on The Great British Bake Off has landed on Netflix – and this one is really putting the petal to the metal.

The Big Flower Fight sees eight pairs of professional and amateur gardeners and florists build unbe-leaf-ably mammoth plant sculptures.

Within a massive dome in the beautiful English countryside, they rose to the challenge and created everything from floral fashion, sea creatures and edible thrones. The Big Flower Fight contestants

The show is hosted comedians Natasia Demetriou and Vic Reeves and the contestants are judged by florist Kristen Griffith-Vanderyacht, who is flamboyant and fabulous with his snappy comments. Judge Kristen Griffith-Vanderyacht

We spoke to fan-favourites, Andrew and Ryan, about their experiences on the show…

Neither of you have previous experience working with flowers? Why were you chosen to compete in The Big Flower Fight ?

Ryan: Andrew and I don’t have experience in floristry and we are the epitome of amateurs on the show. With m time curating art exhibitions with fashion designers and artists, plus my queer Bollywood club night, Hungama. And we basically were asked to audition and we both have an affinity with stepping outside the box of our own careers.

Andrew: Definitely as we got on the show we realised we had everything, but the plant knowledge so it kind of was in a strong position. I make large scale photographic prints that basically to do with reconnection with nature, looking back into the ancient period. Andrew & Ryan

Do you think not being florists gave you an advantage?

A: Within the confines of the show and the way that we’ve worked together. We were able to construct a working method that was based purely on these living garden sculptures and without having those kind of constraints that training can often have on you. We were probably a little bit freer to be a little bit more experimental, which is what the judges noticed in the end. Andrew

Why do you think Attitude readers would enjoy the show?

R: It’s eccentric, flamboyant people on a show being creative with flowers and gardening. It appeals to everyone.

It has a GBBO wholesomeness to it, do you think that is appealing during these COVID-19 times? A: It is really powerful to see other people’s progress and I think everybody at the moment is finding some kind of creative outlet, so to go through a journey with them and the connection of the outdoors and just that little window into one of the most beautiful parts of the English countryside is very serendipitous at the moment. I thought them addressing your competitor Andi as a trans person right from the start and then not bringing it up again was a really nice way for Andi to represent the community without making it their whole persona. R: Allowing space for the trans community and the BAME community to participate within their field of work, whether it […]