Exterminated: Rob's biscuit tower in the shape of a Dalek loses out to shortbread Bavarian Clock Tower. Jim Shelley reels from The Great British Bake Off

It was farewell to Rob Smart in the Great British Bake Off.
His biscuit tower in the Showstopper Challenge was a disaster, as he made the fatal error of presenting Mary Berry with a Dalek and not one blessed with any great flavour at that.

A tasteless affair then, Mary’s expression confirmed – in more ways than one.

Worst of all, Rob’s creation gave Sue Perkins the excuse to do her hilarious Dalek voice – or what she obviously thought was hilarious and a Dalek voice - several times.

Foiled: Rob tries to assassinate Mary Berry with a cocktail stick cunningly hidden inside the plunger of his Dalek cake

Rob's Dalek was commendably original and, um, metrosexual. But Lady Berry doesn’t strike you as someone likely to be a big Doctor Who fan so it was a risky choice.
As for eating it? ‘Not such a joy,’ she said with a smile that could chill the heart.

Rob’s biscuit tower was held together with ‘edible glue’ while he had placed a cocktail stick inside the Dalek’s, which would not only bring tears to any Dalek's eyes but could have been fatal for Mary if she had munched it down.

With assassination ideas like that, he should expect a call from the KGB any day.
Glenn meanwhile was hastily re-thinking his plans for a blancmange shaped like an Ood and a fondant fancy in the colours of Tom Baker's scarf. 

Exterminated: Rob's Dalek biscuit tower loses out on Great...

Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry safely detonate Rob's Dalek cake while Mel Giedroyc (right) looks on and Sue Perkins (annoying) amuses herself by doing another Dalek impression

Rob was evicted from the Great British Bake Off tent despite the fact that Frances’ tower (a haberdashery box complete with buttons) was more of a hapless pile than a tower, which, as Mary pointed out with her trademark gracious dismay, was 'the brief for the challenge.’

Mind you, it looked to me as if it was Mel Giedroyc who knocked Frances’ creation over as she measured it to check it was the required 30 centimetres, reassuring Frances ‘yup, you’re OK’ - just as it collapsed. Cheers for that Mel.

Bake Off judge Mary Berry chuckles at the memory of Rob's Dalek cake

Other Showstopper Challenges included Howard’s Japanese Pagoda Tea Tower, a Helter Skelter inspired by raspberry macaroons rather than Charles Manson, and the winner, Christine’s Bavarian Clock Tower, made of four flavours of shortbread that included orange & cardamom, chocolate and vanilla. Show off.

‘I think that’s stunning,’ beamed Mary. I think that’s potty.

‘It not only has to got to taste good and look good, it has to be structurally sound,’ Paul Hollywood had warned, although the first two sounded more like what I was looking for in a dessert.

Proving a stopped clock is right twice a day, Christine's Shortbread Bavarian Clock Tower. And trees

The rest of the show consisted of ‘the largest signature bake yet’ and ‘the thinnest technical challenge ever devised' - the evil swines.

The first of these concerned traybakes, which turned out to be things you baked. In a tray.
'The fact that it's simple...makes it extremely difficult,' an agonised Paul Hollywood explained.'Because when you're judging you have to even more critical.'
Strangely enough Mary seemed not to have this problem.
A brief history of the traybake covered the Quakers and Sue Perkins announcing: ‘believe it or not the name of this pink traybake is the Tottenham Cake’.

Anyone who goes to Greggs could have told her that.

The main function of the history section seems to be to make the baking more exciting.

‘We want some lovely surprises and wonderful finishes,’ said Mary, hopefully still talking about biscuits.

After the Jaffa Cake, the Jenga Cake. Sue Perkins (left) risks taking a piece

Fellow judge Paul Hollywood however was not in such a great mood.

For her traybakes, Frances had made Millionaire’s Banoffee Bonus and stacked them like Jenga.

‘I think overall it looks quite attractive,’ Hollywood said grudgingly.
Admittedly Glenn’s Apricot & Pistachio Tiffin made from layers of chocolate, pistachio, marshmallow and biscuit turned out as big, unappealing wodges of chocolate.

‘They look... grotesque,’ declared Hollywood, not mincing his words, let alone dicing them and coating them with icing sugar.
Glenn promptly went into a speech about what a hard week he'd had - marking 50 essays. Teachers eh ? How do they make it past 30 without dying of exhaustion, what with all the marking of essays and baking biscuits. Mary was more benign.
‘It tastes very good and you’ve shown us all sorts of skills,’ she said kindly.
As for the apricot, chocolate, and what she called ‘the pissed-arch-io’, ‘they taste absolutely lovely.’

Mary Berry (right) tries to persuade Paul Hollywood (grumpy) to be nice about her tuile. No, not that - biscuits in the shape of a roof tile

Round Two was tuiles.Trust the French to have a fancy biscuit named after a roof tile.

They wanted 18 – half in what they called 'the traditional manner' and piped with circles of chocolate, and half 'rolled up like cigars and dipped in chocolate.’
Whatever happened to 'you'll get what you're given and like it'?
‘This really is an exceedingly difficult challenge,’ Mary said, her version of Mr. Kipling.

‘We’re checking their piping skills. We’re checking their time management and their precision,’ preened Paul.

There were cooking challenges too.

The other contestants try not to smile as the judges ask: 'who was the idiot who made the blue Dalek cake?'

In the oven too long and contestants wouldn’t be able to roll the mix out. Not long enough and they wouldn’t get the requisite snap. Over-beaten, and the tuiles could shrink in the oven. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?)
Frances said hers were so thin they were the Alexa Chung of biscuits. Too thin and they could crack (like Alexa Chung).

Howard said his were ‘more like fag butts than cigars’ – giving them the hard sell.

Again, Hollywood proved hard to please.

‘It is quite stable. I don’t like the flavour of the biscuit. I don’t like the texture either,’ he said, which will probably be the last time Beca makes him a ‘Tiered Macaron & Sugar Dough Biscuit Centrepiece.’

By the way, did Beca mention her husband was in the army ?

Beca wonders if it's time to mention her husband's in the army again

Glenn had fashioned some cherry and hazelnut Shortbread and raspberry macaroons into a Helter Skelter – as you do.

‘It does look quite impressive,’ Paul shrugged, reluctantly.
It was hard to work out what would make him happy. Luckily Ruby was, um, on hand.
She was on particularly irritating form but Paul didn't seem to mind much.
‘I’ve never done traybakes. I don’t really do biscuits,’ she beamed. Me neither, but then I’m not on the Great British Bake Off.

I’m not certain but I think she might have been too busy revising for her Philosophy degree to do any preparation. She barely mentioned it, beyond the first few dozen times.
‘Don’t tell me you're going to wing it,’ he chided her, forgetting to add what he was clearly thinking (‘you little minx, you’).
As for making their own piping bag, Ruby mooched around, fluterring her eyelashes waiting for a man (Paul) to come and help her construct one.

Howard's Japanese Pagoda Tea Tower was not good enough to win although it tasted good (well of tea anyway) and looked incredible (well kind of)

Ruby's main tactic this week was not her baking but getting her excuses in early.

‘Clearly I’ve messed it up completely...’ she coyly told the judges (mostly Paul). ‘I’d like to apologise for my blackberry Bakewell. It’s messy and its under-baked. The pastry’s awful as well.’

Poor baby.

Mary tried to be stern with her.
‘You almost feel you want to pick it up and turn over,’ she suggested about Ruby’s creation for the ShowStopper Challenge, rather missing the point of her idea for a tower - ‘Dropped Ice Cream Cone.’

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby !: Ruby mesmerises Paul Hollywood with the old 'Look into my eyes, look in to my eyes' trick, although, frankly, he seems to be already in her thrall - or wishes he was

You sensed Paul didn’t even notice which way Ruby’s cone was pointing - or care.

‘They taste lovely, really good. Great flavours, great textures,’ he slavered, possibly speaking thoughts he was having privately out loud.

Earlier as he sampled her blackberry Bakewell, he told her: ‘You’ve got a bit of a soggy bottom there,’
Who? Ruby?!
It seemed to me unlikely but, the way this competition is going, anyone who wants to check is going to have to get past Paul Hollywood first.