The new series of The Great British Sewing Bee sparked outrage amongst fans just minutes into the show.
Series 10 of the BBC programme kicked off on Tuesday (May 21), with fashion designers Patrick Grant and Esme Young returning as judges. Meanwhile, Kiell Smith-Bynoe is taking the reins as the show’s lead presenter after making his hosting debut in the 2023 Christmas special.
At the beginning of the episode, a number of sneak peeks were shown as viewers got a taste of what they could expect from the upcoming series. A number of outfits created by the contestants were shown, which infuriated viewers.
A second agreed: “Why are they showing highlights? I find this infuriating I don’t want to see what’s getting made weeks ahead. Let’s meet the contestants and just get on with it.” Another added: “Don’t need to watch now that I’ve seen all the outfits.”
While others were left with “nightmares” after meeting contestant Neil’s “sidekick”. During lockdown, Neil took part in online quizzes and came up with the idea to build a ventriloquist dummy to keep him company.
Kiell asked Neil about his mascot, Terry Pastry, who he brought along with him to the sewing bee. Afterwards, the presenter admitted their interaction had been “terrifying”. Viewers at home appeared to feel the same as one wrote online: “Oh no that ventriloquist dummy is so creepy.”
“That puppet is seriously scary,” agreed a second. Another said: “Terry is the thing of nightmares. Good luck sleeping tonight!” A fourth asked: “Where’s the trigger warning for the puppet @sewingbee?!”
Someone else agreed: “That dummy belongs in a horror movie.” Echoing this, a sixth declared: “That dummy is the stuff of nightmares.”
Each challenge in the first episode was a nod back to series one. For the contestants’ first challenge, they were tasked with creating an A-line denim skirt. In the transformation challenge, the stars were given a t-shirt and asked to reinvent it into something else.
Patrick explained: “In the very first sewing bee, we gave our sewers tops like these and asked them to alter the necklines. It is now the transformation challenge.
Their third and final task was the made-to-measure challenge and the contestants were told to make a casual day dress in five hours. Neil ended up being the first contestant eliminated from the series.