The most beloved baking show on TV just got more viewers than the Olympics in the UK

Jamie Squire/ Getty Images and BBC

Mary Berry beat Michael Phelps.

The beloved cookery writer and her costars on "The Great British Bake Off" pulled ahead of the BBC's coverage of the Rio Olympics.

The landmark baking competition increased its peak audience from 10.4 million to 11.2 million with the premiere of its seventh season Wednesday night, according to Deadline. The BBC reached only as high as 11.1 million viewers for its most-watched moments of the just-ended Rio Olympics.

It's not by a landslide, but it's still remarkable that an annual 10-week bake-off beat out the global sporting competition that only takes place every four years.

This isn't the first time "The Great British Bake Off's" viewership has outshined that of a sporting event's. The show's season-five finale had 1.4 million more viewers than the 2014 World Cup final match.

The seventh season of everyone's favorite baking show is already getting rave reviews. The Telegraph said "Bake Off" arrived "in the nick of time to haul the nation out of its post-Olympic slump."

The show airs in the US on PBS as "The Great British Baking Show," though there are delays for the US airings. The sixth season of "Bake Off" premiered overseas in August 2015 but didn't air in the US as season three of "The Great British Baking Show" until July 1 of this year. So it will take some time to see the season premiere that beat the Olympics.

Business Insider talked to "Bake Off" executive producer Richard McKerrow about why people are so obsessed with the show.

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