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AIBU?

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Original poster

To hope ruby leaves tonight...

502 replies

Chippednailvarnish · 15/10/2013 20:31

And that Mel slaps her?

OP posts:
mortuusUrsus · 22/10/2013 22:23

BULLSHIT.

kali110 · 22/10/2013 22:53

All through the series its been substance over looks yet tonight, grrr.

valiumredhead · 22/10/2013 23:25

Hooray, good result!Smile

Fakebook · 23/10/2013 00:08

Grin!! Flipping hell, I wish I'd wished for a million pounds now when I wished for Frances to win. She deserves it.

Howsuper · 23/10/2013 00:43

Frances was my fave from the start, wish I'd put a wee bet on her. Well done that lovely, funny, self-effacing, creative woman.

And well done to the other two talented and interesting young women (despite some of the shameful crap written about Ruby on this thread).

valiumredhead · 23/10/2013 08:23

Frances was just on radio 2!

chocoluvva · 23/10/2013 09:24

Howsuper some of the shameful crap written about Ruby on this thread

I have found Ruby very irritating, though I'm sure she is a nice person - she seems very gentle. I find her sulky faces and head permanently on one side and her many comments reminiscent of a teenager doing the, 'I can't believe I got an A for my essay. I did noooo studying for it'. And the 'I have such a hard time of it compared to everyone else'. She did a degree in ART HISTORY and Philosophy in London. She's not from a deprived background.

Obviously, her apparent immaturity doesn't make her a terrible person, but I still find it unbelievably tiresome. I'm annoyed at the strength of my impatience with someone on a televised competition! Maybe it's because I have two teenagers of my own, so I don't wan't to have to try to overlook teenage dramatics when I'm watching a televised bakery competition.

Also though, part of the enjoyment of GBBO is the lack of tooth and nail competitiveness (obviously some of the contestants are competitive, but it's not a feature of the programme). And the presenters add to the pleasant, low-key focus. Also, the actual baking is lovely to see and interesting to learn about. Ruby's manner kind of lets the side down IYSWIM.

HeadsDownThumbsUp · 23/10/2013 10:31

She did a degree in ART HISTORY and Philosophy in London. She's not from a deprived background.

Sorry, but how do you know what someone's background is like just from the degree they studied? Ok, statistically speaking but there are lots of people from perfectly normal backgrounds who study subjects like Art History and Philosophy. Attitudes like this imply that arts and humanities ought not to be for the likes of them.

chocoluvva · 23/10/2013 10:56

I should have said, it's unlikely that she's from a deprived background.

Sorry, that was a lazy post because photos and footage of her family home also give the impression that she's not from a deprived background but I didn't bother to put that in my post.

I would hate anyone to think I think arts and humanities should not be open to anyone from a deprived background, especially as I got a full grant to go to uni (I was entitled to free school meals, we couldn't afford to have a car, I rarely ever had new clothes) and I got a degree in philosophy. Not that I'm claiming to have had more difficult childhood than plenty of other people...

Realisitically though, my DD is about to audition for conservatoires (not quite the same as fine art, admittedly) and it's shocking to realise how few of the conservatoire students come from less well off homes. It's now so competitive that there must be less well off candidates who are disadvantaged by not being able to afford to take up the opportunities to play with youth orchestras, have private lessons, go to specialist schools, get their hands on good instruments etc. I find it quite depressing. We seem to be going backwards. Most of the young aspiring classical musicians we know have furthered their talents by paying for extra tuition in one from or another.

Sorry to rant.

mignonnette · 23/10/2013 11:44

That was a good rant Chocco and a good point.

ubik · 23/10/2013 13:37

Hehe

Art History is usually done by toffs - it's so they know how much their furniture is worth in case they need flog some to pay for a new roof on the country pile.

When I was at school I was supplied an instrument and private lessons at my comprehensive. We played for the area youth orchestra. Two of my peers are now full time musicians, one is the daughter of a single parent nurse.

My daughters have to 'audition' for lessons at their school which means that the children already in the music system will be the ones to benefit from lessons, not children starting from scratch. Venezuela this ain't.

Anyway - off at a tangent there. Am procrastinating over useless arts and humanities essay.

valiumredhead · 23/10/2013 13:45

My sister did art history, not a toff and was living in a caravan at the time.

Anyway, that's neither her nor there the point is Ruby was hugely annoying imo and that had nothing to do with how she looked and everything to do with her manner and how she was SO messy!

Last night her mum said if she got 98% she'd be fretting and worrying about how she could've done better. When she cried last night in the final it came across like she was crying because things hadn't gone her way. This may or may not have been true but that's how it came across.

There have been plenty of tears during GBBO but none that have provoked such a strong reaction in me as hers last night.

And while we are at it, why is it ok to criticise PH and not Ruby? Confused

Im glad it's over, I don't think I could take the stress of another week! Wink

ubik · 23/10/2013 14:48

Ach there's always one in a caravan Grin

I think the perception is that PH is in the game while Ruby is mere civilian and therefore should be afforded some measure of respect and generosity in spite of sulky face.

NoComet · 23/10/2013 14:55

Can we please STOP this NOW!

You are all behaving like the nastiest kind of play ground bullies.

Fucking shut up!

ubik · 23/10/2013 15:07

I think you might need to go for a lie down StarBallBunny

ithaka · 23/10/2013 15:33

When I was at University we called the History of Art lectures the 'OK Yah, 5 O'Clock Cocktail Party' Smile

I found Ruby annoying, but I did her admire her picnic loaf, it looked great & like it would taste delicious. But Frances baked the only showstopper that wasn't embarrassing to look at and deserved the win.

NoComet · 23/10/2013 15:58

Unfortunately I have DDs to taxi about the place tonight so lying down is not an option.

One of those DDs gets a lot of very nasty, bullying for being a bit quirky and a bit different.

The other has to be reminded that it isn't nice to stoop to bitchy comments.

Yes Ruby has put herself in the public eye and can expect a certain amount of stick. That's fair enough.

Where the line is for enough is enough I'm not sure, but Ian sure that once the misogamist women haters on Twitter etc. start it's time for us to stop.

ubik · 23/10/2013 16:10

TBH I was a pretty gauche at 21 and I didn't nearly win a cookery competition nor did I get a first class degree..

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 23/10/2013 16:17

Did you see Ruby's piece in the guardian today.. ..

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 23/10/2013 16:19

gu.com/p/3jmqe

Original poster
Chippednailvarnish · 23/10/2013 16:32

She's very good at generating publicity about herself...

OP posts:
CuChullain · 23/10/2013 16:37

I guess the haters have got to hate.

Amusing how people seem to have such an authorative insight on her character based on the heavily edited final broadcast of hundreds of hours of footage. The sly editing on any of these reality TV shows can create pretty much any number of 'scenarios' and portray contestants as either uttertw*ts or characters to sympathise with. Add a bit of dramatic or soft mood music and in no time you can have a pantomime villain or plucky underdog ripe for tabloid/twitter exploitation.

I remember a few years back Kiera Knightly becoming something of a hate figure for women for being ‘smug’, ‘annoying’ and ‘up herself’. As if most of her detractors had any fucking clue what she was like in person, instead forming an opinion based on the shite found in the glossy magazines. All I saw was a young, attractive, moderately talented actress becoming a success in Hollywood. Why all the bile?

ubik · 23/10/2013 16:39

Aw I like that piece. Good for Ruby.

TempusFuckit · 23/10/2013 16:46

I didn't like Ruby on the show. Partly the editing of course, but she did give them the material to show her being infuriatingly negative about everything she did.

I read the piece last night, and it completely changed my mind about her. But - she does say that she was deliberately "self-deprecating" because she thought women were not expected to be confident. Which could be interpreted as putting on a show in order to win, which is what was so annoying.

I hope if she's learnt anything, it's that trying to conform to what she thinks society (or bakery judges) expect of her is not a winning strategy.

bickie · 23/10/2013 16:51

It's a great piece. And I don't blame her for writing it. I must admit until I stumbled on the vitriol pouring out of MN about Ruby a couple of days ago I hadn't realised there was any problem with her. I thought she was brilliant and great role model for my 2 DD. I just assumed it was usual wine soaked bitter brigade that rule on here and nowhere else in their lives that couldn't stand her. What the fuck is wrong with her? The sad truth I am guessing is it is those who can't bear the thought of other women being pretty, talented, authentic, up for a competition ... anything different to themselves. Sad to see it was wider spread than just on here.

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