To hope ruby leaves tonight...

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And that Mel slaps her?

Feel a bit sorry for ruby, I think PH makes her feel uncomfortable, and she's not sure how to deal with it, hence the reason for non eye contact last night

You brutes! Quite apart from anything else, I think people are forgetting how good Ruby has been for a lot of the series (admittedly apart from last night, when her stuff was pretty poor, and she was saved only by Becca's being worse...) She's won star baker something like three times, which isn't nothing. Whatever you might think of her Moaning Myrtle tendencies.

I liked Becca's ill-concealed competitive streak and sense of humour, and I like Frances's slight air of otherworldliness, and I'm rather fond of Ruby's slightly whiny Pre-Raphaelite presence. I liked Christine's steely glint whenever Mary Berry hove into view. My favourites were Glenn and Howard. The one person I cannot warm to at all is the undoubtedly talented Kimberly. Generally, I am all in favour of secure, confident, competent women, but what we are being shown of Kimberly does make her look terribly, terribly pleased with herself. I can only assume the editor hates her, otherwise there wouldn't be SO MANY SHOTS OF HER APPLAUDING HER OWN CAKES and commenting on how well something has turned out.

I hope Howard wins!

Good grief, what a bitchy thread. What has Ruby done to any of you? It's hardly her fault that she's young and pretty. She must be extremely talented to have got through even to final 13 at her age, given the very wide range of skills you need to be able to demonstrate, and it's hardly unreasonable for her to be stressed and to doubt herself. But the point is that she consistently demonstrates her ability to produce cakes that taste really good, and that's what the competition is about.

I was actually thinking what a nice-looking bunch of women, in their different ways, the final four were.

Did anyone else think Ruby (who I think is very striking) looked suddenly tanned last night? I was wondering whether she was so all over the place because she'd been abroad on holiday, but maybe just a sunny period in the UK...?

It's actually very hard to judge from home since taste is so important. Ruby's bakes may taste like ambrosia, for all we know.

I do think they are hoping for another John Waite, a student, who was studying for finals (in John's case Law!) and has now become a professional baker and cookbook writer.

So gutted for Becca :( she had a lot of good bakes and shouldve gone through to the final.

I really want to smack the frown off Ruby's face.

I loved it last week when mel and sue said 'yay you said something positive!' To ruby

I find it sad that so many women are bitching about Kimberley being confident. Women should be confident. They shouldn't be putting themselves down in order to seek approval.

^ Agree. I love that about Kimberly. Definitely want her to win now Becca'a out. She's very talented and seems really nice

I think Ruby's stuff could well taste like ambrosia, this episode they mentioned how good she is with flavours and how it was unusual for them to not like the sound of whatever she was making.

I did see Beca's leaving coming. They didn't like her macaroons with the cheese, she put too much ale in the rarebit for alcohol-hating-Paul, and her beetroot bun things were over baked and flavourless, whereas Ruby's only negative on the first task was that her choux buns weren't very domed cheers Paul.

I don't think you can really count the Charlotte Royale, they were all shit except Kimberley's. And no one's opera cake looked really pretty apart from Frances's, which also happened to be tasteless, so I think it's a bit cruel to chastise Ruby for some slide-y nuts when Becca's was filled with dry banana chips and artificial banana-y flavour. Bleurgh. Antibiotics anyone!?

Kimberley just looks relieved every time she gets positive comments. She's always talking about how much she practices and how relieved she is her practicing has paid off - I don't think she's smug at all. Frances looks like a wounded dog every time they say something negative and smug as heck every time they like it.

And anyone can own a leopard print scarf

HMPF.

I like Ruby and can relate to her under confidence in her baking. I've been repeating told my cakes are good but even so each time I dread someone eating them.

I've never picked up on Kimberly looking smug, was quite surprised to read it here. To me she just looks like a naturally smiley person and just looks relieved when she's got through.

Ruby is good with the flavours rather than presentation but she is irritating to watch with all her moping. Kimberley to win!

you know what i never understood about Ruby? How she can be comfortavle baking in a denim jacket all the time? it would do my head in!

i preferred becca but i think both of them could have equally won a place in the final, i think up until last night Ruby had a bit more flair than becca though- alot of her bakes seemed quite homely and not sophisticated.

NorthAnne, I agree with you. I dislike female learned behaviour in terms of compulsory self-deprecation, and I surround myself with other confident, determined women.

But I still don't care for the way Kimberly is being presented to us (obviously, having no idea what us really going on). I think perhaps her competence means there isn't much 'story' for the editors to work with, unlike say Ruby's messiness and winging it, and Frances' obsession with quirky concepts. Simple competence doesn't tell a story, so they seem to have decided to edit her doing a lot of self-clapping, remarking on how well something has turned out.

I think part of the problem may also be that she's almost too good at narrating what she's doing while she's doing it, unlike most of the others, who sound distracted or flustered. It can sound rather as though she's already got her own baking programme.

I've never picked up on Kimberly looking smug, was quite surprised to read it here. To me she just looks like a naturally smiley person and just looks relieved when she's got through.

That is how i see KImberly too not smug or whatever just relieved and happy ,

All those people saying Ruby is only 21. Um so were John and James last year (or about that, young anyway). They both of them comported themselves confidently and maturely through out. And it has nothing to do with her being a female and them male.

Whether she is playing a game, is really a wet fish or has been edited to appear this way in the lead up to a 'shock' win it is fucking annoying.

Last night she didn't crack a smile once and looked utterly miserable. And it was obvious that PH wanted Beca out from the start. She could have made the best thing in every challenge and he still would have shot her down. Okay she didn't have a great weekend, but she was not worse than Ruby and she didn't deserve to be ripped to shreds.

K, I think it's freezing in the tent a lot of the time, from what other competitors have said on blogs, and I think the producers try to make you wear the same thing for an entire episode to help with continuity...? Hence everyone wears the same outfit both days.

Ruby was terrible last night and she's too whiny for my liking. I thought her shed was a wonky mess last week but they praised the presentation - EH? And she topped it this week with her disaster of an opera cake and hilariously bad technical challenge. Her stuff must taste bloody good.

But Beca was the worst baker overall - there is no way the other three would have shoved a big slab of cheese in between macaroons like that. And when PH and MB pointed out it was a major issue, the others would have quickly whipped up a filling or at least melted the bloody cheese. And the banana essence and chips sounded grim.

The final will be interesting because that's when the story of each contestant is presented. Isn't that when we found out last year that John's family were awful to him so when he won no one minded even though Brendan was consistently way better?

I think in the final that looks as well as taste will count. Ruby can't do decoration, Frances isn't great at flavours, so it will look like Kimberly will win because she's good at both, then Frances will pull it out of the bag at the last minute with something unexpectedly delicious, like Ryan's Key Lime Pie and win.

Oh God, the wonky shed

that John's family were awful to him so when he won no one minded even though Brendan was consistently way better?

oh god yes his family were awful and really snooty about the whole thing I cried when brendan didnt win

Frances to win! There's something about Kimberley I just can't warm to and you'd have to worry how poor Ruby would handle it.

I loved Beca, but as soon as she said that her opera cake was going to have Banoffee flavours I knew she'd be going home. Bleurgh!