..to think that in the Bake Off semi final...

[SealSong]

There should be a better standard of baking. So much bad pastry!

I'm unimpressed.

I got bored and went on YouTube instead.

YANBU but it did inspire me to bake my first ever lemon drizzle cake which I believe is an MN right of passage, along with buying a nice scarf.

I think the bakers this series are dreadful. I haven't baked since I did Home Economics (HE) at school about 16 years ago and I'm pretty sure I could do better than them. After all for a lot of the bakes they get to practice at home. It's like sitting an exam when you are given the exam paper a few days beforehand! No excuse not to do well!

I really can't bear Candice. I think it's because she's basically just trying too hard to be "good telly" which misses the point of the charm of Bake Off. There's a ... dishonesty about her performance, "ooh I'm doing too much again ", compared with the others.

Selasi was pacing, Jane was all pink in the face from the heat - it was all real and honest and focused on the bake not the innuendo.

I can't focus on the baking as I am distracted by Mary Berry's hair.
That's some blow dry and set isn't it? Reminds me of Gary Oldman in Dracula.

I think I would like to see her lovely hair more natural and free flowing..

Urgh i find Jane unbearable. She just....wants it too much. But not in an endearing way. Almost like she doesn't really rate the others and can't fathom why on earth she wouldn't win.

I'd do bad, bad things to Selasi right enough...

Also - why do they pretend it's filmed over two days?! At the start of the show stopper it's all "good morning" and yet they're all in the same clothes! Have they always done that?! Just noticed it this year.

Shame about Selasi. I know he had to go but he was fun to watch.

It is filmed over two days. They have to wear the same clothes for continuity.

I like Andrew, is that his name, the guy with the red hair? He's the most real and likeable out of all of them I find. I'm not liking Candice at all - seems she's just in it to be on TV.

I'm surprised Selasi lasted so long, really - I don't think he has the technical skills. I missed Benjamina in this episode!

I'd like to see Jane win, but suspect either Candice or Andrew will clinch it

They splice bits from both days together. So if a baker really messes up but is too busy running around to get good footage, they might splice in a shot of them looking worried from the other day.

Yeah shame Benjamina went out, she had so much promise in the early rounds.

Fondant fancies are barely a technical and are in no way a fucking showstopper. Especially not for the semi fucking final.

I think Candice wins. It feels like we're being set up for the Candice-mania already. Lots of articles online about her lipstick, her parents pub blah blah blah and not so much about anyone else. Paul obviously favours her too. Disappointing series.

I'm sure they had fondant fancies as a technical in the final a few years back. No one did very well with them IIRC.

But yes - a display of fondant fancies is not the sort of thing that would stop a passerby in their tracks and have them staring in amazement.

I don't know Josephine, I thought Andrew's orchestra made a super display. He's not my favourite baker from this year's crop (oh Selasi :( )
but I did like his fancies last night :)

I don't think I've seen a real "showstopper" this series, I don't know whether that's the standard of the bakers or the way the show has been set up. Most of the bakes every week have had flaws.

Of all of them I think Selasi and Benjamina are the ones most likely to get a career out of this.

I agree with everyone else about the rubbish standards and timing issues. I'm sure that in one series they got to start their showstopper the night before (think it was a bread thing).

Andrew is great at setting up a display with all the fancy holders and shelves, but I think Candice and Benjamina were better bakers, I was rather sad when Benjamina went.

I could see any of them winning, but I think Candice is the only one that has a shot of taking that and getting a career out of it, I could see her as a new Jamie Oliver. And I do wish they were given the proper amount of time to actually make something as well as they can, and also that they gave them ovens and freezers that actually work properly! I was wishing this week that they were allowed to use the ovens of the people that had left.

I'm an Andrew fan - but I agree the standard has been pretty poor in contrast to previous years. And the themes have been ridiculous - Tudor week? Batter week? They haven't been given enough opportunity to exhibit 'normal' skills - hardly any pastry or bread. I'm glad this hasn't been such a good series in a way, as I won't mourn it going to C4 so much.

I don't think they are actually any worse bakers, but I think that the producers have given them ridiculously short time limits on things so that it's no longer possible to see how good they are. They even left in clips of Mary and Paul commenting on that this week Mary said that in the real world obviously you'd make the Genoese sponge the day before and having to bake it and cut it inside a few hours was going to make it very difficult and Paul said he wasn't going to stress about melting cream so it's got to be the perception of the judges too.

And to be fair, from the comments about how hot it was in the tent (Mary saying how it was good dough-proving weather, Sue having to wipe Selasi down, etc.) they were not good conditions for pastry-making.

They should give Benjamina and Selasi their own show; I'd watch that as enjoyed their interactions over the last few weeks.

Why are people so surprised about Selasi? He should have gone out way before this episode and Benjamina definitely should have outlasted him. It's a baking competition, not a personality competition.