Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

Great British Bake Off - Back 16th August

476 replies

turnitup · 08/08/2011 13:18

Yay Smile

I loved series 1

OP posts:
peachsmuggler · 04/10/2011 22:02

Oh I was really pleased for Jo in the end, you could see how much it meant to her, and not in a grasping, desperate to win Holly way.

Was sad for MaryAnn but she didn't have a good weekend.

That squirrel's nuts were hilarious!

polly, what was the audition like???

joshandjamie · 04/10/2011 22:24

anyone else cry when Jo's boys hugged her at the end? That they were proud of their mum who'd spent her life looking after them?

I wanted to slap myself but couldn't help it. I just pictured myself in 10 years and wished that was me

MaryAnnSingleton · 04/10/2011 22:25

yes,me too- think she deserved to win in the end, but still loved Mary Anne

TheDailyWail · 04/10/2011 22:33

I absolutely love Jo and I'm glad she won.

Aftereightsaremine · 04/10/2011 22:34

I'm still crying! Loved loved loved Jo right from the start - so happy for her, though do feel sorry for Mary-Anne.

pointydog · 04/10/2011 22:48

Bloody hell but that squirrell was unsettling

ppeatfruit · 05/10/2011 08:39

Yes me too DailywailJo grew and learned with the competition and was naturally self deprecating (i liked that maryanne was nice about her too).

IMO Jo knew exactly what to do with flavours where salty dog was concerned. Strange Mary B. is a lush! Grin

slartybartfast · 05/10/2011 08:42

i noticed the squirrels, um, private parts, t'was rather in your face wasnt it Grin

and i too jumped at the piping disaster.
so much that dh asked what was wrong.

i was sure maryann was going to win although i liked jo and was so pleased and tearful that she did win. it was a shame things didnt go well for maryann and as holly pointed out, they shoudl judge over the 8 weeks of cooking. but, perhaps they didnt.

good result Smile

toolly · 05/10/2011 10:15

Wasn't last years final more challenging though. Didn't they have to make sandwiches (baking their own bread natch) as well as sweet pastries? Pleased for Jo though I thought Mary Ann creations were amazing and I learnt a lot more from her.
Can't wait for the next series.

soverylucky · 05/10/2011 10:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jux · 05/10/2011 10:36

I didn't want her to win. I wanted M-A to win.

SallyDon · 05/10/2011 12:11

I wanted Mary Ann to win, hands like shovels but her cooking was real. Loved the series but now feeling unsettled by the whole 1950s perfect housewife thing. Just blogged about it for anyone who's interested.
www.sallydonovan.net/

GwendolineMaryLacey · 05/10/2011 12:26

I didn't want Jo to win either, nice enough woman but she was a bit flaky, not very consistent at all.

ppeatfruit · 05/10/2011 12:26

Jo deserved to win; she did play it safe but she was cleverer than she looked in that the flavours she used were best and IMO in cooking and eating it's the flavour that is the most important ingredient.

SallydonIt's just cooking; IMO you should be free to do what you want to do in life and if that means being a STAHM so be it. In the 1950s most women didn't have the option to work for money once they married etc. that was wrong but so is living in an economy that 'forces' men and women to work out of the home.esp. when they don't wish to.

Ephiny · 05/10/2011 12:56

I was pleased for Jo as well, and she certainly deserved it based on this week's efforts. Hard not to be happy for her as she seems so nice and unassuming.

It was a real shame Mary-Anne had such a bad week, everything just seemed to go wrong for her. I was a bit Shock at her melting chocolate in the microwave though, and vigorously beating the egg whites into the mixture instead of folding, even I know that's wrong! She was amazing throughout the series though, really interesting ideas and techniques, until yesterday I would have said she was the one to win.

pointydog · 05/10/2011 19:26

I just bought The Birthday Cake Book by the woman who made Middleton's wedding cake. And what did I find? Neapolitan sponge slices in a seaside theme section.

Nothing is original.

TwoIfBySea · 05/10/2011 20:20

Soverylucky, I didn't want her to win either. Should have been out weeks beforehand. Grump.

Pervy squirrel star of a disappointing final.

TwoIfBySea · 05/10/2011 20:20

Soverylucky, I didn't want her to win either. Should have been out weeks beforehand. Grump.

Pervy squirrel star of a disappointing final.

VikingBlood · 05/10/2011 21:59

Even the Daily Fail have published an article about the squirrel.

OldBroom · 06/10/2011 09:45

Now that it's all over (until next year), some observations:
BBC, if you take any notice of us at all, PUHLEEESE do not change the format. No celebrity bake-offs. No phone-in voting. Keep to exactly the same thing, except for different bakers.

What I really loved about the show (apart from SIlver Fox and Squirrel Nuts) was its assumption that life could still turn around the importance of having standards: politeness, good-humour, generosity, supportiveness, stiff-upper-lippedness, and modesty. That's why Holly is so awful. Thatcher's Child amidst lovely, warm women, all of whom I wish could be my aunties.

Yeah, Jo was a little bit 'I'm just an ickle housewife', but in the end it was either her or Mary-Anne.

And way back when, did anybody ever not want the young Adonis jim-Morrison-lookalike to just pull his trousers up? Yes, ladies, I know that many of you wanted to pull them down, but some one should tell the silly boy that he looks stupid with his jeans around his knees.

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 06/10/2011 10:12

I'm pleased for Jo but would have been happy if Mary Ann had won too but not Holly, over-achieving smug mare.

Re: squirrel. It wasn't so much 'Squirrel Nuts' as, well, 'Squirrel Full-Frontal Cock', no? I think the crew had had a series-long dare/bet on the most risque squirrel shot they could get into the final episode.

midnightexpress · 06/10/2011 10:19

I'm pleased she won - I think she's a good representation of what the show's about. She made really good progress as the series went on and definitely seemed to do the best job on the day. I thought it was interesting that the other contestants didn't seem to assume Holly was a shoo-in (or should that be choux-in?). I think she'd probably do better on something like masterchef, where presentation and fancypants ideas are more important.

LOL at the squirrel. DP and I both did a complete double take 'did that just happen?' while we were watching.

OldBroom · 06/10/2011 10:24

Me again. And another thing...

Might it be that Jo actually DOES write like that????I'm referring to her Sachertorte. After all, she's the one who thought the oven was on when she'd set it on 'defrost'. Perhaps the ickle housewife routine is genuine. Married at 17what did she do at school?!

OldBroom · 06/10/2011 10:42

I'm talking to myself today. Must get out more.

Maybe she's thick, but to do her credit she's brought up three wonderful sons. Those three boys talking about how proud they are of their mum ... what can I say with a lump in my throat? If I had a DD I'd want her to marry a boy like that ... not that cocktease Rob. I think he had it on with the Squirrel once he was booted out.

florenceuk · 06/10/2011 12:33

I find it hard to see why people disliked somebody who really wanted to win and worked hard at it. A peculiarly British attitude I think, and anti-achieving women.