GBBO

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Seeing as the first thread is almost full, I thought I'd start a new one

For good measure, here is Monkseal's blog for this week.

I think Sue did seem upset yes. Especially when discussing Frances in particular. Frances was very upset afterwards though. Someone else has said it on here but its really no surprise they all tasted crap, the ingredients sounded pretty awful. No way on this earth would I ever choose a cake that had beetroot in it! I'm with Miranda Hart on that one. Its a crime against nature!

Why wintera ? Carrot cake is nice; it's just something some of us aren't used to. Chocolate and beetroot cake is LOVELY!!!

I make really tasty cakes without butter,eggs or cream because I can't eat them oh also without wheat everyone likes them honest!!!

Frances' carrots should've been marzipan!!

Ooh has Paul been a rotter?

I must say I've not watched GBBO before this series. I quite enjoy it though. I find Ruby irritating in the same way I find anyone IRL who seem to need constant reassurance annoying.

Although her cake didn't look fab, by the comments it must have tasted the best.

All the contestants have more baking talent in the tip of their pinky than I'll ever have though my kids and I have great fun creating our disasters

Apart from talking too much in the judging I haven't noticed him being worse than normal

Ppeat - carrot cake is indeed lovely. Beetroot on the other hand is the devil and has no business being in a cake!

Carrot cake is disgusting. I'd rather eat the carrot.

Oh and Pooka, quoting someone isn't saying it yourself. I said despite her "having the right face for tv" (quoting someone else, not saying it myself) she is unpopular with a lot of the public. Meaning her looks are irrelevant - her personality is off-putting and therefore I don't think she will make a successful public career.

AnneEyth Ruby is young with low self esteem and very pretty (which can make it difficult to be viewed seriously). IMO she's being vilified unfairly I liked what she said about learning to cope with stress. Her baking is very good and that is what the programme is about isn't it?

But that isn't fact is it? That is your opinion on the situation.

She is not really that young. She is an age when many people on this forum have left home, married and had children. She's already had a bit of a career and has lived independently. We're not talking about a 12 year old here.

As for the low self esteem, well that is definitely up for debate. She has modelled, so can't be that shy, and has entered a very competitive public competition, where she knows she will be judged and discussed. That is hardly the act of someone who has low self esteem. In my opinion, which is equally as valid as yours, if she genuinely had low self esteem she would be sat at home watching on the tv.

The judging was pretty harsh last night and I did feel really sorry for Francis. They have hooked onto this "style over substance" thing with her and now mention it for every bake. They were saying to Ruby "Don't tell us it's rubbish before we taste it", but every time poor Francis goes up they say "I really hope this is not going to be style over substance!!!" Poor woman. And asking them to create a 3D cake (whatever the hell that means) made of vegetables, then criticising them for looking better than that taste, is a bit rough! In saying that, I did Ruby 's, purely for the fact that it looks very edible, the whole lot!

They were obviously all quite stressed out by last night's episode. Beca hadn't even managed to practice her showstopper.

Only the 2nd time I've watched it & enjoyed it again (esp now I've figured out who everyone is) but was surprised by:

PH seemed to be always in the middle in the judging bit (the bits at the individual baking stations iyswim) with MB on the edge and spoke the most & at length. I did wonder if it were the camera angle but I checked as it kept happening & it wasn't.

Cannot believe that the allotment cake won - it didn't look deliberately ramshackle, it looked badly finished.

Well we'll agree to differ Anne there are ways of being pleasanter we are all just voicing our opinions as I said BTW there's no need to be confrontational unless it turns you on of course.

I did mention that TGBBO is a BAKING show and that's a fact. I reckon her friends and family pushed her hard to go for it because of her baking.

Excuse me, I just pointed out that you were stating an opinion as fact. How is that unpleasant?

Goodness, I have no idea what your problem is. Disagreeing with someone isn't being confrontational.

Well it depends on how you do it IMHO

I have no idea if Ruby has low self esteem or not, I'm not quite sure myself but just because someone has low self esteem or a lack of confidence doesn't mean they wouldn't enter this type of competition at all. Sometimes people like that do things to test themselves so they are out of their comfort zone. I once did a singing course at my local college. There was a lady there who was very nervous who didn't particularly have a very good voice either. She had joined the class because it was her worst nightmare, singing in public, and she wanted to combat that fear.

Quite wintera but if one is already judging one's baking negatively before it's judged (which Ruby has done actually it's not in my imagination) The judges commented on the fact she does it too. It does lead to the conclusion that that person has low self confidence.

!!!CAKEFIGHT!!!

Seriously though - I feel really sorry for Frances. I try my hardest to draw my own conclusions beyond the editing and I think their critique of her is just lazy.

I liked Kimberly initially but now I find her way too self-assured. She reminds me of myself when I'm at my most viciously competitive yet trying desperately to conceal it. Not pretty.

Becca is the most consistent I think, and Ruby I can take or leave. I've accepted there's obviously some allure to her baking that isn't translating to the viewers. I agree with the poster upthread whose DH said she could make a dogturd ganache and Paul would find something to praise about it.

I miss Glenn

I don't know if Ruby lacks self-confidence, it appears to me that she simply has that very annoying habit of self-deprecation which is drummed into some people from a certain section of society, to the point where they literally twist themselves into knots in order to avoid seeming boastful or big-headed.

I know a few people like this and it really isn't a confidence thing, it's perceived as good manners. It drives me bonkers.

Out of all the others, I miss Howard the most. I loved Howard!

carabos Ye. That's it exactly. It often happens to bright pretty women, too - always told not to get too big for their boots. That famous John Cleese scene in Fish Called Wanda where he explains about posh british embarrassment to Jamie Lee Curtis - the self deprecation thing is very similar. Ruby is nice, she's not up herself - but the world has changed around her while she's been growing up, and bigging yourself up is the new normal.

Russians and carabos Do you reckon she's posh? Yes maybe I can see your POV There should be a happy medium between 'bigging yourself up"' and british self deprecation though!!