GBBO season 5 - thread #2

[Dolly80]

Thought I better start another one (in case I lose you all next week!)

Just marking my place on the new thread :)

Marking my place. I am yet to watch it. I am thankful that I read about the tweet. What have BBC1 done to our nice show? The whole point of the GBBO is the warm feeling it gives you. I don't want another xfactor type show thanks.

Mary Berry on Radio 2 NOW!!!!!!

So it was just a question of management of the freezers!

Thanks for the new thread Dolly

I think the BBC will be very happy with all this publicity! I do feel a bit sorry for Diana as she may have fully intended to go and tell Ian he needed to move his ice cream. We'll never know now though.

Diana won't have a chance of winning, she's not innovative enough. She reminds me of my grandma, very very good at cakes, scones, mince pies & the stuff she had been baking for 50 years. Introduce something new or a more modern flavour & she would pull a face & refuse to use it. Diana tried to be up to date with the swan but I think she only reached the '70s with it. Plus I quite liked the presentation in the teacups earlier but wtf was the monstrosity in the middle with the spider legs of orange peel coming out. It appeared to me that the centrepiece had given birth to the teacups. Horrid!

I really like Martha, she is fab but someone noted in an earlier thread it may be her inexperience that stops her winning. Also Chetna is superb with her decorative work & unusual (to me) flavours.

ppeatfruit

Was icecreamgate mentioned by Mary on R2?

Place marking. Yes, what did Mary say about it all?

Yes she said it was just a case of bad management of the freezers. She didn't mention any names except Ian's of course.A bit of a whitewash IMO.

I agree about the weird spider contraption of Diana's Magrats and I think that Martha should 've been star baker not the same bloke as last week.

Does anyone know how if the contestants are funded/helped? Do they get help with ingredients and props, or do they pay for and source them all themselves at home and in the tent?

I thought Ian's icecream looked a bit peculiar anyway - it might have tasted nice, but grey icecream with black bits in it is never going to win any beauty contests.

I have seen that Martha's tweet suggested that it wasn't the contestants' fault that there was such chaos with the freezers - which suggests to me that maybe there wasn't enough freezer space provided - it is interesting that no-one has said why Ian's dessert was in the other freezer, but I would guess it was because there wasn't enough space in the one he was meant to use. Although, to be honest, I thought that they should have given them blast chillers to use - like they get on Australian Masterchef - then they could have sent the desserts in the blast chillers and moved it to the domestic freezers.

Domestic freezers wouldn't have been able to cope with that workload, in that heat - I think it was deliberate, on the part of the producers, because that way they'd get some drama, with baked alaskas that weren't setting properly, and the stress that would cause, rather than giving the contestants the best chance possible. There would have been drama and stress even without Diana taking Ian's icecream out of their freezer. Asking them to do an icecream dessert, in the height of summer, in a tent, with struggling domestic freezers was deeply unfair, imo.

gimme they are only refunded for travel to the tent and for the ingredients they use while actually baking in the show. They don't get any help with the equipment costs, or ingredients they use while practicing, so it must get very expensive.

There was a link on the old thread SDTG IIRC it said that all the studio stuff was paid for and they get 'help' with their practice ingredients.

Agree about the freezers; 'normal' freezers wouldn't be able to cope with all that ice cream that had to stay frozen on a very hot day.

My ice cream maker (like the ones they had ) makes ice cream that melts fast actually.

Only just caught up on iplayer thanks to a couple of weeks family hol. wtf happened with that ice cream ? Dodgy Di sabotaged him and he got kicked off? Not very fair at all. Meanwhile, dull as ditchwater Norman NoImagination stays on time and time again, despite being told week in, week out that he needs to up his game as his "bakes" (i am irrationally irritated by that) are boring and what does he do next week? Churn out another bucket of ugly, bland, plain stodge.

Sorry STDG it was gimme who was asking about the help the contestants get.

Tbh, from some of what I've seen on twitter, especially Martha's tweets, it seems like the producers set up the last bake specifically to cause chaos. Obviously they couldn't predict it would be on one of the hottest days of the year, but I'm sure that didn't help either. I do remember in previous years, people saying things about the time limits being very tight- I know they have limited time to film, but to me it seems more like they should be given challenges they can complete in the time allowed, and all the equipment to do it, rather than trying to set people up for a fall.

I really thought it would be a no elimination week, but maybe they can't do that anymore on BBC 1?

I guess they wanted to create drama, so edited things to look worse than they did. I bet Diana did apologize, but they didn't show it on screen!

Do they all stay in the nice stately home over night and is the overnight stay funded? feeling a bit sorry for those who haven't got a big income/savings

They are put up in a local hotel, I think, Gimme - and bussed in each day.

There was a bit of a behind the scenes article on the Guardian before this series began.

The ingredients in the tent are definitely provided, but the contestants can ask for whatever they want right down to specific brands. Then everything has to be de-branded before it goes on the BBC.

Apparently they have a runner outside the nearest big supermarket in the mornings in case anyone has had a change of thought / wants some additional ingredients etc overnight.

Phew. Found this thread. I'll be watching Extra Slice on Friday to see what's mentioned!

I don't see how they could possibly make it a no elimination week, given that Iain sabotaged his own pud. Otherwise any time a contestant was feeling a bit vulnerable he could throw a hissy fit and bin what he'd done and get another chance.

mary berry's recipe for baked alasaka says you have to freeze the ice cream overnight!!