Bake Off 2019 - Thread 2

[TragicallyUnbeyachted]

Old thread

Ten points to DarlingNikita who spotted my deliberate mistake - I meant, of course, "cutting the judges' comments to make it LOOK as though they are sending home the wrong people." Ahem.

I just want something that I might manage if the wind is blowing the right way and I've appeased the gods by managing not to set off the smoke detector.

This is spot on. Part of the reason bake of was so popular to begin with was because people saw the creations on the show and thought they could recreate them at home. It inspired people. Shops were selling out of baking products every week.

How many of us watched pie week and then made a pie that weekend. Or watched bread week and then had a stab at making our own.

I certainly won't be rushing off to make edible glass or a dome covered pastry.

They always seem to judge based on the showstopper. It seems as though it doesn't really matter how they get on in the other rounds. It's the 2nd time someone has won the technical(which I think is the hardest challenge) then gone out. Its a bit odd I think.

Personally I think the judging has depended on the wind blowing the right way and little ph having been emptied on a regular basis.

So there.

I've found the judging quite perplexing this year - I think there's quite a bit of favouritism because sometimes people have done well in the first two tasks and still gone out. I don't like it all being about ole big ed either. I also agree that they've made things so complex that its losing its interest.

I'm not sure it's the judging - I think it's edited to be interesting and some of the things the judges pick up on just aren't shown or rather aren't given the emphasis other things are.

I think if you look at the earlier series there is a big difference . It’s not just that I can’t make a garden out of pies it’s that I don’t want to and can’t imagine when you would want to

Partly the editing but also lack of clarity over the tasks and their interpretation.

They stated that the showstopper must be patisserie which represents something significant to the baker. It was pretty darn obvious that Steff intended to make an opera cake and shoehorned in some tenuous point about a distant relative having liked opera. Whereas tbf to Rosie she did actually try to meet the brief by creating patisserie figures representing her family and then a clock. Ditto for Alice, geography teacher, with her ocean theme and also David with his plant theme and flavours.

David got slated for ‘not meeting the brief’ but I think in that respect neither did Steff. Sure, she’s a very competent baker but it seemed clear she knew she could make a very good opera cake so just churned that out rather than trying to be more genuinely creative. The isomalt boxes as I’ve already said, aren’t baking and were a distraction from the main event

Rosie executed her showstopper badly and therefore had to go really, but in her defence if she’d played safe like steff and just made one cake which she’d practised lots and knew she could nail, then she may have done very well.

The whole show has moved too far from when it was about who could genuinely bake the most delicious items.

The glass cage thing was just weird - surely the judges should have tasted that too? Otherwise why go through all the faff to make it edible?

I'd like to see more of the judges' deliberation, exactly how have they come to their conclusions? Actual marking might help too - the technical is marked, in that there's a first to last place allocated, but the other rounds aren't. And it seems that the signature isn't as important as the technical, which isn't as important as the showstopper.

But what seems to be apparent in the latest series is C4 are making telly that will attract viewers, rather than making a show about amateur bakers.

It has changed and not for the better. Where are the history VTs ? Some of those cakes are so obscure , they need to explain where they came from.

I like Steffi she actually DOES major on flavours .I remember her Bombe, the others were throwing too many flavours at theirs and had forgotten that "less is more"

Steff could crap on the floor and they would call it chocolate mousse.

Steff could crap on the floor and they would call it chocolate mousse. How does she see past that enormous fringe and all that eyeliner?

I have happy memories of Val. A genuine amateur baker. One technical challenge was bakewell tart, she didn't realise at first that there was a recipe provided, she just started making her usual bakewell tart that she'd made every week for the last 40-odd years!

Ah yes lovely Val! I think she’d been a head teacher hadn’t she? And had retired and clearly had a genuine love for baking.

I agree with Limer that maybe marking each round rather than just the technical might help. Seems very odd to mark the technical but then more or less discount it when it comes to deciding who to kick off

The technical is the one round which puts them all on a level playing field in that none of them can plan or practise for it and the instructions are deliberately vague. Anyone who is practically a ‘full time baker’ with oodles of time to plan, practise and perfect is at a distinct advantage in the other two rounds, over those contestants who have very busy lives and obviously just enjoy baking in their ‘down time’.

Val was so cool.

Both Sandi and Noel have had some good moments but they are moments in a sea of tired jokes. Mel and Sue fell into the same trap (soggy bottoms etc) but the Sandi in a sack scenes make me really uncomfortable.

The history VTs have been replaced by as breaks. They were probably in there in the first place so they could be cut in other countries.

Ad breaks

I find Sandi deeply irritating and wish they'd ditch her. I particularly hate the height jokes. She's five foot, which is not a ridiculously tiny height for a woman her age.

The history VTs have been replaced by ad breaks

They haven't, though - they made the show longer explicitly so that they could add ad breaks without having to cut anything out. So they've been replaced by just more fluffy padding.

The 'history" is given to P & P to waffle about.

OOOOOH hoooray Extra Slice Tonight

I don't think they're very talented this year.
I want either Alice or David to win.
Steff gets on my nerves.

I've ruined two shows this year by looking at contestants Instagram.
Michael who wasn't that talented but I did really like posted about defending trans kids. It really took the shine off for me.

The finalists were so predictable. I want to love Steph but I can't. At least when it's over the mid week tea and cake binge will cease until December.

The adverts are really frustrating! The other night they had an advert, showed less than five minutes of the programme then went back to another ad break.

I just don't think any of them are that amazing this year. They are all fairly average bakers.

Watching Extra Slice, and really sad about Rosie's comment that Noel kept saying "wouldn't it be awful going out this week", "you don't want to go out this week" "it's the worst week to leave" in the semi final. This is what's struck me about this series - the warmth seems to have gone. The bakers care so much, but without Mel, Sue and Mary they're left to fend for themselves because the producers just want entertainment and no one seems to care about them any more (Sandi a little bit, but not enough to make up for Noel and Prue)

This is the first time that I really don’t care who wins.

This year’s ‘I’ve never made a Genose sponge’ crowd just weren’t good enough.

I thought Rosie was lovely on Extra Slice.

Loved the bit about her putting her Christmas Cake on a drip. .

Think I'll try that....