Pottery Throwdown - 8th January

[NumbersStation]

Coming back - to channel 4. Let us hope that they don’t muller it like they did GBBO.

Melanie Sykes is hosting. I wish they’d kept Sara.

Let us hope channel 4 grab Fern and resurrect my allotment challenge too.

I thought it would be Ronaldo too. He made a very woman and has struggled with his finish for weeks.

Hopefully, the final 3 will be the best 3.

Interesting how big the male potters made the boobs. Way out of proportion. So big and heavy that the legs buckled 😱

Watching the repeat. I still find Rosalind rather weird.

Watched the repeat myself and am somewhat confused by how the challenges are set. One potter said they hadn't a clue how to start as though they had only just been given the challenge; another said they had been practicing. I thought they usually came in with a fair bit of background inspiration for the challenge itself & had given thought on how to set about it. Plus they all seemed to have considered how to get the sculpture to stand. A couple of potters seemed of have problems getting going though - is that just probably because they had a busy week before, do you think. I think Jacob is a full time potter so perhaps can practice at work & Rosalind is retired & pots fairly full-time; Raina is a carer so may have very variable time available - can't remember the background of the others.
I do recall we had a garden sculpture as a challenge in a previous series with a required height but clearly could be hugely varied in subject - I thought doing a naked human full figure standing sculpture was over the top as a challenge.
I do find these series increasingly annoying as relatively novice people who challenge themselves fly high one week & then get sent home when something doesn't work out, whereas the dull ones who play safe go through week after week as one of the bottom 3. Perhaps the dull ones will suddenly produce something great, I hope so anyway.

I really warmed to Rosalind when she said how blessed they were to watch one of the guest potters work. It was such a lovely way of looking at the challenge.

I watch this episode when it was released on Wednesday, then again on Sunday, trying to work out the order they did the tasks in, because the pots they threw were already in the drying room when the contestants first put their sculptures in to dry. I also noticed they blurred the models anatomy on Sunday but not on Wednesday

I've been watching it too. Loved it on bbc2, and it still has a similar feel on here.
I do think the wrong people went the past two weeks though.

Also, loved the great allotment challenge, but I really didn't like how the dark haired female judge ate the preserves etc off the spoons. She did it in a really weird way imo.

Oh her with the spoons? Did my home grown swede in.

Bring back fern and the allotmenters please.

I loved the pots on bbc. It was absolutely no miss tv for me.

I still like it but there isn’t the joy to it anymore for me. I’m not sure why.

I wondered if there was a thread on Throwdown and here it is. One of my favourite programmes, I imagine I could be a potter when in reality nothing could be further from the truth!

Keith's crying is a tad annoying and Mel is OK... just.

I am just in awe with some of their skills... often I just look at pieces theyve made and think 'I WANT THAT'. In a posh shop it would cost £150 and here they've just made it.

Didn't enjoy the real life nude sculpting. I want bowls, cups, saucers, and artistic pieces I can admire! I think Jacob and Claire are brilliant, I find Matt a bit pompous and I cant believe I'm older than Rosalind!

Oh... and didn't realise Flea or is it Flee? once dated Prince Harry and had a relationship with Jensen Button for 2 years

Disfordarkchocolate I've really warmed to Rosalind too

I thought it was a really annoying challenge... Classical greek sculpture isn't usually made out of clay anyway, probably precisely because it's too floppy to stand under the weight!
Also, surely sculpting and pottery are two very different skillsets?!
I loved Rainna, I'm really sad she's gone. She was terrible at thinking anything through properly though.

This programme is RUINED for me by that crying fool!

FFS can’t the producers tell him to behave professionally and just judge the fucking pottery?

The show isn’t his personal therapy session, and God knows what has happened in his life to make him keep blubbing like he does. The female judge looks disgusted at him now and can’t roll her eyes back any further!

I have to record it and FF through his bits but it is a crashing bore!

I love Keith. Firstly, he really knows what he's talking about and when he throws it looks easy. Secondly, I love that he is so moved by what people can create. It's great to see. Here is a big burly looking man open with his emotions, nothing wrong with that. It's not like Paul Hollywood at all, Keith loves the creative process and the joy it brings people.

I like it that men can cry but occasionally he has looked at what I consider is a bit of a mess of a piece, (but what do I know) and I see the tears welling up and I think
'oh noooooo.... surely not, surely this strange pot hasnt reduced you to tears!'
I just find it a bit distracting!

Plenty of other celebrated potters could be asked to judge the programme. He’s not the only qualified choice around. He’s like the boy who cried wolf, do it too often and it loses impact and becomes less credible.
He’s probably faking it now.😪😪

@Starksforthewin I find that attitude sad and cold. Why assume unpleasant motives?

Not your place to judge my “attitude”. Please confine your remarks to the television programme we are discussing. Mumsnet frowns upon personal comments on other posters.

Oh, plus, that’s bullshit... 🙄

Did anyone watch it last night? I don't want to be guilty of spoilers, but it was a good episode I thought!

I can’t stand Keith crying

Nor can I Clangus !

I get sooo irritated!

See I used to love weepy Keef. When he had a bit of a wallow, it was generally over something touching or beautiful and you could feel the moment.

But since the migration, it has become like PH’s handshake in GBBO. A bit of a wobble over any old toot.

It is his USP though and the 4 telly peeps will know it. He’s probably got electrodes round his porcelain baubles and he gets a buzz when he looks as though he isn’t enthusiastic enough.

That said, the teeny wobble this week was justified in my humblest opinion. No one should be ashamed of their creations if they are a touch on the wonk.

I liked this week’s challenges too. And aye, I think the right one got off the pot this week.

Just watched n catch-up - I agree that the right person left.

It was a lovely challenge and I think pushed all of them to their limits and made them think outside the box.

Funnily enough, I had just said to DH how much I liked Jacob's dragon but that all if the crevices would catch dust when the lady judge made the same comment! I did like the winning fireplace, though.

I find Rosalind increasingly irritating - I wish her work wasn't so good. I think that she is probably a very nice and kind person, too - but that voice, the little-girl behaviour, the plastic face, the Alice-in-Wonderland hair - it all sets my teeth on edge.

I think the right person went too, as far as I'm concerned that person has been hanging on by a hair for a while. (Trying not to give it away for those who haven't watched!)

Yes Rosalind is a bit edgy teeth! She is very clever at making animals out of clay! Personally her choices of what to do are all far too twee for me. I am taken aback by the fact she is only 59. I am older than her and have had no work done . She just seems older to me, I honestly thought she was about 70 with a face lift.

I;mm 66 and don't think I look older than Rosalind - DH thinks she looks older than me, despite that fact that I am not nipped, ticked and botoxed to the eyeballs.

I was also surprised that she is only 59. O wonder what her DH is like.. . , ?