Bake off 2022 thread to, to the final

[jay55]

Think they should all go home. And enjoy baking nice things instead.

Hah I see what you did there.

sandro was so over ambitious there but wow to The double helix, like a science lesson

Cripes saya

Over bake or risk collapse.
Given it's semi final these are all a bit rough

Sybira's was pretty amazing but I feel like show toppers used to be these amazing and most of these were a hot mess.

Is it the challenge? Janusz won several star bakers earlier in the season.
I admit to hoping he stays.

Hard to call this one

Why are Noel and Matt now contributing to the voting decision making??

Gutted

Not that I'm bitter but do Sando and Abdul deserve it over Janusz?
No

Wrong decision.

Boooo. BOOOOOOOO!

Awwww janusz - he’s been very unlucky

Lost its sparkle for me. Used to love it

No Maxy or Janusz in the final is pants

NO! that is so wrong, Sandro has been making huge mistakes for several weeks, and this week he messed up all three of his bakes quite badly, Janusz’s bakes weren’t wonderful but they were better than Sandro’s. The only thing he got right was a thin layer of banana sponge.

That was absolutely the wrong decision. Sandro needed to go for his arrogance alone

It's Jurgen going all over again for me

Abdul has only been good the last 2 weeks, before that he was pretty average. He's obviously played a blinder and peaked at exactly the right time.

I love Abdul! So glad he got star baker. Really sad who left though 😔

I am struggling a bit with this as well-

I think there is an element of the judges deciding who they want and see the bakes/judging accordingly. Prue said something early in the episode and I knew Abdul was getting star baker.

It's leaving a very bad taste in my mouth...

This. I didn't watch last years final despite never missing an episode before that. It's lost it's magic for me.

My husband is a pastry chef and also thinks a lot of the timeframes this season are wholly unrealistic. Re tonight’s he says the technical is just unrealistic for a home cook in that time.

I feel the same about the professionals series and it’s even worse on that as it makes people who are no doubt good at their jobs look incompetent on TV. Set up to fail.

I’m pleased for Abdul.

How many kilos of almonds and sugar did Sandro say he was using? It did indeed look like a hot mess.

I do wonder if it's fixed for Sandro to win. In the early weeks and right up to a couple of weeks ago Janusz and Maxy were the only bakers better than Sandro and now they have conveniently not made the final. Sandro has gone on and on every week about not getting a handshake (none of the other bakers have mentioned it unless they get one) so wonder if he's going to be rewarded with winning and he'll laugh and say "this is better than a handshake".

Plus Paul and Prue have probably got shares lined up in his relaunched cake business!

And this is why I’m finding it so unwatchable.

Someone has had some right bloody howlers. Someone would lick himself clean if he had a bowl where his spring roll is. Someone is a pro. And someone just shouldn’t be there because it just isn’t about the bake. Just him.

Anyone but him for the win.

I have eight letters.

C U T S M U N G

No prizes for this technical challenge.

I think it was the right call. Janusz has quite a limited repertoire and didn't really seem to push himself. His showstopper was a ton of isomalt (which is inedible, or at least no-one would want to eat it) was very simple in structure, and was messily finished. He regularly played it safe and overused the techniques he was confident with - so many drip cakes. Sandro's showstopper used interesting flavours, was massively over-ambitous, and looked quite appealing in a somewhat ramshackle way. I thought the bit about holding back the tears seemed genuine and was quite moving.

Syabira is obviously favourite to win, but it will all be about what happens on the day. It's hers to lose now, but she does seem to keep her nerve even when she messes up, so I don't think we'll see a Maxy style disintegration. There could be a shock surprise Abdul or Sandro win, but I don't think there's been any great conspiracy or fix. I'd predicted Maxy, Syabira and Janusz for the final, but I think Maxy and Janusz started strong and failed to develop over the series.

I've enjoyed the series and will be sad to see it end, even though I have to concede that some of the endless negativity on here has been fair criticism.

Sandro definitely does, he has consistently made some fantastic bakes.