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The Great British Bake Off

Nespresso

By Nespresso,
in Film, TV & Radio

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Festoon

Festoon

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Fry Crayola said:

 

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I had Peter's signature down as better than Dave's but there wasn't much to choose between them. Felt that either could have been a deserved winner on the day.

 

Definitely agree though that the standard has been lower than recent years. Hopefully that's more down to Covid reducing the pool of available bakers, rather than anything more damaging to (or by) the show.

 

There have been bakers who didn't win in the past who'd have smashed this year's cohort out of the tent. 

 

In one of Dave's VT pieces they said he'd been away for six weeks.

 

So basically time was compressed in this season meaning the bakers didn't get to do the same amount of practice as usual as it'd usually be ten weeks.

 

The results were definitely noticeable in the showstoppers and I'm surprised they didn't simplify the technicals a bit to compensate, but remember, the show makers don;t understand their creation and want maximum tears - they always did, but Mel and Sue used fuck it up for the show creators by swearing all over the footage when competitors were upset, in effect making Mel and Sue sneaky co-directors of the show.

 

Noel and Sandi didn't have that approach, and Lucas even less so, meaning that Noel evens starts becoming the sympathetic shoulder a bit this season.

 

They really need to throw money at Mel and Sue to come back - they were the heart of the programme. 

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Gotters

Gotters

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Posted

I don't get the format at all now - Dave wins the first 2 rounds, then their big finales are exceptionally close, and the judges say its down to the crispness of the pastry or some other micro detail. 

 

What about the first 2 rounds he actually won, they pointless now ?

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Stig

Stig

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14 hours ago, Fierce Poodle said:

Well that was deeply underwhelming. I think I’m done with this series, it just seems to have lost what was fun about it in the first place. Or maybe I’m just a miserable cynical twat.

 

I'm kinda of in the same bracket tbh. I haven't even watched the semi final yet and I already know who won yesterday (thanks to the BBC putting it in the title of their article <_<)

 

But I haven't connected with any of the contestants this year, neither have my wife or kids. None of us have felt very engaged with it this year.

 

I'm not really bothered about watching the Semi and Final now 

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Indy @ S.E.

Indy @ S.E.

Posted
Posted

I think the quality of the home bakers just wasn't good enough compared to previous years, so many challenges had half finished or totally borked submissions at the end. Could be COVID related but could also me the producers trying to get certain demographics in and ignoring their actual baking abilities.

 

Don't mind the Lucas & Fielding side show overall but might take another series to tweak it.

 

Having Laura in the final was just a mind boggling decision, she's been consistently poor yet Hermine has one bad week and she's out seemingly based on that only. Be good if they have consistency in their decisions and actually stuck to it.

 

Also none of the show stoppers were particularly stopping the show either.

 

Overall an underbaked profiterole with split cream out of 10 but will try again next year once the unpleasant taste is gone.

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Gotters

Gotters

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I don't think Laura was a particularly high end baker, she had that 'best parent at the school fete' quality to what she could make - but I do believe that a lot of the vitriol aimed at her in the media and online was for the dual crimes of getting far on Bake Off whilst being fat. 

 

Nobody hated on Lottie as much when she produced awful stuff, wonder why that is. 

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Eighthours

Eighthours

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Indy @ S.E. said:

Having Laura in the final was just a mind boggling decision, she's been consistently poor yet Hermine has one bad week and she's out seemingly based on that only. Be good if they have consistency in their decisions and actually stuck to it.

 

That's how all these shows work, and rightly so. Yes, Laura obviously shouldn't have got to the final on 'talent', but if she was one better than the eliminated contestant each time, that's on them.

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BitterToad

BitterToad

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Indy @ S.E. said:

I think the quality of the home bakers just wasn't good enough compared to previous years, so many challenges had half finished or totally borked submissions at the end. Could be COVID related but could also me the producers trying to get certain demographics in and ignoring their actual baking abilities.

 

 

Sorry what were the demographics that were brought in that you think were picked over people with superior baking ability? 

 

The show is a pretty complicated thing to put together at the best of times, let alone in a 6 week bubble whilst everyone is away from their families and battling against COVID restrictions. Sure the standard of cake might not be as high as in previous years but I really enjoyed the hour every week and am really appreciative of the people that went above board to put the thing together. 

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Indy @ S.E.

Indy @ S.E.

Posted
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7 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

 

That's how all these shows work, and rightly so. Yes, Laura obviously shouldn't have got to the final on 'talent', but if she was one better than the eliminated contestant each time, that's on them.

When you put it like that I guess so should probably stop looking at this as a continuation from the previous weeks and instead as one off tasks as you say.

 

6 minutes ago, BitterToad said:

 

Sorry what were the demographics that were brought in that you think were picked over people with superior baking ability? 

 

The show is a pretty complicated thing to put together at the best of times, let alone in a 6 week bubble whilst everyone is away from their families and battling against COVID restrictions. Sure the standard of cake might not be as high as in previous years but I really enjoyed the hour every week and am really appreciative of the people that went above board to put the thing together. 

Demographics was a poor choice of word, what I was trying to convey was that for a baking competition there wasn't that many people with actual baking skills so they just picked a load of different people with adequate skills.

 

I dunno, maybe I'm expecting too much from this from a skills and quality level and should just take it as an enjoyable hour-ish of telly.

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Eighthours

Eighthours

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Indy @ S.E. said:

When you put it like that I guess so should probably stop looking at this as a continuation from the previous weeks and instead as one off tasks as you say.

 

Demographics was a poor choice of word, what I was trying to convey was that for a baking competition there wasn't that many people with actual baking skills so they just picked a load of different people with adequate skills.

 

I dunno, maybe I'm expecting too much from this from a skills and quality level and should just take it as an enjoyable hour-ish of telly.

 

Believe me, I'm also exasperated when a more talented contestant has a bad week and goes, but that's DRAMA. It was particularly bad for Hermine, as patisserie week was nailed on for her to win and I think the pressure got to her, as well as some bad luck. 

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merman

merman

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Posted

Laura frequently did better than others on the actual taste and texture. Notably in the semi-final where her flaw was the ganache, while Hermine had multiple flaws including rubbery cube cakes that would probably have bounced if you dropped them. Laura baked with love and heart in everything; notice the praise for her final cake and mini key lime pies.

 

If Dave had got his choux buns right it could have been a different result in the final. Precise Peter was better all round, even if that Showstopper wasn’t his best effort.

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Majora

Majora

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Most reality shows pick and choose when they want to take past weeks into account. Rahul definitely got saved at least once when he performed like shit because he had done so well in the past and they even said that was the reason why. They just weren't as interested in saving Hermine.

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Festoon

Festoon

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Majora said:

Most reality shows pick and choose when they want to take past weeks into account. Rahul definitely got saved at least once when he performed like shit because he had done so well in the past and they even said that was the reason why. They just weren't as interested in saving Hermine.

 

French. brexit, etc.

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Eighthours

Eighthours

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On 25/11/2020 at 15:31, merman said:

Laura frequently did better than others on the actual taste and texture. Notably in the semi-final where her flaw was the ganache, while Hermine had multiple flaws including rubbery cube cakes that would probably have bounced if you dropped them. Laura baked with love and heart in everything; notice the praise for her final cake and mini key lime pies.

 

If Dave had got his choux buns right it could have been a different result in the final. Precise Peter was better all round, even if that Showstopper wasn’t his best effort.

 

Dave's redemption idea would have been genius and a guaranteed win if he'd pulled it off. I wonder if he would have won had he stuck to his strengths, though, given that Peter made a couple of mistakes.

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memories

memories

Posted
Posted

Final of Junior Bake Off tonight, it been better than the last couple of main series.

 

It's great to see the kids all helping each other out to finish off. The judges are great too, never slating the kids no matter how bad they are and with real constructive criticism when required.

 

And I think Harry Hill is a great presenter for it, does some stupid and silly stuff but his Hulk Hogan impression was amazing.

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Festoon

Festoon

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3 hours ago, memories said:

Final of Junior Bake Off tonight, it been better than the last couple of main series.

 

It's great to see the kids all helping each other out to finish off. The judges are great too, never slating the kids no matter how bad they are and with real constructive criticism when required.

 

And I think Harry Hill is a great presenter for it, does some stupid and silly stuff but his Hulk Hogan impression was amazing.

 

100& this. SO much better than the main series.

 

A key for me is that Hill interacts with the contestants and despite all the messing about he's keen to when they are dejected and distracts them to raise a smile - I feel in the main Bake Off that the presenters have little connection to them and spend their time thinking of shit "one hour left" jokes that a) aren't funny, b) feel disconnected to the contestants and c) don't have the sometimes inspired lunacy Hill comes out with. "Shoe Tower" for example.

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NickC

NickC

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, memories said:

Final of Junior Bake Off tonight, it been better than the last couple of main series.

 

It's great to see the kids all helping each other out to finish off. The judges are great too, never slating the kids no matter how bad they are and with real constructive criticism when required.

 

And I think Harry Hill is a great presenter for it, does some stupid and silly stuff but his Hulk Hogan impression was amazing.

 

I love it too. The kids are great. Some real honesty on film there. Seeing them cry when they go, no fronting it out like in adult bake off.

 

I also agree that Harry Hill is great in it, it's funny how the kids are all 'wtf?!' at his humour and references.

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