On Your Marks, Get Set, Baaaaake! A Thread for Great British Baking Show / Bake Off & all of its sundry delights

I just finished the Chetna season! I really admired Richard for his ability to laugh at himself, and it was sad to see him crumble in the last week, though I would've been fine with any of the final three winning. (When they showed a picture of a young Richard with a full head of hair, I can see why Veg might crush on him!)

One episode into the next season, and watching Ruby struggle with her lack of self-confidence is so painful (I empathize with her completely), I'm not sure I can handle a whole season's worth (I caught a random episode of this season on PBS and know she hangs around for at least a little while).

Rubes is one of my favorites, I love her so much.

She looks like the daughter of Saffron Burrows and Elizabeth Berkeley, plus her look of utter astonishment when she was Star Baker in bread week was lolz.

That aside, this cast is so much less likeable than the previous one! So many stubborn people and/or people whose insecurities are showing. :(

Yeah... it grew on me though. Francis is kind of a crazy sorcerer with her amazing showstoppers, i'm in awe of her creativity

Slight crush on Kimberley from that season. And Howard is all-time great.

Richard had a weird Martin Freeman vibe, I thought

(in a good way)

I wrote a tl:dr blog post about GBBO for my own amusement...

http://tourdefrump.blogspot.com/2017/03/perfection-failure-and-why-great.html

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/mar/16/noel-fielding-and-sandi-toksvig-to-host-new-great-british-bake-off

Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig to host new Great British Bake Off

New presenters will join new judge Prue Leith and Bake Off stalwart Paul Hollywood in the Channel 4 version of the show

That should kill it off then.

Yay! I love Noel

Veg, are there spoilers in your post?

Oh heavens, just watched the Great Custard Tart Massacre. Those bakers were just brutal to the poor custards!

Hearing that she is/was studying philosophy makes Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby so hot. (Sorry.)

no spoilers (at least I'm pretty sure not)

I've seen Ruby IRL (just randomly crossing the road near where I live) and she is absolutely gorgeous.

ruby def has the most interesting post-show career / life

ruby's cookbooks are both really good - bf also swears by james from s3's brilliant bread

ruby is ofc ace on twitter

(this thread popping up is so bittersweet - love VG's enthusiasm but i still can't believe the greedy fucks at love productions headshotted it right at its peak and it'll never be the same again)

true

the schadenfreude lols that they paid millions of quid for a show and then three-quarters of the presenters told them to fuck off aren't enough to make up for it either

Third time 'round for "Everyone likes Sandi Toksvig, let's sneak her in to replace a irreplaceable beloved presenter"

ruby's cookbooks are both really good

― lex pretend

pvmnic!

i have always enjoyed and taken an interest in delicious food!

yeah after my excitement over Noel Fielding being announced I realized (stupidly) ohhhhh right this will be a totally different show now :/

i find it hard to imagine noel fielding and paul hollywood having much chemistry

what's the mary berry replacment like? i havent heard of her

a national treasure, basically

oh wait, you're talking about prue leith not sandi toksvig

prue leith is... okay i guess? she's always seemed a bit remote to me in a way that i'm not sure will be a great fit for the show

I glanced at the headlines about this and thought to myself "is there another Noel Fielding I don't know about?" Apparently the answer is no.

Mel and Sue are 50-75% of the show for me, so once they're gone, so is my interest. (Are they a comedy team? They have great timing.)

They are.

mel & sue have been a comedy team since the 90's <3

mel & sue also have a cameo as pet shop boys superfans in the (really really good) tour book "literally". iirc they follow the tour to Japan

Daily Mail have gone completely 'drugs, weird dress sense and friend of Russell Brand' apeshit!

Daily Mail have gone completely 'drugs, weird dress sense and friend of Russell Brand' apeshit!

for a moment i forgot which thread i was reading, but with this specific quote it doesn't even matter. it could be about richard ayoade's bin night and this would still be a believable daily mail reference.

Veg was right! The season 2/4 cast has uniformly grown on me.

I also read your blog, and your observation about the kindness of the judges is bang on. Like, on Project Runway, you'd have all the judges competing with each other to come up with the cruelest put-down.

And even though we definitely get to ogle the baking disasters, Paul and Mary aren't trying to be witty and "making good TV," they're simply giving the cast honest feedback! And this low-keyness gives the show its charms -- that and how the show doesn't overwhelm you with musical cues, especially during the judging, and like I said earlier, it's so refreshing.

(But of course, nothing ruins a good show like success.)

I can never not guffaw whenever someone mentions spotted dick.

Veggie, did you make it to the season with Scottish James with the fair isle tank tops etc? I think season three. He was my *hearts with eyes emoticon* and actually he lives locally, it seems, so I've seen him a few times around. So lovely.

Yeah I just finished that one! James was adorable & crazy talented but I wasn't a huge fan of him by the end...bit cocky? The five cakes for the finale had me rolling - ok Icaraus, sure go ahead LOOOOL

John was my heart-eyes emoji. Loved Brendan too. Big fan of dorky Sarah Jane, and was big into Kathryn - she was like a Spice Girl! She backsassed Paul Hollywood like no-one I've ever seen, str8 fire

Lotta good sorts in that season

Yay Lee, so glad you enjoyed s4! It's a slow burn but by the end it's hankies all over the place

Ha, I can't remember the details of the finale. A bit cocky indeed but I do love a highlander. Or an islander, was he? Yes Shetland, I think.

"Mel, I need a talking to..."

omg!!!!

lol

Starting to dread Ruby's self-deprecation/expectation-lowering prefaces tbh.

omg just watched the most recent season and am sobbing at nadiya winning. like, unhinged crazy person heaving sobs. i love her.

i love nadiya the most!!! i have watched that season like 3 times

it's the ultimate "you can do anything" storyline! even Mary Berry is bawling. it's so good

and her kids are 😍😍

i love all of her reactions & faces, and that line when she said she would rather give birth than bake (x) again was lololol

one of her kids cries when she wins!!! are you trying to destroy me, adorable bangladeshi british children?

i also love ruby she is like mesmerizingly beautiful yes this is shallow no i don't care

i was a little weirded out by nadiya's weirdo cream soda/bubble gum type flavors at times but i still love her.

yeah bubblegum would have made me barf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/Food%20and%20drink/5oct/nadiafolder-large.jpg

The quote about them reducing time isn't in that so must be in another of the gbbo tagged posts.

New year's Day special tomorrow and then the kid's series starts at 5 on Tuesday, daily for 3 weeks.

Oh, hooray, Junior BakeOff is the best.

Watched it today, we are all fans of Esme's glasses.

Man, that invisible tart technical was a disaster. Such a classy bunch of kids to not lose the rag over it.

yesterday's spoilers, and in fact the opening of today's show, showed one tilly dropping her final showstopper on the floor from a great height. why?

Not spoiling the final, but it gets directly addressed.

Liam used the word 'flawless' in his wrap up

i didn't think it was great, too frou-frou, like an old lady cake

Any talk of actual baking is overshadowed for me by Ilham's excellent attitude to royalty. Now that is a well brought-up young person.