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

Yeah, I like everything about the show, even Harry sometimes, but maybe if the kids are upset, do they have to film that bit? Everything's distressing at that age. I want to think the producers have thought through (or give a shit about) the implications of showing a kid cry on television to a large-ish viewership. It's a small trauma but a trauma nonetheless. I err, at the risk of overcautiousness, on not thinking it's a good idea.

Yeah, I don't want to see kids cry either. And I think they are better about that this year. One thing I do notice is that the kids who are clearly not going to win get some great shenanigans with Harry or Rav that they will get to watch back on the telly later and will hopefully be happy about. Like, unless you're Kezia, who wants to be a professional baker and is already focused on her cookbooks and whatnot, surely the real prize is getting to be on the telly, and the better you look in the edit, the more you have "won" in some sense? I think that holds for the adult show as well -- Liam's a good example of it.

I mean, they surely must get all kinds of Junior Bakeoff branded swag to take home, which has got to be a great cushion against the heartache of leaving the tent.

Are there no Scottish, Welsh or Irish contestants again?

There's a Welsh lad next week.

grand - I always forget they have more than one group of bakers.

I'm crying laughing at Gabriel in the signature bake.

"It's actually better than I thought it would be "

Junior Bake Off doesnt appear to be available in the US — are any USians watching it, abd if so by means other than t0rrentz?

> I'm crying laughing at Gabriel

i have him down as first to leave. is very confident but is very much a car-crash

I'm amazed at Liam making the right noises about his ski slope cake because watching it being assembled...

Yeah, I try very hard to be nice about the kids, but he's a bit of a little Musk, isn't he?

I like the show but the elimination is too much for me. I don't think kids are built for high-stakes competition and living under the existential threat of sudden elimination. It seems cruel and unhealthy, even if the hosts are empathetic and sweet. I just don't want to see it.

Would much rather they just kept all the kids for the whole season and crowned a winner at the end.

Agree 100%

I've come round to this way of thinking as well. Not because I care about stupid kids and their emotions, but it's more fun for the audience when there's a big gang of them.

There was a terrible Great British Photography-style show on BB2 (with Rankin, I think) but the only good thing about it was the lack of eliminations - it was just one winner at the end. Also - you get to see people get knocked back, pick themselves up again, and try something new, rather than just "fail" and get booted.

Of course if I produced reality shows fuck all people would watch them but whatever

even further back there was a thing on bbc2 called, i think, art school, which had various people doing art and again no eliminations. keith allen, nihal, ulrikakakaa, one fat lady. didn't get a second series.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/08_august/10/art.shtml

(oh, john humphrys too, 2005)

also, this way you don't lose interest when your favourite is kicked out

just watching this now, the preview appears to have gabriel opening his mixer whilst it's still moving so i'm stoked for the mayhem

They need to sort out those freezers, impractical for smaller people.

I'm pretty sure it was someone here who pointed out that watching the kids struggle with the freezers is half the fun.

Also - you get to see people get knocked back, pick themselves up again, and try something new, rather than just "fail" and get booted.

Boom - yes!

Seems the wrong thing to be saying about an episode of JBO but FUCKING HELL.

I cannot believe that little Robin Askwith mofo pulled it out of the bag.

I know, amazing.

And Lola is back on Monday!

due to popular demand, I have clipped the scene of Lola struggling to put something in the fridge - it is truly a battle of biblical proportions. #gbbo #JuniorBakeOff #jbo pic.twitter.com/94p8J2ittV

— Ariadne 🦋 (@Ariadne_Reviews) January 17, 2022

future prime minister

I've only seen the first two episodes of the current season of Junior Bake Off, and I have to say that I'm surprised by both of the winners, yet again it feels like better contestants were passed over but yes, let the little white boys learn about how they are number one in the world even while not being the best.

(I don't dislike either of them, but think in both cases that someone else should have won)

Don’t worry, there’s at least three girls making the running in the other episodes!

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that Bake Off and Junior (and all the other UK reality show) 2021 seasons are nominated in the ILX TV poll, with voting ending this weekend:

ILX's Best Television of 2021 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 31, 2022

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

we never really finished this thread off. needless to say i think they chose the right winner. but it always seems unfair when it's 9 year-old kids who can't even reach the freezer against 15 year-olds.

and was it mean that i lolled when the bowl-headed kid went out first in finals week?

I loved that Lola got to the final even though she clearly knew she was never going to win

I wasn't going to read this thread because I'm only on episode 8 and wanted to avoid spoilers, but...

how the fuck is Gabriel safe and they send DaVonte home? And the previous week they let him stay against Olivia who was genuinely good? I assumed they put him on the show either just to reassure all the parents at home that their kids are "normal" because he is consistently crap, or because his family knows someone in production, but I am surprisingly angry that yet again little white boy has a spot when they've sent home a girl and a black boy who were clearly so much more talented than him.

GBBO-adjacent since it's not baking-related but I made this Chetna recipe last night and it's sooooo good: https://food52.com/recipes/87209-potato-leek-soup-with-spiced-chickpeas-recipe

Many XPs because we finally just finished the series but I found Gabriel hard to watch. I don't want to be too hard on him, because he's a kid and I get the vibe he's got some tough stuff going on. But the combination of overly-verbal precocious kid and absolute absence of any seeming ability to bake... Well, reader, it was like looking in a mirror. And not in a good way.

it's a bit on the dark side...

are they baking the queen in a pie?

just urging on the tory lady to fuck up in the most humiliating way possible, so far she is failing to do this

What are you doing on Bake Off if you can't make buttercream?

is that an unfamiliar equipment thing, or an ingredients thing or something else? because a few of them struggled with it. (i think the guy was asking for the recipe just for confirmation after two batches failed)

still think they shouldn't send anyone home in week 1

He did it three times and it didn't work. Twice in the signature and once in the showstopper. I did feel very sorry for him. Everyone seemed extremely nervous. Is this the first time in a few years that they just show up for the shooting? Like, they're not staying there for the duration? I could imagine that means everyone is much more on edge.

I think they should just have the contestants stay together as in pandemic times because they seemed more relaxed but also GBBO does not even give an allowance for at-home practice bakes during production, but during the pandemic the bakers could practice on site without having to pay for the privilege.

Quite a nice batch of accents this season.

the buttercream thing was explained in Extra Slice, they had practised to make it in hot weather but it was unusually cold in the tent.

i wasn't convinced

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard them talk about getting an allowance but that the allowance is never enough. Either way, it’s shitty! If they can afford three guests’ fees on extra slice then the contestants, who are the literal center of the show, should get a proper allowance.

Alleged Tory seemed quite keen to distance from the idea that she worked for Boris Johnson. Presumably all civil servants work for Boris Johnson in some sense?

She might’ve worked at the Mayor’s office in London?

Sandro's mask was just ridiculous, I'm kind of in awe at his decorating.

Sad to see Maisam go, she's so even-keeled that I completely forgot she's the baby of this season.

maybe it's just that we recently watched the one Junior Bake-Off season that's on Netflix, but the caliber of baking seems pretty high all around with this crew. the macarons, apart from a few obvious duds, were quite cute across the board!

cast seems really promising so far, lot of likeable energy in the tent. Janusz, Dawn, Maxy, Sandro and Syabira all doing some great-looking bakes so far, and most of the others have done at least one really impressive thing in the first two eps. the fellow who looks like Simon Pegg has some great reaction shots.

oops, requesting a mod to fix that to spoiler text, sorry!

maybe more weeks in the tent with all the diversity will do Tory woman good.

two of them out with, i guess, covid this week. seems slightly unfair that someone will be eliminated this week

Or not! But just building up for a double elimination whenever they feel like it further down the line.