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

I think that's it. It's just the same one or two things over and over so you can identify people. There's nothing really there.
I don't know if that's even the reason it seems so dull. Maybe they are all just too hot to be bothered chatting properly. Everyone's concentrating too hard on not fainting, and that includes the presenters and crew.

i agree that I'm finding it less compelling TV than in the past, but am struggling to put my finger on exactly why. is it that the baking itself is getting just a smidge less attention? there's the usual flurry from step to step, mixing this, proving that, but i feel like the percentage of airtime that used to go to people walking through their process and decisions has been cut back, just a smidge.

but probably it's more the casting/characterization stuff. it all does feel a bit flatter.

or maybe I've just run out of ways to be fully invested in the structure of somebody's dough after all these seasons!

I love Saku a lot

Saku is lovely! … I loved Rohan and Maree so their double elim was rough

I guess I’m going for Tash now

Yeah I want Tasha to win but I really hope Saku gets to the final as she is the epitome of wonderful television

definitely agreed with the Tash and Saku appreciation, i also adored Nicky. Dan seems like a good baker and a good sport. the whole rest of the cast hasn't clicked with me.... I sympathized with Christy's struggle this past ep but never really got personally involved. idk.

I never know whether I can safely look at this thread as an American, aren't we several weeks behind the UK broadcast?

i think last year it was just tuesday - friday of the same week. maybe it's changed.

last week in the UK was week 6, "botanicals", on tuesday it's week 7, "desserts"

(week 7 already)

It's Tuesday UK and same ep Friday on US Netflix, yup.

(of course, adjusting to UK concepts of "dessert," "pudding" and "biscuit" is beyond the power of any chart or timetable)

why did i say maree?! i meant NICKY obv

rohan won my heart when he sighed after a crap bake “you just want an easy life”

Yeah, I liked Rowan too. I don't really care about the rest of them. Saku is funny, but I'm not sure she's that good a baker.

i dont really mind that no-one is an amazing standout this year

the even playing field makes it more chill? idk. its an amateur contest after all & the proliferation of crap bakes is reassuring lol

Really enjoying the show this year, after barely finishing it last year. The bakers are good. The challenges are better. I think Noel to be v funny, and Alison a good balance - warmer to the bakers, where Matt Lucas was just stiff, awkward and alienating, but she's still funny. Was debating with my partner whether to bother this year, but the other weekend we got through three eps in one sitting.

To be clear, I think Saku is an inconsistent baker under these circumstances but I would absolutely eat anything she made for me and also she is just great on TV; absolutely the right combination of endearing and hilarious that makes me root for her even when it looks like she’s bungling the challenge.

i really miss rowan, he was so funny. you could tell they gave him a star turn in his final episode

i really miss rowan, he was so funny. you could tell they gave him a star turn in his final episode

I like alison a lot too! and just going to ignore the noel slander…

the “backstories” are always irrelevant imo, they’re making dessert this isn’t like an election or something. and over the years the quality of baker has skyrocketed, they’re all like semi-professional bakers at least anyway afaict

at first i thought Dan was giving me Richard the builder vibes from the King Louis season but he’s starting to irrationally grate on me a little i think bc he’s so incessantly upbeat lol

omg this week’s technical is *chef’s kiss*

I did like the fact that Paul continued to complain about it into the next day, when it was clearly his fault that people didn't have enough time to do it properly.

I also love Saku and want to hang out with her and her family - they all seem like a laugh, and she clearly has stories and jokes to burn. Who knows, maybe she'll end up on Gogglebox. That would be great.

I'm enjoying this season. I like all the contestants, I want them all to do well, and I don't want any of them to go. Also, Alison Hammond brings a cheerful, easy warmth that Matt Lucas and Sandi Toksvig were never able to supply. It's nice. I like nice.

US viewers, you have a glorious technical to look forward to.

I also like that they all seem lovely on Extra Slice too - Dana was a hoot on that last week.

I did not enjoy that technical at all. I do not enjoy watching a parade of fail when it's clearly not their fault, like when they make them do ice creams and chocolate on the hottest day of the year. But they were all very graceful and supportive and able to laugh about it as it was just such a collective disaster.

Yes, when the best half of your chosen baker who have already been through some quite hard screening *all* fail to do what you set them then the fault is with you, you walking mid-life crisis and not them. Still sulking about it just exposes you as the male menopause personality crisis you are.

I did like the fact that Paul continued to complain about it into the next day, when it was clearly his fault that people didn't have enough time to do it properly.

It's all on Paul. I be he didn't complete his in 90s minutes or whatever.

Matty has quietly become my favourite. I sort of feel he won't last much longer but he is very good value.

At least on Masterchef the Professionals (cooking doesn't get tougher than this!) you watch Marcus or Monica do the skills test in twenty minutes, so you know what is just about possible in that time if you're really good (I know there's editing, but y'know). And the producers will probably say "oh, there has to be jeopardy, nobody wants to watch people succeed at making a load of almost identical treacle puddings", but that is exactly what I want. I want to see people succeed and make lovely things and be pleased with themselves.

Yeah, I don't really give a toss if they're 5-10 mins over - these are amateur bakers! That technical was just a joke tbh.

Paul Hollywood is just the Jeremy Clarkson that gives middle aged women the horn instead of middle aged men.

Ugh no, he’s the silverback we all love to hate.

He's softened a bit over the last couple of years but he's still very obviously a turd

Yeah, I don't think he's a good guy, necessarily, but I wouldn't put him in the same bracket as Clarkson.

I suppose not, Clarkson isn't that bad.

ok so:

1. this is the second time dan made it through when he arguably shouldn't have (first one was abbi). this gets on my nerves mostly because i find dan kind of irritating
2. they need to chill with the baking-related double entendres and innuendo, feel like it used to be just an occasional thing every season ("i'll eat a bit of carpet") but now it feels like every episode there's some wink-wink-nudge-nudge thing about sausages or filling cream puffs or whatever and it's gotten really corny

Yes and yes

Something about Dan's Nice Bloke Veneer is slipping in a slightly uncanny way - although it's probably just down to the insane pressure of whatever it is they're doing

i said to mr veg that dan feels like that intensely optimistic guy in your office who has been there 30 years without a raise & is right on the edge of offing himself in the parking lot

(sorry that is too dark)

Simultaneous LOL and "awwww"

of course you are basically describing most british people

He's trying too hard - thai curry cheesecake or whatever, for ex. He is the kind of contestant who will go out via an unforced error. My mother-in-law said the other night she doesn't like him because he talks through his teeth.

i found Christy very tiresome with her crying & fretting. And she’s so #livelaughlove always going on about her family like it depressed me how little inner life/confidence she had
she was a good baker but omg she drove me up a wall

obv i am a monater

*monster

Christy is so stressful to watch. No idea what the casting team were doing there, she just felt like she was teetering on the verge of a breakdown all the way through with no redemption coming at all at any stage.

Dan's absolutely that guy that befriends you on day one of your holiday and then you can't get rid of him the rest of the week.

i found Christy very tiresome with her crying & fretting

yes, omg. "oh. oh no. it's not worked. oh no. it's awful. i'm going home. oh now." [manages masterpiece] what an annoying drip.

she'd wind my partner up too, who would then say, "oh, but I think it's pretty clear she has some bad self-esteem issues" and then we'd be both feeling bad for finding cristy irritating. but then it would be "oh, oh no, oh god, it's not worked, oh".

i find dan a bit irritating too, but again, i don't think he's awful. I'm already happy if any of the remaining dudes win. i'm pretty certain it'll be tasha, who is just very good and always nails the flavours even if there are issues elsewhere. i find josh a bit of a charisma vacuum but he's clearly talented. i really love matty's vibe, i don't think he has a chance of winning but if he makes top 3 i'll be very glad.

Interesting - I don’t find her anxiety offputting - it seems like the correct level of anxiety for a very stressful show? Like, a coping mechanism rather than compliment-fishing self pity (which is more annoying). IMO there’s something steely behind it - like she’d be the first to shiv you in prison if needs be.

The "oh. oh no. it's not worked. oh no. it's awful. i'm going home. oh now." [manages masterpiece] " schtick worked for Ruby Tandoh and even got her a media career out of it. Maybe Christy should have thrown in stripping like a mardy teenager for it to have worked.

(fwiw it bugs me too but there's someone like it nearly every series and I found her "as a mother" more annoying)

i loved Ruby so yeah idk why christy bugged me in that regard

i see myself in people that are so hard on themselves they are not having a good time when they should be, so that contestant type in reality tv is alternately funny and compelling to me

you would think i would be the same but no lol

Ruby was spiky and you couldn’t imagine her typing ‘Hunni’ in the group chat.