Great British Bake Off

[miniman]

Had to endure some of the final last night as SWMBO is addicted to it. As above, the quality of the cooking was awful. The fondant fancies looked like my 4 year old daughter had iced them. And as for the "cake is too cakey" comment, good grief.

[F-Stop Junkie]

blindswelledrat said:

Please, someone explain why a normal person would spend thier free time watching a programme showing people making cakes?

But then you can replace people making cakes with men kicking balls around a field, or cars going round in circles, or fantasy lives of people who don't exist...

[WCZ]

since when did cooking and antiques become sports ?

coming to an olympics near you soon!

[RegMolehusband]

I was sat in the same room as this last night whilst reading and fervently wanted James to lose because of his cut off red trousers.

[ArtVandelay]

Annoyed John won, he's been inconsistent and the final should've been decided on past performances as well as on the day.

He was spared the chop when he cut himself too...

James had been my favourite but I thought Brendan deserved to win.

[Bill]

blindswelledrat said:

"FAR too cakey, this cake".
This is the single most moronic programme ever made.
Please, someone explain why a normal person would spend thier free time watching a programme showing people making cakes?
It is beyond comprehension to me, but Im genuinely interested as I know it has a huge audience

Dunno, why did you watch it?

I don't do baking, or like competitions, but found it strangely compelling. Brendan deserved to win IMO just because of his consistency.

[RESSE]

Bill said:

Dunno, why did you watch it?

I don't do baking, or like competitions, but found it strangely compelling. Brendan deserved to win IMO just because of his consistency.

This - I was surprised John "won" as my money was on Brendan.

[Baryonyx]

ArtVandelay said:

Annoyed John won, he's been inconsistent and the final should've been decided on past performances as well as on the day.

He was spared the chop when he cut himself too...

James had been my favourite but I thought Brendan deserved to win.

I was shocked that John won too. I thought that Brendan and James were the best of the lot, and really deserved to be in the final. John was just making up the numbers.

I think the judges got a bit carried away over that Heaven and Hell cake. Yes, it looked good and James' final effort was so dull it would have looked poor at the start of the show. But James had pulled off several stunning pieces, and was cosistently producing good bakes if not exceptional bakes. All the more impressive when you consider his age.

I still think Brendan should have won. Maybe the fact he was so good went against him and the producers decided it would be 'boring' to give the victory to someone who was so obviously the best? Brendan is clearly a massively tale red baker; not only has he consistently impressed the judges, every other contestant looked up to him because of his skill.


John gave nothing more than a weepy little Billy Elliot style sob story that wouldn't have been out of place on the X Factor. The shock that he won was genuine, and not just because I thought Brendan or James deserved the win. John was so mediocre I didn't think he actually stood a chance of winning. Even Paul Hollywood commented on how he had gone off the book right through the middle of the competition whilst James and Brendan got better and better. John seemed to survive one disaster after another simply because there was always some doing slightly worse than him.

[V8mate]

Baryonyx said:

I still think Brendan should have won. Maybe the fact he was so good went against him and the producers decided it would be 'boring' to give the victory to someone who was so obviously the best? Brendan is clearly a massively tale red baker; not only has he consistently impressed the judges, every other contestant looked up to him because of his skill.

But Brendan wasn't the best baker. He did well on the stuff he could practice to death during the week and pretty much failed at every unseen technical challenge.

[Halmyre]

James was robbed!

Incidentally, James' father is Radio Scotland presenter Tom Morton, who is/was a bit of a pistonhead, and actually wrote a book about his motoring experiences:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Internal-Combustion-Story-...

[calibrax]

blindswelledrat said:

"FAR too cakey, this cake".

All they meant was that it was more like a normal heavy sponge cake than a chiffon cake (which is supposed to be extremely light).

[OzzyR1]

I watched the odd bit of this series as the OH likes it.

Quite glad Brendan didn't win as from what I saw of him, I disliked his air of smugness.

It also occurred to me that when he has dinner, he probably orders a side of fava beans and a nice Chianti.

[ajprice]

OzzyR1 said:

Quite glad Brendan didn't win as from what I saw of him, I disliked his air of smugness.

It also occurred to me that when he has dinner, he probably orders a side of fava beans and a nice Chianti.

This. x eleventy billion. Smug wasn't in it, I just wanted him to get off my TV. Out of the three I was supporting James, shame about his 5 cakes not being one that put him out of the running. Didn't expect John to win over 'him', but happy he did.

[FiF]

New season starts in 10 minutes.

It's on cakes and no doubt Blindswelledrat will still be mystified why people watch it.

Mmmm cake.

[Mastodon2]

Great viewing this. Loads of people oafing around in a tent.

[miniman]

Gas Mark 8 until his eyes burst, hopefully.

[devnull]

Must admit I have a soft spot (not a soggy bottom!) for this program.

[blindswelledrat]

FiF said:

It's on cakes and no doubt Blindswelledrat will still be mystified why people watch it.

You are right and this includes my wife and daughter. Genuinely bewildering that watching people cook cakes is prime time television. And the judging is just so dull. "Oh, that's a good cake". "That's not a very good cake".
Its like watching a televised women's institute sale.
This sits right at the top of the list of things that make me love my wife ever so slightly less. Even about Britains next model or Heat magazine.

[FiF]

It's car crash TV. These aren't Britain's best bakers but a carefully selected group of people who can bake a bit mixed in with some mentals for the giggles. Last night was so bizarre thought they'd collected together a group of self harmers.

There's usually three who actually are very competent though.

Agree with BSR that the judging is the weakest bit. Personally I reckon for our licence fee the Beeb could post us all samples and make their profits from a Cowellesque phone vote.

To be fair it does give people ideas so that they can go away and do it properly without the artificial and deliberately minimal time allowance.

Still it's less annoying than Britain's Next Top X talent idiot. Let's face it there's a thread on here about one cookery competition which seems to have descended into "Phwooaar! Look at the bazongas on that! "

That's what would sort out GBBO, more boobage.

[devnull]

FiF said:

Personally I reckon for our licence fee the Beeb could post us all samples and make their profits from a Cowellesque phone vote.

Nah you're alright, i wouldn't want to run the risk of tasting salt in my cake like last night!

It is car crash telly. Baking is a fine and precise art and it is definitely more about the entertainment of the viewer rather than judging who actually makes a good cake. Christ, they even have two comedians as presenters!

It is interesting to see the different types of bakes, however. I'd never heard of an angel food cake until last night.