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Post by Bearcata on Oct 1, 2019 0:06:25 GMT
Agreed. Helena's elimination made no sense because taking all three challenges into consideration, she wasn't the worst. I'd say Priya and Rosie, and slightly Michael, were around the bottom part. Michelle was middle of the road herself, albeit it pretty low in the Technical, so maybe I could understand her ouster. But based on everything I saw and everything that was said, Helena should not have been eliminated. I agree with MFWalkoff that Paul just never seemed to really warm up to Helena's style, and he does have that tendency to play favorites and try to strongarm his decision of both winner and elimination on his fellow judge, and sometimes he gets away with it, such as with Rahul's win last season, or that whole debacle that was the first US attempt at their version of the Bake Off, where Paul somehow convinced his fellow judge, Marcella Valladolid (most likely because of the affair they had during the whole thing), to give the victory to a guy who did okay in the finals and won star baker the first week, but who was also horrible in every other episode between the first and last and yet somehow never got send home because Paul just seemed to see something he liked about the dude. Yeah, it's no secret that I just don't like Paul and have always considered him the one negative thing of the show from day one. It makes perfect sense check out my post from Sept 29 at 3pm.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 1, 2019 0:46:55 GMT
(replying to Bearcata) I saw the show too, I understand all that. But a bad showstopper doesn't always guarantee being cut when a baker does well in other challenges. And the sudden decision to cut two bakers was a surprise as well. I don't think Paul ever warmed up to Helena and her specific design style, and he was all to happy to cut her, even if it was before her time to go. Helena did not do that well in the signature, she had a good design (don't know how 20's it was) but the flavor was soapy, she placed well in the technical, but in the showstopper she had negative comments about design, flavor, and texture. She did not do well in the signature, she did not do well in the showstopper. After the signature and technical she was in the bottom five. The showstopper would indicate who would go and who would stay. Helena had the worst showstopper.
I put it all out on my post from Sept 29 at 3 pm.
They mentioned from day one that there will be an episode where two bakers will be cut because they were starting with 13 when they normally start with 12. Cutting two bakers has been brought several times in previous episodes.
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Post by MFWalkoff on Oct 1, 2019 0:53:11 GMT
I saw your post. You have your opinion, and others have other opinions which are just as valid. This show has never been only about statistics. Paul and Prue (and Mary before her) take the statistics and make subjective decisions about who is Star Baker and who goes. Like most shows, they probably consult with the producers as well.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 1, 2019 0:55:35 GMT
I don’t recall the judges ever delineating their exact judging criteria. But the showstopper is not supposed to be the one deciding factor. It may be the most important challenge, but there are two other challenges, one of which Helena won. Yes, Helena did not do great in the showstopper - but she was not the only one that was criticized. And there were some good points - Prue said it tasted good if she closed her eyes (ie taste ok, appearance not). Combine that reality with her win at technical, and her elimination does not make sense. The judges are always talking about design, flavor, structure, flavor.
The briefs state what the judges are looking for in each challenge. Was the brief followed? Does it look good? Does it taste good? Is the bread open and airy, or is it doughy? It is very easy to follow what the judges are looking for.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 1, 2019 0:59:47 GMT
I saw your post. You have your opinion, and others have other opinions which are just as valid. This show has never been only about statistics. Paul and Prue (and Mary before her) take the statistics and make subjective decisions about who is Star Baker and who goes. Like most shows, they probably consult with the producers as well. My post is not about statistics, I am just putting in a chart what the judges said about each baked item. It makes it very easy to see why bakers are star bakers that week and why some are eliminated. I could not figure out why Phil was eliminated until I went back and watched and listened to what the judges said about each baked good they were judging, wrote it down, and put it in a chart. At that point it made sense why Phil was eliminated. This week I did the same thing after Helena was eliminated and then pow it made sense why Helena and Michelle were eliminated.
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Post by ibot2much on Oct 1, 2019 13:49:20 GMT
I agree about Paul. I have been watching the old ones on PBS and currently they are showing the season that had the older man Paul who made the spectacular Lion bread item. I noticed this time around that he got the only hand shake during the first round, did poorly on the Technical and then had his lion for the showstopper--so basically he was the winner of two of the three rounds---yet while they gave him a special mention for the Lion, he was not star baker.
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Post by justCoz on Oct 2, 2019 0:21:08 GMT
Just got to finish watching the '20's episode. Ridiculous. If the first two challenges aren't going to make a difference on whether or not you go home, why bother doing them at all? IMO, winning technical should pretty well guarantee you won't be eliminated. What's the point if it doesn't?
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Post by Arielflies on Oct 2, 2019 2:20:15 GMT
Exactly. So many times they say it comes down to the final challenge, but does it?
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 2, 2019 3:54:43 GMT
Just got to finish watching the '20's episode. Ridiculous. If the first two challenges aren't going to make a difference on whether or not you go home, why bother doing them at all? IMO, winning technical should pretty well guarantee you won't be eliminated. What's the point if it doesn't? Winning technical never has guaranteed anything. There have been many times were a person won say the signature but did horrid at the technical and the showstopper and went home. David came in 9th(last) in the technical yet did very well in the signature and showstopper and he was up for Star Baker with Steph. Helena had issues with the signature and showstopper and unfortunately that sent her home.
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Post by rembrant on Oct 3, 2019 5:31:09 GMT
But the thing is other bakers had issues too. As I said, I can sorta understand Michelle's ouster, but not Helena's. She had an issue with the lavender flavor in Signature but good bake and presentation, she won the Technical, and her Showstopper had issues but Prue did like the flavor. If anything, I feel Rosie and Priya were weaker than Helena this particular episode when taking all three challenges into consideration.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 5, 2019 0:02:16 GMT
But the thing is other bakers had issues too. As I said, I can sorta understand Michelle's ouster, but not Helena's. She had an issue with the lavender flavor in Signature but good bake and presentation, she won the Technical, and her Showstopper had issues but Prue did like the flavor. If anything, I feel Rosie and Priya were weaker than Helena this particular episode when taking all three challenges into consideration. The Judges comments for Helena's signature were "design incredible", "lavender was a bit soapy", "not brilliant, not bad" After the signature I was sure Priya was going home she had a horrible bake. After the technical if you rated the 5 bottom bakers it would be Helena, Rosie, Alice, Michelle, Priya. The Judges comments for Helena's Showstopper were "don't like the outside", "the piping not good", "bit bland", "quite dry", "get the vodka, no raspberry" after all those comments I think Prue tried to soften the critique by saying, "if I close my eyes it's a pleasant sponge". Based on those comments Helena was not having a good week except for the technical. If they had only eliminated one person this week it would have been Michelle but unfortunately they did two. I think Helena was a fun person. She had a passion for a holiday and celebrated in every aspect of her life. Good for her. The best part of the competition is that Helena had no hard feelings about being eliminated. I would not be surprised if she ended up hosting a Halloween special, or write a Halloween bakery book.
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ccl
FORT Regular
Posts: 441
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Post by ccl on Oct 5, 2019 1:17:03 GMT
I don’t think you are going to convince people. Just comes down to a difference of opinion. Which is totally fine.
This week: Dessert Week
Steff is really pulling away. David seems to be falling back. Alice also had a really strong week, coming first in technical and having a great showstopper. I wonder how much the “historic” third week thing came into play with having Steff be star baker over Alice. Not surprised Priya went home...she has been struggling for a while.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 5, 2019 5:24:30 GMT
I was shocked that so many of the bakers don't do desserts and or don't like desserts. What the heck are pies, cakes, tarts, and cookies. Those are sweets. They are desserts.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 5, 2019 11:38:45 GMT
I don’t think you are going to convince people. Just comes down to a difference of opinion. Which is totally fine. This week: Dessert Week Steff is really pulling away. David seems to be falling back. Alice also had a really strong week, coming first in technical and having a great showstopper. I wonder how much the “historic” third week thing came into play with having Steff be star baker over Alice. Not surprised Priya went home...she has been struggling for a while. Not surprised either, that Priya went home. As you stated she had been struggling for a while and her skill set saved her in a larger group but her time management got her when the group got whittled down. I am hearing a lot of "I have never done a fill in the blank" from many of the bakers each week.
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Post by libgirl2 on Oct 5, 2019 12:49:38 GMT
I don’t think you are going to convince people. Just comes down to a difference of opinion. Which is totally fine. This week: Dessert Week Steff is really pulling away. David seems to be falling back. Alice also had a really strong week, coming first in technical and having a great showstopper. I wonder how much the “historic” third week thing came into play with having Steff be star baker over Alice. Not surprised Priya went home...she has been struggling for a while. Not surprised either, that Priya went home. As you stated she had been struggling for a while and her skill set saved her in a larger group but her time management got her when the group got whittled down. I am hearing a lot of "I have never done a fill in the blank" each week.So am I. This is not the most impressive season, though it was nice to see they all did well in the technical finally!
When I saw Steph's showstopper, I just knew, unless it tasted bad, she would win again.
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Post by ibot2much on Oct 5, 2019 13:18:46 GMT
So are these non-sweet-eating bakers just bread fans??? I don't see how you can call yourself a baker and not bake all those other things.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 5, 2019 13:30:09 GMT
So are these non-sweet-eating bakers just bread fans??? I don't see how you can call yourself a baker and not bake all those other things. But in Bread week I was again surprised how many said they never bake bread. What kind of bakers are these folks?
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ccl
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Posts: 441
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Post by ccl on Oct 5, 2019 13:44:26 GMT
I think by desserts they mean fancier things like bombes with all the different sections vs, say, a regular cake or pie.
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Post by MFWalkoff on Oct 5, 2019 23:01:14 GMT
That's what I was thinking too -- maybe they just like making cakes/pies, and don't dabble as much in custards, breads or savories. I'm surprised they got on the show -- are they running out of top-level home bakers in England?
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Post by Kao on Oct 6, 2019 4:49:42 GMT
Looks like Love Productions little experiment of having more young people on the show failed miserably. The first two years after they moved to Channel 4 they had the same mix of people that they had on the BBC shows and they were able to handle the bakes. Actually, I can't even say that it's a young person issue because Ruby, Martha, Liam, and Julia were much younger than these contestants and they did just fine; Martha in particular was adept in mostly everything they threw at her and she was just 17! I could accept these bakers if the standards were still high, but they aren't and it's really noticeable.
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Post by Arielflies on Oct 6, 2019 16:14:28 GMT
It's like they just don't care; like they've seen the show too many times and are careless with their words. This last episode I saw what could be called a flippant attitude even as bakes were failing. This season is not satisfying for me. They have to audition, right? I mean even Noel is showing ennui rather than slapstick.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 6, 2019 16:58:32 GMT
Series 10 Episode 6: Dessert Baker | Signature | Technical | Showstopper | | (Layered Meringue Cake) | (6 Verrines) | (Celebratory Bombe) | Alice | Black Forest Meringue | 1st | Tiramisu Bombe | David | Spiced Meringue Surprise | 2nd | Delightful Bombe | Henry | Towering Meringue Cake | 4th | Bonfire Bombe | Michael | Dark Chocolate Meringue Cake | 6th | Black Forest Bombe | Priya | Family Favourite | 7th | Summer Fruit Bombe | Rosie | Layers of Lime and Raspberry | 5th | Ruby Bombe | Steph | Eton Mess | 3rd | Mirror Bombe |
Star Baker: Steph Eliminated: Priya It was nice to see Alice and Steph in the running for for Star Baker. I would have been happy with either in that position. Steph needs to accept how good she is. Luv how her mom swears on the phone. I am wondering if Priya was simply doing to much in the time allotted for each task? Her descriptions of her bakes sounded good but she always seemed to run out of time. Simply scaling back a bit would have been helpful. I do believe she simply ran out of time and it was her time to go. David always seems to have weird/interesting flavor combinations. It is nice to experiment but I don't think he has done enough work to develop those flavor profiles and in the end it hurts him in this competition. I was surprised at all the critiques during the signature challenge. It does not seem that most did very well. It's almost as the contestants are self sabotaging themselves by saying "I don't like desserts", maybe subconsciously they are not making the effort.
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Post by rembrant on Oct 6, 2019 17:58:30 GMT
Series 10 Episode 6: Dessert Baker | Signature | Technical | Showstopper | | (Layered Meringue Cake) | (6 Verrines) | (Celebratory Bombe) | Alice | Black Forest Meringue | 1st | Tiramisu Bombe | David | Spiced Meringue Surprise | 2th | Delightful Bombe | Henry | Towering Meringue Cake | 4rd | Bonfire Bombe | Michael | Dark Chocolate Meringue Cake | 6th | Black Forest Bombe | Priya | Family Favourite | 7th | Summer Fruit Bombe | Rosie | Layers of Lime and Raspberry | 5th | Ruby Bombe | Steph | Eton Mess | 3th | Mirror Bombe |
Star Baker: Steph Eliminated: Priya It was nice to see Alice and Steph in the running for for Star Baker. I would have been happy with either in that position. Steph needs to accept how good she is. Luv how her mom swears on the phone. I am wondering if Priya was simply doing to much in the time allotted for each task? Her descriptions of her bakes sounded good but she always seemed to run out of time. Simply scaling back a bit would have been helpful. I do believe she simply ran out of time and it was her time to go. David always seems to have weird/interesting flavor combinations. It is nice to experiment but I don't think he has done enough work to develop those flavor profiles and in the end it hurts him in this competition. I was surprised at all the critiques during the signature challenge. It does not seem that most did very well. It's almost as the contestants are self sabotaging themselves by saying "I don't like desserts", maybe subconsciously they are not making the effort. That seems to be the downfall of some bakers on occasion, such as Flora from season 6, I remember how often her bakes suffered from running out of time due to the large amount of things she tried to do. One would think that after practicing at home, the bakers would realize what they can and can't do in the allotted time and try to adapt to that.
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Post by Kao on Oct 6, 2019 18:32:50 GMT
Priya seems really sweet. I read an interview she did and she said that when she left her job she felt very lost, so she decided to do something that she's always enjoyed which was baking. She said “If you just start with the things that you really enjoy, you can’t go wrong” which is a good attitude to have.
The cameramen are unusually snarky this year too. When the judges were talking about Michael's bombe being "gaudy" the camera immediately switched to Priya and her cake which I thought was a deliberately cheap shot. I also wish they would stop focusing on Henry so much as he's not half as cute as he thinks he is, and I'm tired of the camera going on him for reaction shots.
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Post by MFWalkoff on Oct 6, 2019 19:40:44 GMT
I am wondering if Priya was simply doing to much in the time allotted for each task? Her descriptions of her bakes sounded good but she always seemed to run out of time. Simply scaling back a bit would have been helpful. I do believe she simply ran out of time and it was her time to go. That seems to be the downfall of some bakers on occasion, such as Flora from season 6, I remember how often her bakes suffered from running out of time due to the large amount of things she tried to do. One would think that after practicing at home, the bakers would realize what they can and can't do in the allotted time and try to adapt to that. Ah yes, Flora. She was the one who couldn't stop herself from adding macarons on top of everything she baked. She was sweet. This week, I wasn't sure who was going to be Star Baker, but there was simply no other choice for elimination. It was Priya's time.
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Post by Bearcata on Oct 6, 2019 20:31:14 GMT
Priya seems really sweet. I read an interview she did and she said that when she left her job she felt very lost, so she decided to do something that she's always enjoyed which was baking. She said “If you just start with the things that you really enjoy, you can’t go wrong” which is a good attitude to have. The cameramen are unusually snarky this year too. When the judges were talking about Michael's bombe being "gaudy" the camera immediately switched to Priya and her cake which I thought was a deliberately cheap shot. I also wish they would stop focusing on Henry so much as he's not half as cute as he thinks he is, and I'm tired of the camera going on him for reaction shots. Please put the blame on the producers where it belongs. Michael probably has very good reaction shots and they use them. It is the same with Survivor confessionals every season it seems only a handful of people are seen in confessionals. A behind the scenes story revealed that all contestants have confessionals and that only a handful of people have snappy repartee that is entertaining for television. So the entertaining ones are used. Same here. Each baker has a camera person on them. There is a lot of film to edit and only the best shots taken.
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ccl
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Post by ccl on Oct 13, 2019 18:26:07 GMT
Festival week wasn’t what I thought. I thought it was going to be like music festivals instead of religious/cultural festivals. Mind you, I have never been to a music festival but I don’t think they are known for their baked goods (not that kind of baked ) so I should have expected. The showstopper challenged looked hard. Grilled cake. Why? And to have to build up the layers in the same tins...surprised there wasn’t more burned disasters. New star baker in the tent and Michael left. Not surprised at either, unlike other weeks.
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Post by Arielflies on Oct 14, 2019 0:12:57 GMT
One other season did a grilled layer cake as a technical challenge. The layers had to be light/dark. When I saw the title Festival I went to U.S. fair food and thought we would get deep fried Mars Bars. They still sell them in the UK, you know, and I'm jealous about that. I'm okay with Michael going home this week...it was a weird week.
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Post by Kao on Oct 15, 2019 15:53:39 GMT
The process for the showstopper this week was absolutely amazing, and I wanted to taste many of them. Such an intricate dessert.
Meh at Star Baker. I was sad to see Michael go as he was one of my favorites, but it was time. He was wildly inconsistent; one week up, another week down.
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Post by MFWalkoff on Oct 16, 2019 8:47:24 GMT
I did love Henry's reaction to the handshake tho: "Shut up!"
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