katisha

We watched this one today and loved it too. What an amazing, talented lady Doreen is!

Oh this episode hit me right where it hurts when we learned right at the end that What an amazing guy Tim was to have stepped up and done so much for his brother over all those years.

The plot thickens!

Have either of the two newbs who aren't Poh ever been on the show before? And why has Melissa been ousted? So many questions...

Wait...what?

I just binge-watched Season 9 with my mum during the past couple of days and was thrilled with the result. Asmaa - what an amazing lady she is, and so talented. I myself went through breast cancer in 2015 and the thought of having a surgeon who would also make bespoke bras for her patients just blows my mind. A very worthy winner! Mia, meanwhile, is very talented and what a trajectory for someone who hasn't been sewing all that long, but was obviously born to do it. And did anybody show more growth than Tony, who started off his sewing life making his own postal delivery accessories for his bike and ended up making transforming evening wear? Love this show and can't wait for the next season!

Hmmm! Big changes to judging format?

True to my word I didn't watch the finale, but according to Facebook Brent won. Needless to say I'm so astonished by this news that I need a good lie-down to recover from the shock. So I'll await your comments with interest, those of you who are going to sit through it. Oh, and vale, Mr Zonfrillo. Even though the season didn't crown the winner I wanted, I'm still gutted at the thought that it was your last. 😭

Deccy admits that he bit off more than he could chew.

I do too, @Aerobicidal. Despite his linguistic mangling and gift for inappropriate statements, he's an immensely likeable young guy and very hard-working. I reckon someone will snap him up for a cooking show, maybe with Uncle Robbie!

You chose not to watch last night's episode, @Snazzy Daisy, and I've just chosen not to watch the finale. What a lot of complete and utter bollocks tonight's episode was. 🤬 I suppose I didn't realise how much in Deccy's corner I was until it became clear within about the first 30 minutes that he was going to be booted out. I started fast-forwarding from that point because I couldn't listen to one more second of smug-arse Brent doing everything as perfectly as ever and Rhiannon's squawking. What a total waste of time this season has been, and it really hit me tonight that it's a pity Jock's final season has gone out with a whimper, not a bang (although I suppose he would have been pleased that his favourite won). These are the rules in seasons such as this. Favoured contestant cooks the same thing over and over again. Judges: Wow, he does it so well. I would know instantly that Favourite Contestant cooked that dish. Non-favoured contestant cooks the same thing over and over again. Judges: Can't you do anything else? Favoured contestant tries something different. Judges rather obviously help them, and also push them through anyway because they're so proud that their favourite went briefly outside their lane. Non-favoured contestant tries something different. Judges come over to the bench more and mess with the contestants' head, saying stuff like, is this REALLY the time you should have thought about doing this different dish? Why aren't you doing what you're best at? I think Declan should be proud that even though it wasn't a wise choice in retrospect, at least he left the competition trying to push the boat out further. Maybe it was his way of acknowledging that no matter what he did, he didn't fit the bloke with sad backstory and redemption arc vs the old chook finally making a finale edit so he might as well go out swinging. I'm out - I'll be back to read what happened after the episode is over on Sunday.

No, he's not, @Mellowyellow. They were competing for the advantage of 30 extra minutes in the service challenge, and of course Brent won it.

It's one thing to have an extremely favoured contestant working for the show's major sponsor. It's another entire level of inappropriate to have someone else who works for the show's major sponsor setting and taking part in the judging for a challenge in which one of the three contestants is the extremely favoured one who also works for the show's major sponsor. Jeez, show, just give Brent the trophy already and be done with it. I was pretty sure he was going to win the advantage before they even started. I suppose we'll just have to trust that Curtis didn't send Brent an internal Coles memo with some hints and tips about what he'd be cooking on the day. I just wish Declan hadn't had one of his space cadet days where he isn't as focused as he can be and does stupid things. When he's on song, he works in a much more calm and sensible way but on his bad days, he's rivalling Rhi-Rhi in the chaos stakes. I hope that whatever dessert Brent attempts to make in the three course challenge brings his whole attempt undone but unfortunately, I reckon he could choose to make an ice-cream flavoured with his own bodily fluids and the judges would pronounce him the new Heston Blumenthal. Sigh...

Oh, @Snazzy Daisy, so sorry that you read Theo's facial expressions in the previews all too well. From very early in the piece Declan was in cruise mode so it was always going to be between Theo and Rhiannon as to who'd be going home, but I suppose I can buy that Rhiannon's split sauce was less offensive than undercooked seafood and missing elements. But when they were recapping some of Theo's best dishes, it made me realise all over again that he's not one-dimensional like Brent and has made so much more of a variety of dishes and for that reason alone, in my view he deserved a top 3 spot. So wrong. 😡 Whilst I think it'd serve the producers right if Rhiannon did "do an Emma Dean" and manage to win whilst being manifestly unqualified to do so, I'm now 100% on Team Declan if I can't also be on Team Theo. I just wish Declan had helped Theo earlier than he did because it would have given him a better chance to sneak into the finals and pip Rhiannon at the post, but the fact that he helped him at all, something which would never have happened on a show like Survivor or other more mean-spirited reality shows, is one of the reasons I keep watching this show. Actually, I'm officially Team ABB as well (Anyone But Brent). Not because I dislike him, mind you (although the cocky version of him is pretty obnoxious), but because his winning has seemed so inevitable for so many weeks now. I suppose we can only hope that that incredibly mega complicated dessert he's dodged all season is part of the finale, giving Declan at least a chance to beat him. I'm old enough to remember 'The Lord's Prayer' by Sister Janet Mead, so when this was on K&K in this context I found it absolutely hilarious!

This may well be a rhetorical question, but did Brent really cook the best dish on tonight's episode or did he win extra points for the best sob story? I suppose we have no choice but to take the word of our esteemed judges that every repetitive protein on hibachi/glaze/adobo sauce/sambal/fresh salad is something bold and revolutionary but I remain unconvinced because they even look identical as per @Snazzy Daisy's pics last night of two Brent dishes side by side from different weeks showing how far (?!) he has come. I'm sure everyone's already noticed this but the order in which the food gets tasted has been especially significant this season. If you are tasted first or last, you'll either win or come close to winning. Tomorrow night looks interesting - a Peter Gilmour dish where you don't get a recipe. Was I mistaken or was it a savoury dish as opposed to the usual mega complicated dessert?