mlp

Valerie is a known foodie and also has at least one published cookbook. I really like her and enjoy her interacting with Duff and with kids.

Are those old episodes? What channel has them? I don't see them on Bravo's schedule.

I've been pulling for Jason all along but now I hope even more that he wins. He sounds like a great guy. I wonder what an apple stack pie is. Never heard of it.

The only chef I'm interested in so far is Jim although it's early days and we haven't seen much of many of the others. I didn't care for Brooke during her season and I liked Kristen even less. I'm sure I'm in a minority but IMO she had an odd flat affect and still has it in times I've seen her since. I like Sheldon better than both of them but I don't think he has the same kind of experience. His cooking just appeals to me more. Personally, I'd rather have something yummy and filling ladled onto my plate than have bits and bites arranged artistically with tweezers. If I pay fine dining prices, I want something to eat. I didn't see season 2 but I've read a lot of comments about Sam over the years. This season is the first time I've seen him and I don't find him at all attractive in any way. Maybe he was more appealing 10 years ago.

On my TV, both Jeremiah's sleigh and the woven basket (forgot who made it) looked very dark, almost burned, but neither Mary nor Johnny said anything about the color. That made me wonder if all parts of competition-level bread structures don't have to be edible. ??? Jeremiah is still my favorite so I'm glad he wasn't dinged. I also liked the lovebirds in a nest. I didn't care for the dull green tree in a pot but I guess Ashlyn did best over the three challenges so deserved Star Baker.

FN seems to be making kids' versions of all their competitions. I don't mind the kids' baking competitions too much but I don't like them on BBF because I don't care to see kids being sassy to adults and I really don't like seeing serious chefs having to make "elevated" chicken fingers.

I think you've summed up Justin Warner very nicely, Christina. I can't stand him. The awful blonde woman is another FNS alum, Melissa d'Arabian. Ugh. The only FN person I dislike more than those two is Robert Irvine.

Every time I think this show can't get worse, it does. Highchairs and baby food catapults? C'mon. That's side show stuff and beyond ridiculous in the context of a show ostensibly about cooking. The only reason I keep watching this nonsense is so I can follow the boards.

In an odd little coincidence, the Chopped episode with Nancy Judd was re-run tonight. She looked just the same but younger.

Thank you! I KNEW I'd seen her before but I just couldn't remember where. And I've seen that episode of Chopped several times too. Nancy looked a lot older and more "weathered" on the baking show.

Will there be any way to see this in the States?

Does anyone know where in England this was filmed? I noticed right away that the scenery outside the tent looked different then an aerial view confirmed that they weren't in the usual location. I'm just curious. I also noticed they were using KitchenAid mixers instead of the British brand but they had the British ovens with the doors that slide under. I'm delighted that they stayed as close as possible to the original version but I very much missed the mellow voice overs in a British accent. Ian and Nia aren't terrible but they come across as actors reciting lines and trying too hard as opposed to warm and genuine. I like Johnny but I wish he'd wash his hair and shave. He doesn't look very appetizing. I swear I've seen Nancy on TV somewhere before. Maybe she's just a type but she looked very familiar to me.

Seeing all the clips from old shows together reminded me how much better the show was before Rachael Ray. And Carla. I kept looking for footage of Joshie who won season 2 but I didn't see him at all. I thought that was odd but I could have missed something.

I wish the chefs had their names on their jackets. It's hard to retain them all right at first. The only ones I can put a name to so far are Sylvan, Silvia and Jim (my favorite newbie so far). I hope the woman with the attitude doesn't last long. She's deliberately obnoxious. Silvia seems to know what she's doing. Over the years, I've sometimes liked John Tesar and sometimes loathed him. I never worked out how I really felt about him so I was a bit surprised to realize I was mentally cheering him on and hoping he'd survive the sudden death. I was happy to see Katsuji who amuses me and Sheldon who I always liked but I doubt either of them will last very long. I'm very happy to see Graham Elliot in the position of respected judge instead of playing second fiddle to Gordon Ramsay.

That was great! I was actually cheering for MIT. Revenge of the Nerds indeed. Those kids were really impressive. Kacy did much better this week. I can't get past her awful, awful voice though. Every female who attempted the warped wall succeeded and Matt and Akbar didn't make any issue of it. I guess now that the women know they can do it, they can.

I thought the undersea display had the best workmanship by a long shot but I also thought the judges were right that it wasn't self-explanatory. I don't think I would have realized it was a Nutcracker take off without an explanation. They should have made the main characters bigger than the rest so there was a focal point. I still think that team is the best one though.

I couldn't believe they sent Vincenzo home instead of Matt who has screwed up every task. Vincenzo's choice of yellow seemed rather weird but very few of them really looked like yule logs. I thought Matt's was downright amateurish. I didn't really understand the judges' raving about Jason's window because the log was the challenge but I like him so I'm glad he won. I wonder who the well-behaved dog belonged to.

I enjoyed the college competition. "The Kid" who trains with Daniel Gil and the good-looking male cheerleader were impressive. It was neat to see two of the women make it up the warped wall when doing that hadn't been achievable by females for so long. I was dismayed to see Kacy on the team, partly because I really liked Alex Curry and partly because her voice drives me up the wall. Kacy has seemed to me to be quite impressed with herself ever since her sudden fame a couple years ago despite the fact that she hasn't been impressive since. She managed to talk about herself during every interview she did with people completing successful runs.

Vincenzo looks a bit scary but he seems like a really nice guy. He and Jason are easily my favorites. Cheryl's cupcake decorations were well done but they didn't begin to meet the definition of "imposters." I was disappointed that the judges let her get away with that.

This show would be a lot better if they'd just play it straight, more like the old Challenge. I agree that the "huge" party at the end is highly suspect more often than not. I don't think there were as many as 20 people at the Rugrats party, kids included. I think many of the shots during the baking are staged for the cameras. I think that every time I see a baker stick her hand in the oven to test a cake and the back of her hand is a half inch from the rack above which should be extremely hot., Nobody does that. I often notice bakers handling cake layers that supposedly came out of the oven just a minute before. They should still be too hot to handle with bare hands. Also I wish they'd stop pretending, on all these competitions, that the contestants have no idea what the theme will be and they just happen to be great fans of whatever it is and know all about it and are able to pull out sketch pads and come up with intricate designs on the spur of the moment. This was blatantly obvious on Halloween Wars when the team would gather around the sketch pad and "brainstorm" and then, 30 seconds later, the sugar artist would pull out molds made for the exact parts the "spontaneous" design required. On Challenge, viewers were always aware that the teams came prepared and usually had practiced their cakes at home. Knowing that didn't spoil watching them work at all.

I love this show. I like Duff and Lorraine and I was happy to see Bobby Deen back. I do not like Nancy Fuller but she was a relief after Damiano on the Halloween show. I do wish Nancy and Lorraine would stop sniping at each other. It's not cute or amusing. Duff looks so much better since he gave up on stubble and grew a proper short beard. So far, I like all the contestants too. The little guy from Kentucky sounds, to my ear, exactly like David from Worst Bakers which is weird because David is from somewhere in NYC. You would think making a bundt cake look like a wreath would be simple but the only one that really said "wreath" to me was the one with a bow that was an odd shade of pinkish-orange. That baker also had some cookies frosted with an unappetizing shade of green.

Well, crap. I could see Carla's win coming several episodes back when I realized that Lorraine was being weirdly tolerant of her behavior but I kept hoping I was reading that wrong. Her cake looked like something Christina Tosi would come up with (not a compliment). I felt sorry for Samantha. She looked absolutely devastated. The judges' comments were clearly rehearsed but I thought they all did a lot better than the judges for Worst Cooks.

I've always liked Bobby Flay but I never knew what his reputation was beyond FN. A couple years ago, I read Marcus Samuelsson's memoir. In it, he called Bobby one of the best chefs in New York. I'm inclined to think that, if Marcus says so, it must be true. IMO Robert Irvine (whom I loathe) isn't fit to be Bobby's busboy.

David and Carey were my favorites too. I also had a soft spot for David left over from Worst Cooks. He's quite the character but not obnoxious about it. I was hoping he would make the finale with anyone except Carla who is beyond obnoxious.

Rachael was driving me nuts. I suspect she can't stand not to be the center of attention. I didn't really care who won but I was leaning toward Anne just because she wasn't acting like an idiot. I wonder why they didn't have the judging in a restaurant like they usually do. With real chefs. Those two women were awful - terrible acting. The man, a real chef and restaurant owner, sort of took a back seat.