TexasTiffany

I'm watching this show, too. I was so excited to see this idea in the promos. It's like Tool Time for real. I like their ideas of reinventing things but I don't like some of the items they've done. Like that barcalousy on a mower. I agree that it wasn't anything really useable. When the show is over it gets taken to the dumpster or stripped for viable parts. I'm hoping as the show goes on they will get into a groove and find more steady footing with their build ideas. I want this show to do well since I like both Tim and Richard. I'm glad they chose April to be on the show. She's got some useful hacks that I might actually use. (I had never heard of putting sandpaper on a tube to help smooth out circular areas. I'm not a carpenter but sometimes I have to fix something.) I'm very surprised that the winner gets only $5K. As much as "hey Google...." is heard on this show, Google should be chipping in some prize money. Even the lesser known baking competitions give the winning team $10K. In the episode with the treadmills, when they introduced the competitors they all seemed way overqualified for this competition. The guy in Waco who restores old houses and does that for a living. I was wondering why he'd want to do this show in the first place since $5K doesn't sound like much. In any case, I hope he got something out of doing the show, at least free advertising. I liked the first episode where the guy made a dragon flame thrower. He was very creative, thinking out of the box to make a dragon exterior. Probably more of what Tim and the producers were thinking with the "more power" theme. I laughed when the guy said he was using redneck chrome aka duct tape. I hadn't heard that one.

I didn't watch Just Shoot Me. I remember George Segal from the 1977 movie, Rollercoaster.

I was watching reruns last night. Will yells to the smiths, "You've got 2 minutes left in this round!" Right after, he tells one of the smiths that he is using the 5-minute epoxy. LOL

I LOVE this ad, too! I stop what I'm doing to watch all of it. It's got Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, and Jake talking about their "stand-ins". Aaron's is a guy that bares no resemblance to him at all. Patrick's stand-in is Paul Rudd. HILARIOUS! Then, there is "Drake... from State Farm" ! Move over, Jake, you're getting in the way. lol

On these shows, the judges give positives for a contestant and also give a negative. ITA that the editors decide what to show. We saw Duff & Valerie give Nemo positives even when it was obvious that his didn't meet the requirement of having the ears be made of cookie dough. Duff had told Nemo at least once before to think about adding a flavor instead of making the usual plain vanilla sugar cookie. This challenge Nemo made a simple vanilla sugar cookie, again. I don't know what happened to his other 2 cookie doughs (I would have added flour) and those did have flavor, but absolutely don't do again what Duff specifically told him what NOT to do. Nemo has been a good baker for much of the season so this episode was rather strange. I even thought that maybe Nemo was trying to throw the competition, but what would be the purpose of that. I just thought some things were odd. He mismanaged the first 90 minutes of time. Two doughs and a face shape? Editing showed 30 minutes left and Bella had to remind him to get his cookie in the oven. Nemo got the easier "happy" face in the challenge, but made a black mouth in the shape of what? It wasn't a smile. His cookie looked a little under baked also since it was very light in color. He put what looked like 1/2 an inch of cream cheese frosting on it, way too much. He forgot to make all the cookie components, missing the ears and the nose. I don't remember if eyebrows were included or not. His details on the eyes were quite sloppy. Those blue swirls for earrings were an afterthought. We have seen him function at a higher level. When the season started I thought Nemo would be one to watch. I'm disappointed he did so poorly this round, but I don't think there are politics afoot.

I watched this episode. I thought it was interesting. Dave's parents lived in Florida. Dan and his wife got hooked on moving to Oak Island, bought in, and basically left Dave and the house. Dave got married young. His equally young wife wanted to party too much so they divorced. To lift Dave out of his hard time, his dad asked him to join he and his mom on the island. Dan introduced Dave to Garnette who was working at the Oak Island Inn at the time. She had 2 children. They ended up getting married. Dave was an iron worker among other things and was able to support his new family. He was in demand and constantly had work, but also would help his dad on the island. On one of Dave's jobs there was an accident. A cable broke, he was knocked back 46 feet on a job site. While at the hospital, they attended to his leg and he was missing part of a finger, but they didn't realize he was bleeding internally. He had a stroke. At age 36 he woke up from a coma and had to learn how to walk and talk again. His left side still shows signs of partial paralysis. He's got little to no feeling on that side of his body. That's why he stands with his left arm and hand a bit differently and limps. Also, the stroke damaged part of his frontal lobe. That's why he curses more and says things that are rather abrupt or rude. Matty Blake pointed out that Garnette usually says "that's not him talking, that's his injury". Gary said, "Dave is the real 'curser' of Oak Island". Whether Dave truly believes there is treasure we don't really know. It's pointed out several times that he was there for his mom and dad b/c that's what they wanted to do. He met his wife. He had and has a good life, nice home, and they still live on the island. His wife wants him to retire and rest. He said that if treasure is found, he still gets a percentage, but he doesn't have to be there all the time. Rick said that Dave is still in the area and a part of Oak Island. He's not gone, but stepping back. If or when treasure is discovered, they'll probably invite him to join in.

Maybe 2021 is the year people come back to life.

It was great! I wouldn't mind the judges doing this again and seeing what they'd come up with in another challenge. I do think Ben's sword was the most intricate, most difficult, and most awesome of all the judges blades. (it's a replica of a legendary historical sword, but I can't remember the name of it right now) I liked that Ben described what he was doing, why he was doing it a certain way, the pitfalls to watch for, etc. He presented it in such a way that I was enthused to watch him every step, and it made me appreciate his skill and time to create such a beautiful blade. (rather than just showing a finished blade) I found it funny that Ben tells us he likes to listen to country music in his earbuds while grinding. J Neilson's task was to make a knife using materials he hasn't used before. He used a different handle material than he's used to using. I think it was a hardened rubber but I'm not really remembering much else since I wasn't impressed. J's portion of the show was more interesting due to his interaction with his wife and dogs. David Baker's challenge was a sword with a handguard. He told us he was making the blade damascus since he wanted to push himself and didn't want the other judges chiding him on it later. Of course it turned out great, but I was more interested in seeing his surroundings and wondering why he moved to Virginia, if he lives alone now, etc. Ben's forging area looked more like a warehouse. J Neilson's home forge was more like a tool shed. David Baker said he had moved to Virginia and his workshop was still coming together. It's more like a barn style workshop. His "big blue" was being delivered while we watched. All of them had some trouble with filming at home. J's wife did the filming for him so he had help.

This was one of my favorites growing up. The Honey Bees.

They'd change the name of the show. The Curse Sunken Treasure of Oak Island. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ When they show Zena's map, I try to read all of the notations on it. One is "December Triangle". I googled it. I read that these stars appear brighter during the winter months. Maybe in December they are aligned in such a way that points the way to the treasure. (The Lagina brothers should find a boulder coordinating with the December Triangle marking on the map. Get Harrison Ford to stand on that boulder at sunrise in December, while holding the garnet brooch. The sun will shine through the stone and point the way. There should be a set of numbers for what day in December. The 2 anchor boulders should match with the December Triangle stars. While I await an invitation from the show's producers to present my theory to the Lagina's, I will work on my hypothesis.)

I've been enjoying the holiday Oak Island ads. Last year we joked here about doing a Christmas vignette for this show. Someone had a green army man with a metal detector and a bulldozer. Also joked about a string of red Christmas lights to simulate the many rounds of dynamite blasting. I laughed so hard when I saw the new promos with the toy excavators and scenery. Someone sure had fun and is spreading the cheer all around!

The producers play shenanigans with the challenge times on all of the cooking/baking shows. We're told "1 minute and 30 seconds" while one baker is taking cookies out of the oven, another baker is still working on their royal icing in the mixer. It's clearly not 1 minute left. They want to amp up the drama. ITA that the German baker should have known when she turned the dough out on her work surface that it was still too tacky. All she needed to do was add some flour into the dough and knead it on her work station. No need to put it all back in the mixer, which didn't make sense. How does she not know this? White elephant/secret santa guy didn't seem to get the "tie-dye" idea. His white and gray elephant looked more like a camouflage design. It didn't say Christmas. Didn't say tie-dye. And it wasn't executed very well. The only tie-dye was santa's hat, which was done rather poorly. Eddie talked to him about his white monochromatic idea before he went too far to change his direction, but the guy didn't take Eddie's hint. I knew he was going home in the first round before Eddie walked away. I am okay with mustache baker going home after the first bake. He used bacon flavoring which the judges said they couldn't taste, and his cookies were too thin. If he had used real bacon I think the judges would have kept him. He said he didn't have time, but he had 90 minutes. He would have had time if he had put a pan of bacon in the preheated oven first, while he was mixing the rest of the dough. IIRC, the judges said his designs were too simple and his airbrushing was sloppy. So many of these bakers put their cookies in the oven, then do nothing while they bake. What do they do with their time? Taishi's tie-dye Christmas trees were amazing. Her technique came out beautiful.

Her prices are ridiculous. The decorated cookies are all so beautiful and inspiring, but I don't like to eat that icing. I bake really good cookies myself, but I don't sneer at Keebler's cookies.

And... 3 more must dye.

I see another spin-off show coming out of this. The Curse of the Lost Hair Color.

My first impression is the atmosphere on the show now is everyone has to be really serious. The judges were all business and no laughs. I greatly enjoy when David Baker is making puns, and Doug is telling a joke. Maybe a few more episodes with Grady Powell and everyone will loosen up again. That first episode was like a nun with a big ruler standing ready to crack the knuckles of anyone smiling or having fun.

It was strange to hear Lina say that she doesn't like cookies. She bakes cookies for the money. It just seemed off-putting. I want to see someone passionate about baking win the competition. Lina also told us that her dog is her cookie taster. Huh? Is that supposed to be a double meaning, like cookies aren't good enough for her. They are fitting only for dogs? While cookies don't have to be so sweet, they are still not the thing to feed to your dog. Her doggie probably gets diarrhea or other gastric problems. I wasn't sorry to see Lina be eliminated in the first bake. A big oops from Brian. He said, "you got to meet Sandra Lee", but he meant Ree. Was that an innocent mistake or throwing shade? I would have chosen Belinda to go home after the first bake. I don't think her cookies met the "futuristic" challenge. Her stocking cookies were decorated beautifully but I can find that type of decoration already. Christmas is celebrated around the world. Every country has decoration adaptations reflecting their culture. I think she knew she wouldn't do as well with that challenge as the others (after they told us what their concepts were). Instead, Belinda did what she wanted and came up with a story to spin it. I liked the idea of Sonja's cookie ornament breakable, but it wasn't executed as well as she envisioned it. It was funny that she told us it was fitting for her to do an ornament breakable since she broke so many of her mom's ornaments growing up. Maybe we'll see her in more FN baking shows. I was wondering that, too. What did Belinda do with her time? It doesn't make sense that those triangular pieces took that long to prep and construct. Something with that doesn't make sense. I think it would have been smarter for her to decorate the panels when they were laying flat on her board. We saw how beautiful her stockings were. It was a mis-step trying to decorate the lantern after it was put together. Also, it seems a cheat that she did a drop style, freeform cookie. This is Christmas Cookie Challenge. She's supposed to show off her skills and talent. Everything she presented was unfinished and underwhelming. She probably wanted to come on the show to promote her business, but I was unimpressed. I'm glad Ashlee won. The cookies she did in both bakes were clever and decorated beautifully. They gave her a hard time over her log breakable. Why not a yule log design? She did a good job with the decorating and icing work. Good on her. I'm glad she won.

If I may... What is... FUCK ETA: In honor of Alex.

I found this earlier and thought I'd share.

They are really drawing this out. Haven't there been 4 episodes already? So, when IS Bobby going to cook? This is more like "Suffer Through Tiffani Faison" than "Chopped: Beat Bobby Flay". ITA last night's episode produced dismal dishes. Mistake after mistake after "pureed french fry" mistake. Raw meat. Burned green beans. This has been ridiculous. Bobby has already won and he didn't have to cook.

I googled this. Apparently, both of them have challenged each other twice. Gordon didn't follow through when he was challenged. Then, Bobby didn't follow through when Gordon challenged him. https://www.eater.com/2013/5/13/6435205/gordon-ramsay-wimps-out-wont-cook-vs-bobby-flay (from May 2013) https://www.foodbeast.com/news/ramsay-spill-your-guts/ (Feb. 2018) https://www.foodbeast.com/news/ramsay-looks-for-flay-at-mesa-grill/ (Aug 2020)

GZ was trying to eat the ice cream dessert with those chopsticks. I burst out laughing. Is there a ban on SPOONS that I'm not aware of?

I went on their FaceBook page to look at videos and found out their last episode was Saturday. The shows I watch to help move the week along while I'm having to stay at home are now over. I looked forward to Saved by the Barn to help me get through the week. They haven't gotten word yet if they will be renewed for a 2nd season. I sure hope so. I've grown very fond of this show and all of the animal residents. I can practically name all of the animals when they come on screen.

Being in lockdown for 3-1/2 months, DDD and GGG have been my go-to shows. I too didn't care much for Guy when he was taking his first steps on the Food Network. I really appreciate him now and all of the good things he does. TFN has been airing marathons of DDD and GGG. How long until they rename it the Guy Fieri Network?

Dan (talking about Buttercup the cow): "it's like playing chicken with a 900 lb chicken."