Starry-Eyed

Totally agree with Jesse that Cait is mentally tough. I haven't loved all her bakes, but I admire the way she picks herself up after every setback and throws herself full throttle towards whatever she has to do. It was very apparent last week when her team cake fell apart, and she didn't seem to waste any time and energy getting angry or frustrated, but snapped into (a little terse and taut, but highly efficient) problem-solving mode. I am SO glad Nickey didn't get sent how after that stupid twist sabotaged her. Her original flavors sounded so delicious too. I thought Alex would get the win, but Rochelle's cake was absolutely stunning. Girl on Fire vibes for sure. I liked Anna, but she was the right one to go home, even though I agree the judges were probably looking at more than just the episode's baking. Stephen is just in a different class than she is.

Just wanted to shout out a spotting of several Great Food Truck Road Race alumni on the new Netflix docuseries "You Are What You Eat." I literally recognized Pamela and Wendy (from the South African truck Amawele’s) from their bickering and talking over each other, but one of the other sets of twins (it's a twin study) is apparently from Season 7 (Grilled Cheese All Stars)

Maybe they could just blind judge the preheats, if completely blind judging wouldn't provide enough reality tv drama. Even that much might shake up/prevent some of the judging biases.

I also wouldn't be shocked if the Pura Cepa had "regulars" who went over to support the Vegans, given how close the teams were/are (Pura Cepa apparently showed up to Easy Vegans' watch party to celebrate with them)

SOOO glad Khana lost! I was infuriated with their smug, catty talking points long before the episode ended. It made me roll my eyes when they patted themselves on the back for being a woman-owned truck with a nonbinary member (I was honestly surprised by that. Al doesn't present super feminine but had they described themself as nonbinary before that?) when their competitors are also a woman-led business and also members of the LGBT community. While I was happy with the outcome, this was still a really frustating, not-fun season, and this episode felt really manufactured as well. Food Network needs to seriously revamp how they approach this show or it won't last

I mean, no one has lost a body part, so that's something at least

Agreed. I suspected that last week with Da Bald Guy's sharp drop-off and the complete lack of any mentions of the coconut wireless. To be fair, I've always thought the social media was a little unfair... but then again, it is a crucial food truck skill. Maybe teams should be given "fresh" socials at the beginning of the competition and specific rules they all have to follow to even the playing field but allow teams to use that skill set? I know Bald Guy was the lowest performer, but I was still a little confused over the elimination. Easy Vegan wins the first challenge (both parts) and EV and Pura Cepa are paired, so are Khana and BG. They are supposed to be splitting sale totals evenly. Then, Bald Guy wins the second taste challenge and Pura Cepa wins the second sales challenge. So shouldn't the Bald Guy's total been equal to Khana PLUS their challenge bonus? Or did I miss something?

I think they should give each judge a keypad, and have at least 3 decoys a cake. Then, it's did you fool ALL the judges, MOST of the judges, ONE judge, or NO judges. You eliminate the scramble of the judges trying to communicate, and you give a more objective basis if you must eliminate people.

I thought there was a whole thing season one where someone added a fondant tomato to the decoy salad... so I think staging the decoys has always been a thing. I just wish they would be clearer what the rules are with that. I really hate the eliminations. I think it takes away from the camaraderie of the cast. Season one, some of the best parts were the commentary from the non-playing contestants.

Agatha Christie DEFINITELY has crazy psychopath murderers in her catalog. It's just that those books aren't considered her great works and don't make it to the shortlist of titles that most people are familiar with, because, as you said, it's a weak writing choice.

I wondered about that. She was so quick to say "fluently" when he asked, and then it seemed to me like she was hesitant and there was a lot of English (and they weren't proper nouns or very specific nouns either. I think one was "community" which I'm SURE has a translation). I don't speak Urdu so I would love it if anyone can give a more informed opinion, but it sure seemed to me like she overstated her ability. The one-two punch of losing Paizanos, who I was really rooting for, and all the unfair Khana shenanigans has really soured me. I will finish the season, but I don't know about the next one. It's a shame because up til now this season was starting to win me back.

I really can't stand the main woman from Khanda.She made really harsh, unkind comments about two different teams for no on-camera reason, plus the way she talked to her team. Their food may be great, but I can't wait for them to be gone. Brandi and her 4hens (including the blue beard guy) were a little better, but I hope they cool down the drama. I honestly don't know what Paisano did (beside not get a rave review at the first challenge) to attract so much hate. Sure, they did try to "poach" customers from The Block, but that's just normal good-natured rivalry on this show, and it came after The Block had already razzed them a little. I was actually impressed with how calm and not confrontational they were after the accident, which convinced me that as far they were concerned all that rivalry was just for the show.

I think this is it, exactly. I too find it idiotic that having the same hairstyle as Jesus wasn't considered Christian enough.

Thank you so much for sharing that article! It was excellent and said many of the things I've felt but struggled to articulate. This series has been troubling to me because I've realized that many things and people in my growing-up years were more Gothard-adjacent than I ever realized... so thankful my parents had the wisdom to spot the crazy and stay away! My mother shared the story of being interested in using ATI materials (she hadn't looked at them much yet, this was preliminary) but finding out that in order to use them, my father would have to shave his beard. He was willing, but she told him that if those people thought they could tell a person's character by their facial hair, she wasn't interested in what they could teach her kids.

It's not just the order of the flag, though. Rainbows have an actual color order... one I assumed everyone learned in primary school. It's just plain weird to make a rainbow dessert with the colors next to each other like that and NOT put it in order. It's totally a valid criticism.

To me, this moment exemplified the docuseries blending together normal Christian teachings, "fringe" elements, and out right cult behaviors and abuse all together with no differentiation. What Jinger said in that clip is a simple statement of a foundational Christian doctrine - all human beings are sinners and require Christ's death on the cross to save them from their sins. Obviously, no one is required to accept this belief just because she says it, but the framing of this as evidence of her ingrained guilt was disingenuous. I'm sure thousands of Christians who most would see as "normal people" would also affirm her statement.

Watermelon is already such a challenging flavor to work with (I like fresh watermelon, but can't think of any dessert I'd want to try it in) it definitely didn't need the added challenge of an accent flavor. Plus, some of those accent flavors were SO strange. Watermelon and curry? Watermelon and chili? Who is putting those together? Something like watermelon and hibiscus or watermelon and grapefruit would have made a LOT more sense.

They were trying to make boba pearls. Honestly, I can't think of many other ways to make an edible water balloon that wouldn't take a lot of time and effort, especially given how much the judges absolutely despised the one lady's chocolate melt balloon shape.

I felt like Duff and Damaris were both really harsh. Maybe it's just the editing (boy did it seem like they were FLYING through the judging segments), but what Duff said to Jessica(?) about her flamingo donuts seemed incredibly rude, especially since I thought they were the best-looking of the bunch and was fully expecting them to be gushed over until Duff barrelled out of the gate with the "what is there to say, do better next time" comments. Ugh, I hate these twists. The water balloon one was horrendous. Even if they had been given an extra hour to properly execute everything they were asked to do, an edible water balloon would have only fit with two or three of the cake themes. If they had been specifically asked to do pool cakes, that would be different. An edible water balloon dessert could have been a fun preheat challenge, I guess, where things like sugar domes or creampuffs might have been options, but they seemed like they were setting the bakers up to fail.

Kardea really did not come across well in this episode. She had so many dumb criticisms that made her seem less knowledgeable. The worst was the wood texture comment.

I'm excited! These seasonal baking championships are my favorite kind of comfort tv.

For some reason, I thought they both burned granola. Oops!

I feel like that's a much more valid concern on a kids' show - a traumatic experience really could make a kid decide they don't want to have baking be their "thing" anymore - than saying it to an adult who either bakes as their actual job or is such a dedicated and talented amateur that they got on the show in the first place. Honestly, given that Manja burned the crap out of her puff pastry, I have little sympathy for her burnt granola. You would have thought she would have been quicker to check the ovens.

My stomach dropped when that happened. I was SO relieved when it was a contestant XD

I have a theory FBI boss lady is on the triplets' payroll. She definitely was HARD telling Abbasi to drop the case, and not in the same way she told her to back off in other episodes.