Aulty

Bake Off needs some serious re-engineering. Obviously, the challenges need to be scaled back to reasonable and aspiring to the average viewer. I don't know whether they need to rethink the judges or presenters, but something needs to change if they don't want this to run out of steam in the next 3 years. As for this week: a biscuit tower in patisserie week? Are the for real? Make that weird vertical tart a showstopper if you must and have run out of sensible ideas As a technical it is just face-palmingly stupid. I need Sandro's midi charlotte in my mouth, damn that looked delicious. I also need his banana sponge recipe. Losing Janusz is like losing Jurgen all over again. I the over-gesticulating a new think with Paul, or have I just never noticed it before? Looks like wannabe-magicians-tourette.

I haven't seen this, and I don't think this story is doing much to convince me otherwise. I always though Sue Perkins' travel shows are a bit sub-par. Exoticism is a very fitting description, considering rumors about farmers and their sheep. And its not like they would stumble across that without her knowing. This is the kind of thing you'd expect to maybe come up on a more serious Simon Reeve programme.

That was a really good trio of challenges - I maybe could've done without the mango caviar, but it didn't bother me. The showstopper was half baking, haft crafting challenge, but I am glad that they didn't expect the baklava to be the structural element. Baklava is one of my favourite desserts (preferably with hot lemon tea), but I hate that it is so rich that you can't (or shouldn't) have more than a couple (to keep Dr. Kayla happy)

Thats one of the jokes when Grandda Joe explains the agreement. The different packets are pinned on the board to symbolise the North and the Republic. I enjoyed that.

I rewatched the show. I know that back in the day I was very pro Charles and anti Josh, tbh I think I only was pro Charles because Nico Tortorella and the writing for Josh melted my head. The second time round I noticed how incredibly unlikable all the guys (except Enzo, who is a catch) on this show are. As are half the women. I really wish the 'no baby' lady-manager KT from the final season, Josh was hooking up with, was introduced sooner and could've stayed around. A strong driven woman to spar with Liza instead of Josh running after her like a puppy. Diana just got better on rewatch, as did Maggie (shame about her love life going nowhere). It should've had more Diana+Maggie content. Weirdly, I also somewhat like Quinn - in the current climate she does not seem that over the top. In retrospect most of the book ideas pitched and pictured on the show also make a lot of sense. Of course the timelines are still massively questionable. Lauren and Redmond should've been roomies. The final season is still terrible.

It surely was very close between Chloe and Ashley. I've had quite a rant Ashley but tbh I also can't recall any of Chloe's pieces. She seems to always have very ambitious, sinuous ideas that she then needs to compromise on. I preferred Ashley's desk this week. But I still it doesn't really matter whether Ashley or Chloe are in the final, because for my money the win will be between Lauren and Jacob. And even Jacob will have to come up with a really neat design to be in with a chance.

They completely lost me with that ridiculous showstopper challenge. Making a bake pretty, elaborate even, - thats fine, but the trend of turning everything into some 3D sculpture or toy and the overuse of food colouring needs to stop.

I couldn't disagree more. Is is not concerning that you want to force two people together even though Otis doesn't love her? There is more to a relationship than the one nice date night they had and that everyone in the Ruby/Otis fandom is fawning over.

Oh Ashley, you lucky ducky. Russell obviously overthought that whole brief. If you make a chair even 2 people are struggling to lift, it should be back to the drawing board immediately. Its like that lass last year who wanted to make a bed entirely out of railway sleepers. Mad, that. But, like with many other similar shows *cough*ProjectRunway*cough* its the conundrum whether its design or execution that should count more. That rocking chair was one of those things that surely looked nice on a 3D CAD drawing but just doesn't work IRL. Well deserved double Whammy for Lauren. I think she and Jacob really stand out on design and skills.

Good news for international viewers, I guess.

Came to say basically the same. They've had île flottante as a technical before (original season 4 / US PBS S2 (2015) / US Netflix collection 2, episode 3) and it must be one of the least exciting things I've ever eaten. Custard buns, custard tarts, steamed or fried dumplings with custard (that ski resort favourite), Asian baked custards (although with their track record of butchering traditional recipes ...) or something with Sangkaya. I liked Janusz' tip that steaming his meringues will keep their shape. If Kevin was Laura, they would've kept her because flavours! But it was really close, and Janusz was very lucky. There was a sweet moment between Paul and Prue when she praised his pastry recipe.

I love that Ann gets so exited over Jomar (?) doing Filipino recipes. The only thing thats missing for me on CBBO is a standout character, someone like Janusz, plus a Sandro for the craic (the casting for GBBO has been good these past two years), and, yes, someone with better comedic timing for presenting duties.

The bridal episode was really underwhelming, I didn't any. It would've been a lot more interesting were they able to colour and cut the hair too (although I can imagine those models being hesitant if their wedding isn't far off), but coming up with an idea and do it for 2 people in 2 hours is a mean setup. The creative challenges I just skip through, but the re-interpretation of Amy Whinehouse was pretty good.

I told my friend about this show and all she said was: I am glad I don't have to do that sh*t anymore. I doubt she'll watch the show. Between the shitty pay and working conditions (even though she worked in a very posh, high end salon) she has become pretty fed up with the customer facing side of the industry.

Anna

This is going to sound really mean, but ... if Ashley was the first reserve, then the pickings for contestants for this show must be really slim. She had one decent week - the daybed week - but besides that and for someone who trained in wood working, she is lucky to still be in this competition. The skills might be there, but on creativity the others are way ahead of her, even the ever over-complicating Tanya. She was so so lucky she won that annoying immunity challenge. Jacob, Lauren and Russel sure look like the front runners at the moment. I am not mad keen on this huge sculpture challenge and wouldn't be mad if the scaled that down to a more manageable size where they don't have to spend the bulk of the time removing a solid cube metre of wood first.

The crossover I didn't know I needed: Sewing Bee's Esme Young and Pottery Throwdown's Keith Brymer will appear together on an episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip!! I don't have a date for their episode yet, but Celebrity Antiques Road Trip series 11 begins on Sunday 23 October at 6:50pm on BBC Two and iPlayer. Theirs should be the 11th-ish episode.

The crossover I didn't know I needed: Sewing Bee's Esme Young and Pottery Throwdown's Keith Brymer will appear together on an episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip!! I don't have a date for their episode yet, but Celebrity Antiques Road Trip series 11 begins on Sunday 23 October at 6:50pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.

I just realised that Kyla looks like my GP and now I can't unsee it. The two have very opposing opinions about sugar 😄 I disapprove of any challenge that makes bakers spoil good bread by 'painting' it with food colouring.

I assume it was Noel who suggested or at least heavily supported GBBO having a Halloween themed week (he suggested Vegan week and Danish week was down to Sandy). SO here is the question: what would you like to see or suggest to the producers? Me? I would love to see them do something Eastern European - anything East of Vienna will do - because they have really tasty treats and delicious breads. An apple based challenge (as they did this week) would've been high on my list too, along with something nut-themed or floral flavours. AN allotment themed week maybe. I am sure for copyright reasons they couldn't get away with HArry Potter or LOTR themed weeks, but a literature inspired week, why not?

The clootie dumpling. They've been done before (James in Original season 5 (I think thats US Netflix collection 1), episode 6) and didn't go down well back then either if I remember correctly.

Thanks for starting a thread for this. I'm always unsure how many Primetimers watch stuff thats not officially available to US viewers. My good friend trained as hairdresser and I used to be a hair model for her and her colleagues. She was on the team for the London hair show a couple of times and now works for Schwarzkopf Professional, teaching hair professionals new methods and introducing them to the new salon products. I have to introduce her to this show and see what she thinks. She used to cut my hair until she got the Schwarzkopf gig, now I cut it myself and I feel even I cold do a better job than some of the contestants did in the cut challenge. If they had given the cut-models who weren't happy with their look a chance to pick one of the other contestants for a second go (the precision cut dude with the long hair probably could've done something nice for the girl who was talked out of cutting her hair very short) that would've been worth watching. I also get what the guest judge was about when he said he wanted them to take it a step further that would make other people ask for a hairdresser's phone number. The colour challenge was cool, but keeping such a colourful look neat requires a lot of further salon visits once the roots start showing again. The models all had amazing hair. The hair models for the creative brief, I feel for. I would not volunteer for something like that ever again. You basically have no say and some of the creative challenges didn't look very hair friendly. I hope they get the stuff taken down properly and some hair treatment to clean and relax the hair before they get sent off. As a show I think its very similar to the make-up based Glow Up and the 'creative' challenge is all about that picture for Instagram. There isn't much for the average person to learn. Explain some techniques, some of the corner stones of hair care and styling. I feel that with both shows I would like to see a regular make-over challenge with regular people. Give me something that is attainable for me.

I don't know if this is going to come to Netflix, but Channel 4 (on E4 or All4) has that new hair styling show - The Big Blow Out. Its a similar structure to Glow Up, but for hair stylists. They managed to get some big brands for challenges and so far the show has also had hair colouring and a cutting challenge (if anyone remembers the short lived show Hair on the BBC, this is a lot better). And the judges (Sam McKnight and Lisa Farrall) are pleasant enough, and AJ Odudu is gorgeous and brings good positive energy as presenter. I just wish they would explain their techniques a bit more.

The Halbrand/Sauron slow burn, especially telling Galadriel that she was the driver of the operation that brought him here, was good. Galadriel is acting like a child not alerting anyone to her revelations about Halbrand. The stranger and the cultists was unneccessary and far too long. Gil-Galad needs a better razor. Ugh the scene with Sauron in a billowing black cape there at the end. Is it really a 2 year wait til the next season? Thats too long for a show like this. They will have to build up momentum again.

Yeah, I expected a bit of an update too. I really needed closure on James and Erin There is a short documentary on the BBC about the 'real' Derry Girls aka the girls who went to Thornhill (the real life version of Our Lady Immaculate) at or around the time Lisa McGee was there. They show a few clips of Lisa dancing on stage that are very much like Erin & Co in the season 1 finale. There are also a few shots of a girl that is the spitting image of Michele. Its in Irish (with subtitles), its called Ceathrar Cailíní Dhoire