[S21.E04: The Wright Way]

I have a feeling that the final 2 will be Rashika and the guy from LCK.  Right now, Danny is the only other chef I can see making it all the way

[S21.E02 Living the High Life]

Bad basic cooking skills will get you sent home over a badly conceived dish almost everytime

[Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion]

I knew the minute Ashley finished her cake that she would win as long as it tasted ok.  She had the best-decorated cake by far and away.  I wonder how much time Kevin lost by having to remake his cake.

I never got a sense of racism in Nancy's behavior towards Sherrod.  His techniques have been hit-and-miss00 all season.  He was a more reserved person so it was much harder to play off of him for "good" tv.   

It sounded like all 4 of the final cakes tasted delicious so it came down to the decorating and Ashley aced that

[Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion]

Ashley always over decorates.  There is too much stuff on her bakes.

I've been watching too much Great British Baking Show.  I was wondering what "blitz puff pastry" was until I saw what they were doing then I knew it was "rough puff pastry"

Too bad about Javier.  I hated to see him go but raw pastry when everyone else did ok was the kiss of death.

I think that Duff directs the outcome far more than we thought.  He has more specific comments and I think he balances the opinions of Carla and Nancy.  Not that it would have saved Javier last night

 

[Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion]

Right now, Javier and Kevin seem destined for the finale

[SYTYCD in the Media]

Cat will be back as host.

Judges will be Nigel, Alison Hoeker, Comfort Fedoke, and DWTS alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy.  This has the makings of a good panel

set to air Mar 4 at 9PM

 

[S20.E12: Let Me See Your Peacock!]

I suspect that all 4 will go to the finals, they've done it before unless someone really screws up next week.  I think they really want to see a collection from all 4 as they all are so different as designers

Even with anonymous runways, it is impossible at this point for the judges not to know which designer did what.  They all have their signature looks.

 

Rami won because that kind of pleating and draping is not normal for menswear.  Those colors would look great on a red carpet. Bishme lost because of the hat.  Brittany lost because she used Gucci's design for Harry Styles down to the big bow tie.  She didn't design she copied using different fabrics.  

 

 

[S20.E12: Let Me See Your Peacock!]

I really liked Bishme's vest.  The vest was cool. The hat and train thing not so much.  It worked with the ball cap and veil from a couple of weeks ago because the fabric was light and flowy.  This just looked like it was heavy and made him look like a pimp.   Prajee's looked like a matador met a ringmaster but I think he was done in by too many recent stints in the bottom.  Laurance...kilt...been there done that but to then pair it with a pair of shiny loafers, yuck.  Brittany loves to "borrow" ideas. Just because she sewed it well doesn't mean it wasn't someone else's design in the first place.  She should have been in the bottom for that alone. I liked Rami's and could easily see it being worn by either sex

[S20.E11: Double Bind]

I just finished watching Season 5, Korto's original season.  She was sarcastic and snarky, especially towards Kenley, who no one liked. In the current season, she was still sarcastic and snarky but somehow a bitterness came through more than anything.

[S20.E07: Fashion, Inside Out]

8 hours ago, Fellaway said:

For me, Rami's was far and away the best, both in execution and design. Loved it! He should've won, but Kara Saun's was a creditable win compared to the rest, even though I felt it verged on costume. Up close, I also didn't think the execution was all that.

Could not believe Prajje's was in the top, because, wow, that was not good. (Also, so much for anonymous runways when you plaster your name on the waistband of your model's underwear. With the way the designers talk and cheer and have signatures, they really ought to just give up the conceit of an anonymous runway. It's impossible in practice.) The best thing about it was the jacket, but the challenge was not about jackets. Laurence had the same issue - excellent jacket, but not so much for the actual challenge. Her underwear looked like the waistband of pullup diapers and like an afterthought, as well, in spite of what she said.

Korto's looked great walking down the runway, but up close, during judging, no. You could really see the skirt was last minute and how ill-fitting the bralette was. Fabio was the right one to go, though. I've never liked his designs, and this week's challenge really highlighted one reason why - he takes great bodies and makes them look dowdy, even half-clothed.

Rami was robbed!

Prajje's branded underwear aside, I remember reading that they actually film the runway twice so that the designer's comments are filmed after the judges see the designs for the first time

[S20. E06: Like Totally ‘90s]

I thought Bishmee's little dress was really cute.  I think it was the best outfit for a plus-size model in some time.  Almost any woman could wear that.

I did like Laurance's overalls. The cone bra...meh

on the losing team, my favorite was actually Anna's pants.  The plaid worked well there and I loved the flare

 

 

[S20. E04: Coronation Day]

I liked Korto's cloak and headdress and I liked Fabio's dress.  I just didn't like them together.  It looked like 2 different people.  Same thing with Laurance and Kara Saun's outfit.  Loved the cloak...that thing underneath looked like someone was wearing her petticoat and hoop skirt without the actual dress.  Herster and Fabio needed a different fabric.  Something that moved and was color rich not heavy, unmoving, washed out gray.  They might have won if they had.

Viktor and Kayne's dress was interesting.  It definitely veered into costume.  Without the corset, it was still costumey.  it was the detailing and headdress.  Dump the corset, dump the head/neck thing,  put a choker on her for jewelry, keep the leg detailing which I thought was cool and they had a good look.  However, I'd rather keep people who gave me too many ideas than keep the people who gave me none like Brittany and Anna.  That dress was sad...bad color, bad fit, bad styling, etc.  It looked like a princess dress at the end of a drunken night... limp, heavy, and droopy.  As much as I would like to see Anna go, I would have sent home Brittany.  She was responsible for that horrible skirt.

Personally, my winning look was Rami and Bishnee's.  That is a dress I could see a royal in.  Shoot even pair it with Korto or Laurance's clock and it would still work.  They might have won if they had time to produce a more dramatic shoulder.  The dress was simple and elegant.  Drama at the shoulder would have made it runway.  Even doing it in white or silver would have elevated it.

 

[Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion]

I had no problems with Zoe winning as she apparently had the best-tasting cake.  I did have an issue with the "advantage" being so big for the finale.  In the past, it has been something like assigning the themes or being able to have an exclusive flavor.  To give someone, exclusive access to certain decoration elements, such as the star cutouts for the 4th of July, seems a bit heavy-handed, especially for the finale

[S20.E03: Toying with Fashion]

I liked Viktor's design.  Prajje's design was awesome and probably the most commercially wearable garment.  However, one of the challenges was to make a whimsical garment and I that's why I think Viktor won out over Prajje.

Both Mila and Laurance phoned in the challenge.  I was surprised they didn't eliminate them both

Brittany was annoying during her season and hasn't changed any

 

[S20.E14: Fin.]

I said in the previous episode thread that the biggest challenge Buddha would have in the finale would be that he wouldn't surprise the judges (and he didn't) whereas both could and did surprise them.

Sarah's undercooked liver is just not acceptable at this level so it didn't matter how good the other 3 dishes were especially since the other 2 didn't make any game-changing errors. I thought Gabri put together the menu I wanted to try the most but his too thick overcooked grasshopper thing and his textureless dessert did him in.  Buddha just didn't make any errors that would give the win to someone else.

I think Sarah grew the most as a chef.  She has finally figured out how to mesh her food with upscale ingredients and international flavors.  I can't wait to see what she does with her menu going farther.

Gabri's restaurant would be the most fun.  His growth came in finally really embracing his Mexican food heritage (except for the bean cooking).  He just needs some fine tuning but maybe in his own kitchen his cooking style isn't quite as frentic.

I would love to sit at a chef's table and watch him cook.  He needs to embrace making his food and menus playful and fun because he has the flavors down

I'll miss Padma

Tom seemed like he's been having more fun this season than in years

 

 

[S20.E14: Fin.]

22 minutes ago, Chickabiddy said:

Well, that was…Buddha Boring. He’s an excellent chef and a culinary genius to be sure, but it’s just not exciting to watch the same kid win every time. Sarah ‘s undercooked liver just kills me. I really think she could have won this. And I am so glad that Gabri’s own genius came though in all its messiness…burned beans again - Gabri! Raw liver and burned beans in the finale…..conspiracy minded me is showing up again …was the fix in for Buddha all along?? 🤔 

The talking heads in the end really drove home for me  how one-dimensional Buddha is about winning. Sarah talked about sharing the message thst working mothers and people from small towns can excel and make a name for themselves. Gabri talked about how grateful he was and his passion to share love  though food. Buddha just talked about a dream that foreshadowed his winning. It seems a little empty. He strikes me as a lonely genius. 

And it didn’t escape my attention that Uncle Fester returned for the finale…rocking his smart-boy glasses. In all seriousness, Tom’s stylist needs to be fired….a black turtleneck and a matter brown blazer. 🤮 And I hope Marcus Samuelsson gave Boy George his hat back when filming wrapped. That’s shallow me done with the finale. 😜

 

I wonder if you would feel the same way if he hadn't won back to back seasons.  If he had won like 5 years ago it wouldn't have seem quite like he was winning everything all the time.

Buddha was the most consistent over the entire season

[Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion]

On 5/31/2023 at 4:33 PM, MoonKitty said:

Maybe I'm not paying close attention, but the season seems like one big bunch of "take this specific main flavor and this bizarre other flavor and make a dessert  with some other random-ass tacked on requirement without making it suck too badly." Yes, I know that really just sums up the majority of the FN baking championship genre--and maybe I've reached my saturation point--but when a contestant has to bake something with  . . . say . . . matcha and coffee (last week), it's just screwy. 

And, I never, ever thought I would agree with one of Nancy's favorite critiques, but a lot of the desserts don't look very summery! (There. I said it. Please don't hate me. 😇)

They must have foreseen the complaints after that episode was filmed because this week's was as straightforward as they ever get.  No crazy flavors and each preselected flavor was essentially equivalent to the others.
I thought that Johan was the only baker to really upscale his cream pie.  I could see that pie in a high-end restaurant

[S20.E13: Champions In Paris]

I think there may have been less obvious enthusiasm for the announcement of Buddha in the finale because they expected that.  Sarah winning was a surprise.

In the past, they have used family members for the wall challenge.  Besides the obvious Olympics tie-in for this competition making Olympians an easy choice, Buddha's wife is also a chef which would have been an obvious huge advantage for that team over everybody.  Maybe next time instead of them getting their own family member, they are assigned another contestant's family to work with.  

They've had 2 straight seasons of Buddha's food, his challenge is to do something that surprises them for the finale. They already know it will be delicious and beautiful but will that be enough against 2 chef's who consistently have surprised the judges with their flavors

 

[Top Chef in the Media]

3 hours ago, AriAu said:

Just saw Padma's IG story that she is leaving TC. 

Who's next-need someone with food chops, class and a warm and welcoming personality.....will they stay in family like with Brooke Williamson or Kristen Kish or go outside. Seems like it has to be a name and finding someone who meets those criteria will be tough

Carla Hall would also be an option.

[S20.E12: Goodbye, London!]

Frankly, NOTHING should be out of the wheelhouse of any of these chefs at this point in the competition. The challenges certainly may be out of their specialties but these really aren't brand-new techniques they are being asked to perform.  Gabri is the only one who hasn't worked in Michelin-star restaurants.  The last challenge was one of technique.

And anyone who knew they were selected for the show and didn't bone up on traditional English foods did themselves a disservice.

[Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion]

I think the fact that Ally had gotten to use her preferred flavors acted as a mark against her in the main heat.  She had what amounted to the easiest flavor combination, one that she took from someone else,  to work with and screwed it up.  The minute she piped out that Pavlova, I knew she was in trouble.  One that big and deep was never going to dry out in the amount of time allotted.  She would have been better off building individual ones.

[Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion]

It is never fair to give someone grapefruit and someone else apple.  One is inherently easier to bake with than the other.  Besides grapefruits are more a winter fruit than summer and apples are more a late summer/early fall.  Why not peach, apricot, plum, tangerine, nectarine ,or watermelon (next week)?  They like to use some unusual combinations.  I'd just like them to expand their idea of fruit flavors to some actual available in summer

[Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets - General Discussion]

Previously, Prime had a documentary on Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints.  It was very well done and they did not pull punches on that particular cult.  There are a lot of similarities between Gothard and Jeffs.

[S20.E11: Battle of the Wellingtons]

What I've noticed, through both seasons, is that in any of the team challenges Buddha just naturally takes charge.  He doesn't come in with both barrels blazing as we've seen others do.  He just steps up quietly.  Of course,  because of his pre-planning, he always has some idea of what to do for every challenge.  But, isn't that what a leader is supposed to do...be well prepared for anything?  What is amazing, in a group of executive chefs, is that I don't recall anyone objecting to him taking the lead.  Granted they may have edited nasty or resentful comments out of the talking head segments but I haven't seen anything post-production either.  This says a lot about his character.  

Whoever wins it, will have earned it through a tough competition.  They all seem like wonderful chefs.

 

 

[Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion]

18 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

This time around, I find it really obvious that if the cake isn't what you typically get then the judges have an issue with it. I have no idea if Manja's cake really was dry or how badly burned the granola really was (it looked a but burned at the edges of the baking sheet but fine otherwise) but April's cake was obviously not stable, too, but they didn't find fault with her cake and that was a pretty traditional/common flavor combination. Likewise, Molly's cake. They also looked boring on the inside but they got "one of the best things I've ever tasted".

The judges seem to have a really limited flavor profile. (And what is the obsession with salt? Salt is not supposed to be tasted, you're supposed to add a pinch to balance things out, not taste it (unless, of course, it's a cake with salted caramel or something like that)).

Weren't the final cakes supposed to match on the outside? Michelle's sunset looked pretty but her cake didn't exactly match her partner's but it was even more obvious with the healthy/unhealthy ones. They were opposite inside and outside and that wasn't what they were supposed to do.

Most of the Napoleons looked good. I'm not quite sure I saw the "it looks very spring-y" in the one that had a single white blossom and a white dot of cream on top, though. But they looked so good that there were several that I would have liked to taste which doesn't happen too often.

I think Manja wanted too much/wanted too much for too little time. I had hoped she'd stay because she colored outside the lines a lot but she was unable to deliver.

Agreed. Why did they think it would look pretty?

They can taste the absence of the salt because things aren't balanced or properly enhanced.