S11.E10: The Final

[janie jones]

On 11/27/2020 at 6:09 PM, Kohola3 said:

How bizarre that there are two different closed captionings!  It's not like British English is a foreign language.  Most of the time.

Who knows with Netflix. I was watching La Révolution recently and they had a subtitle option for English and another subtitle option for British English.

On 11/28/2020 at 1:03 AM, phalange said:

The showstopper was kind of underwhelming. It just looked like a bunch of different desserts thrown together which isn't visually appealing. I could see how either Peter or Dave could've won and neither would have been surprising.

I didn't think the showstoppers were ugly or anything, but they didn't wow me. I think the concept has the potential to be really visually appealing, in an Alice in Wonderland kind of way.

On 11/28/2020 at 8:00 AM, Phebemarie said:

Maybe the show is missing the gentle, (grand)motherly presence of Mary Berry to offset some of the silliness of Noel and Matt (and the coldness of Paul).  Prue seems to take intentional delight in setting up impossible challenges.  As a high school teacher, I know if everyone fails a test, that is on me, the writer of that test.  I also thought her quip to Hermine, "By your standards, it's a failure," was especially mean-spirited.  

I hate when judges (on this and other shows) say shit like "By your standards, it's a failure." There's nothing wrong with indicating that they know the person can do better, but usually when this is said, the person still did a good job. It's like being disappointed in someone for getting a 95 on something when they usually get 100.

On 11/28/2020 at 10:15 AM, blueray said:

I looked up but yes we did. It was the one where they made the rainbow bagels. I was trying to remember if they ever had to use meat in the season? As an american, I always find that interesting as that is not something we usually see in a "baking" show. But I don't recall them doing that this year.

I'm American, too, and when I think of "baking," I think of sweets and was always thrown whenever they would do something savory on the show. And then an English friend pointed out that the show was more about food you'd have for tea, rather than food you'd have for dessert, and it finally clicked.

On 11/29/2020 at 9:03 AM, rejnel said:

I missed seeing all the former contestants at the final, and the finalists' families! Damn you, COVID!

I wondered if they would do the little party at the end, and I think it was nice that they had the staff of the show and the hotel. I wonder if the contestants had any chance to interact with (and form relationships with the) hotel staff, or if they behaved like normal and stayed separate.

On 11/29/2020 at 6:07 PM, Suzn said:

I think the challenges for this season were bad and included things designed to fail - chocolate and ice cream in the heat.  Ridiculous to have those challenges when no one can really succeed.  They need to do those things in another time of year or find a way to cool the tent.  If they can't do that, then stop using those kind of challenges.  It's no fun to watch people fail through no fault of their own.  Also ridiculous was the wretched Sussex pond mess.  There was no reason to limit the time to make success impossible.  No one steamed theirs long enough because they just weren't given enough time!

This year especially, there was no reason to limit the time besides to make drama (other than, I suppose, people's contracts limiting their working hours). Literally no one there had anywhere else they needed to be.

On 11/29/2020 at 8:20 PM, iwantcookies said:

Thanks for the laugh. Yeah Pru’s teeth are atrocious. I don’t think she can close her mouth.

what I meant is in USA everyone who works on tv has perfect fake white teeth.

I'm not a fan of fake white teeth, either, but I'll take people's crooked, off-white teeth, over Matt's straight, surprisingly yellow, teeth any day.

On 11/30/2020 at 4:41 PM, Irlandesa said:

I don't remember who was the recipient of that joke but I think it had a completely different and non-creepy vibe compared to some of the jokes Noel made towards Peter.

Here was Matt's joke--

“You know they are called Batchelors Super Noodles? Because I am homosexual I call them Confirmed Batchelors Super Noodles.”

First, I don't think he's telling this joke to share deeply personal information.  I think he was simply inspired to make a pun/play on Batchelors Super Noodles but realizes that the "confirmed bachelor" euphemism is a bit outdated.  Including "because I am a homosexual" punches up the joke and primes the listener to make the connection.

Maybe because I'm familiar with the euphemism, but him simply saying "I call them Confirmed Bachelors Super Noodles" would have been funnier, and then I would have assumed he was gay. His announcing it first comes off about the same him saying "I call them Confirmed Bachelors Super Noodles, and in case you don't get it, the reason that's funny is because I'm a homosexual." It's stuff like that that makes it seem like he's trying too hard to be funny.

[SG429]

16 hours ago, janie jones said:

Maybe because I'm familiar with the euphemism, but him simply saying "I call them Confirmed Bachelors Super Noodles" would have been funnier, and then I would have assumed he was gay. His announcing it first comes off about the same him saying "I call them Confirmed Bachelors Super Noodles, and in case you don't get it, the reason that's funny is because I'm a homosexual." It's stuff like that that makes it seem like he's trying too hard to be funny.

Such analysis over a joke! So I couldn't resist.

I think Matt is one of the most "out" personalities in England, on and off the screen. His declaration isn't a statement of the obvious but the setup to a mildly funny joke. A little funnier than "I'm an American so I call (courgette) zucchini." The "I'm an American" part would be obvious to any Brit. If he had a chance to workshop the joke? Maybe, "In the gay community we call these..."

While I'm here, on to Noel's Peter Problem, see also Paul's Lime Nipples. From soggy bottoms to someone's nuts being too big, double entendres and innuendo have always been good for a giggle. I don't recall bakers ever being the direct targets of these comments in such a lascivious way as Noel did. A single comment about seeing Lottie naked, I'm sure, would have blown up the entire franchise. Wondering about the flavor of Sandi's or Prue's nipples? Creepy.

[AheadofStraight]

There was discussion earlier that maybe these contestants were chosen because they could do it during a pandemic. In this interview with Laura, she discusses that they were all notified just before things shut down. She also discusses how they practiced. 

Were your fellow contestants all confirmed prior to the pandemic, or did a few get a lucky break as alternatives? Some reality shows in America had to do that this year with COVID dropouts.
As far as I know, we were all chosen and we all got that call on the same day. Nobody told me otherwise. I’ve seen some online chatter along the lines of, Did they just choose people who could do it with the pandemic? That’s not the case. We were all chosen and picked and told about it as the pandemic was just forcing the world into lockdown. We were ready to go!  

https://www.vulture.com/amp/article/interview-great-british-bake-off-laura-adlington-bubble-filming.html?__twitter_impression=true

 

[Writing Wrongs]

I also found Noel super annoying this time around. I hate when he bugs the bakers while they are trying to concentrate. As far as being unfunny, for me that goes to the 2 who do/did the Australian version.

The showstopper is always my least favorite. The bakers always have grand designs that rarely pay off.

I liked Laura as a person, but she shouldn't have been in the final. Her messiness drove me nuts and her consistently having shit looking bakes was inexcusable.

ETA: I've never figured how if they haven't ever seen or heard of a bake in technical, they are able to replicate it without detailed instructions or pictures. But they always do.

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Writing Wrongs

[Brynnjk]

I've been binge watching GBBO and enjoying it very much but this season was very difficult to watch.   I intensely dislike the new cohost (Is his name Matt?  And I'm curious, is he supposed to be funny?  Seriously is he?  Is it British humor and I'm just not getting it?) and miss Sandy alot.  I mean the humor was still juvenile between her and Noel but at least they had decent chemistry.  And just from binge watching the past seasons, the challenges seemed so easy this season and nothing like challenges in previous seasons.  And Laura getting pass after pass for her flavors when her presentations were terrible (which would have meant her ouster in the past) just spoiled the entire season for me.  

 

 

[AZChristian]

18 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I also found Noel super annoying this time around. I hate when he bugs the bakers while they are trying to concentrate.

ETA: I've never figured how if they haven't ever seen or heard of a bake in technical, they are able to replicate it without detailed instructions or pictures. But they always do.

 

I agree that Noel was super annoying . . . and got worse so as the Covid season shows progressed.

Regarding the technical comment.  It seems like there is an assumption that the bakers should be able to follow non-detailed instructions like "make choux pastry" or "make a Victoria sponge base (10x12 inches)."  What I find funny is when they ARE given detailed finishing instructions, but the interpretation of those instructions varies wildly.  In an earlier season, watching them try to figure out how to make fortune cookies by folding the dough over the edge of a glass was hysterical.  And - this season - seeing Dave's vertical cornucopia was interesting.  They all had the same construction details, but different brains comprehend differently.

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, AZChristian said:

They all had the same construction details, but different brains comprehend differently.

That is my favorite thing about the technical. Not seeing the failures but seeing how differently they each take the instructions. (I still remember the one guy who like cooked the fondant on the tennis cake or something like that, all the other bakers seemed horrified!) I also love when they try to "cheat" and see what the others are doing. It's never bothered me since I never thought the technical held as much weight as the other two challenges. I think it's something like 50% Showstopper, 30% signature and 20% technical, or thereabouts. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Mabinogia
Fixed the math

[dleighg]

7 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

60% Showstopper, 40% signature and 20% technical, or thereabouts. 

check your math 🙂 

[Mabinogia]

44 minutes ago, dleighg said:

check your math 🙂 

Ooops Math is not my strong suit. LOL 

[AheadofStraight]

They actually got complaints about Mr. Spoon but crazily enough, rainbow bagels garnered more!

Ofcom has since confirmed that it has received 37 complaints over the jokes, with a spokesperson saying (via The Sun): "The complaints were about sexual references made by Noel Fielding."

... 

47 people also complained about rainbow bagels that were made, while the series opener featuring Matt Lucas impersonating Boris Johnson received 181 complaints.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

10 hours ago, AheadofStraight said:

They actually got complaints about Mr. Spoon but crazily enough, rainbow bagels garnered more!

Ofcom has since confirmed that it has received 37 complaints over the jokes, with a spokesperson saying (via The Sun): "The complaints were about sexual references made by Noel Fielding."

... 

47 people also complained about rainbow bagels that were made, while the series opener featuring Matt Lucas impersonating Boris Johnson received 181 complaints.

 

Who gets upset enough about rainbow bagels to register a complaint?

[Kohola3]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Who gets upset enough about rainbow bagels to register a complaint?

Seriously!  What is there to complain about?  They were hideous, true but really?  Unless it was some sort of complaint about the connection to Rainbow Pride?  I'm flummoxed.

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:

Seriously!  What is there to complain about?  They were hideous, true but really?  Unless it was some sort of complaint about the connection to Rainbow Pride?  I'm flummoxed.

If someone came up with an instant, guaranteed safe cure for Covid that could be distributed to the entire world in one day . . . someone would find a reason to complain.

[Aulty]

 

On 12/9/2020 at 2:12 PM, Kohola3 said:

Seriously!  What is there to complain about?  They were hideous, true but really?  Unless it was some sort of complaint about the connection to Rainbow Pride?  I'm flummoxed.

That was the first thing that crossed my mind too, but when it aired here in the UK they announced and marketed that technical challenge as a tribute to the national health service (people showed support for frontline healthworkers by putting pictures of rainbows in their windows)

It could also have been a complaint about the use of artificial food colouring.

[janie jones]

On 12/9/2020 at 1:04 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Who gets upset enough about rainbow bagels to register a complaint?

Some bagel purist who thinks the only bagels worth eating or referring to as "bagels" come from one particular bagelerie in New York City and adding color is an unspeakable abomination.

[SuprSuprElevated]

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

Some bagel purist who thinks the only bagels worth eating or referring to as "bagels" come from one particular bagelerie in New York City and adding color is an unspeakable abomination.

So did you email them all 47 times, or did you enlist family and friends?  😆

[Kohola3]

7 hours ago, Aulty said:

It could also have been a complaint about the use of artificial food colouring.

I would think that adding enough to make bright coors would end up tasting. kind of awful

[rereader2]

On 12/10/2020 at 4:55 PM, janie jones said:

Some bagel purist who thinks the only bagels worth eating or referring to as "bagels" come from one particular bagelerie in New York City and adding color is an unspeakable abomination.

No,no—so long as they are both boiled and baked and don’t contain odd foreign bits and pieces (like blueberries or other things that belong in pastries or muffins), us bagel purists are satisfied, even if grumpily.

[QuantumMechanic]

1) Put me down as someone who loves Noel & Matt's surreal and sophomoric humor.  Also, I find Noel's voice very calming.  (And I liked Matt as Nardole.)

2) Loved Noel's "Devil in the Dark" shoutout to Peter's honeycomb. 

[RoxiP]

I just like looking at Noel.  I'll bet his wife is never bored.

[Ms Lark]

On 1/6/2022 at 12:57 AM, QuantumMechanic said:

1) Put me down as someone who loves Noel & Matt's surreal and sophomoric humor.  Also, I find Noel's voice very calming.  (And I liked Matt as Nardole.)

I loved Noel on The IT Crowd and I still like him on GBBO. Matt has been good in other scripted shows I've seen him in, but I don't think he's a good fit here.