S12.E01: Cake Week

[caitmcg]

3 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

I was impressed that Freya didn’t launch into a lecture when she was required to make fresh butter. And I had no idea you could make butter with a mixer.

She had to know there’s no way she could appear on Bake Off without having to use eggs and dairy in the technicals, so presumably she’s made peace with that. I forget how long she said she’s been vegan, but it wasn’t that long, a year or two. 

It looked as if half of them used the stand mixer and the rest the food processor. Either way, you’re just overbeating cream until it solidifies, and either way sure beats shaking it up in a jar like we did in elementary school. 

[Gwendolyn]

Yay, Bake Off is back.

Of course when they called out the time left that required math, only the engineer Giuseppe got that it was 30 minutes. I like him, Jurgen and Crystal. 

I was glad on the technical that Freya didn't object to the butter, is this because she's a newish vegan? I read in the Times there was a kerfuffle where a bunch of ethical vegans went after her on social media for having a horse and were like if she were truly vegan she wouldn't ride (insert massive eye roll here). So far I like Freya because she's not a preachy vegan, instead she seems to focus on the practicality of trying to replace eggs and dairy in her bakes.

Also was it this bake off or the American version where someone tried to make whipped cream once and every batch turned to butter and they were like, "how am I doing this" over and over?

The Maggie/Pru thing has run it's course, I don't care if the guys love it, the producers need to kill that gag dead before ep 2.

Finally, I thought swimming baking Met detective was a goner, because her drunken signature, her under mixed technical, and her underwhelming showstopper, but then I remembered the guy who went home had a worse signature and showstopper and they seemed to ignore the technical, which gave the dude from Cyrpus (I will get their names eventually) the confidence to get his flavor and sponge right for the show stopper. Flavor and quality of sponge also saved the dude from Trinidad. The lesson of Bake Off, if you can't make it look pretty make sure it tastes amazing and is baked properly, that will usually save you.

[Bewitched]

I assumed that the intro skit was only a "gift" for those of us in the US on Netflix.  Does the rest of the world get that reference?  If so, sorry!  (I actually have a soft spot for that song but its not something I think we should consider a great export).

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that had difficulty with Lizzie's accent and never thought that vocal fry was an international phenomenon.  I was impressed with the vegan-ish bakes though.  I thought she did a nice job of balancing her own preference with what was required for the task.

[iMonrey]

I was lucky to have stumbled onto this because Netflix wasn't promoting it like they usually do when a new season arrives. It was buried down there under "watch again." Sheesh.

I don't mind Matt, but maybe that's because I never really warmed up to Sandy. I enjoyed the German Flintstones theme song.

Quote

I couldn't understand a word Lizzie said

Agreed! She needs subtitles. 

It was interesting they didn't show the judges deliberating over who to send home like they usually do. They just came out and announced it. I wonder why. Too much time taken up by the opening skit?

[Domenicholas]

I really like Freya's eyes. It looks like one's blue and the other is green with a reddish brown dot.

When Lizzie said that she was from Liverpool, I thought of Yellow Submarine: "I'm a natural-born lever-puller!"

Giuseppe reminds me why I love engineers on this show. They're always so precise with their collection of mathematical instruments. So far, I like him, Jurgen, Freya, Crystelle, Maggie, and even George, although he struggled this weak.

[skipnjump]

On 9/24/2021 at 10:23 PM, PaulaO said:

I like everyone in the group except for Freya and her vocal fry.  Chigs  is extremely easy on my eyes.

Yes, that was some of the most exaggerated vocal fry that I have ever heard.  Most of the time is it much more subtle.  Is it a result of vocal fry combined with her accent?

[leighdear]

21 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

 And I had no idea you could make butter with a mixer.

When you lose track of how long you're whipping your whipped cream, it's spontaneous!  *LOL*

[theatremouse]

20 hours ago, chaifan said:

How did the guy with the pink blob of buttercream end up staying?

His pink blob tasted great. Eliminated guy's red blob was ugly and tasted bad.

[Jodithgrace]

Quote

It's a vocal fry. Vocal frys (fries?) and British accents together sound really weird.

In England, wouldn't they call that a vocal chip? Sorry. 

I didn't mind the opener. much better than that Wizard of Oz mess they did a couple of seasons ago. It's so good to have the show back, and the contestants are so varied, it will be fun to watch. I enjoy Noel, though he confuses me. It's like he wants to be Goth, but is too sweet natured to pull it off. 

Malt loaf reminded me of Boston Brown bread, which is similar in color and full of raisins. But BBB is baked in a can, for some reason and served with cream cheese, not butter. (at least in my house) Malt syrup is so nutritious that they used to give it to children and invalids during WWII by the spoonful as a supplement to the rationing diet. 

Anyway, too soon to pick a favorite, but welcome back, GBBS! (Or GBBO)

[bunnyface]

Maggie said something about she hoped they didn't make the Prue jokes for "10 days."  Does that mean they filmed the whole thing in a few weeks, in a bubble?

 

[Straycat80]

So glad this show is back! A nice group of bakers too. Add me to the list of people who does not think Prue and Maggie look alike just because they are both older and have gray hair.

So far I’m rooting for Maggie, Crystelle, Jurgen, and Giuseppe. Being America I’m having trouble understanding Lizzies accent. I liked Freya’s show stopper cake but her vocal fry is cringey. The right person went home, I think he said he had only started baking 12 months ago, probably to just get on the show. 

 

[Irlandesa]

42 minutes ago, bunnyface said:

Maggie said something about she hoped they didn't make the Prue jokes for "10 days."  Does that mean they filmed the whole thing in a few weeks, in a bubble?

 

I don't know how they filmed it but there's no way they could have filmed it in 10 days.  I believe the first two challenges are filmed at the same day and the third on the second day. 

[caitmcg]

1 hour ago, bunnyface said:

Maggie said something about she hoped they didn't make the Prue jokes for "10 days."  Does that mean they filmed the whole thing in a few weeks, in a bubble?

 

That’s how they did the previous season, so they may well have done the same this years, especially as it would presumably have been filmed before things were fully opened again in England. 

1 hour ago, Straycat80 said:

So far I’m rooting for Maggie, Crystelle, Jurgen, and Giuseppe. Being America I’m having trouble understanding Lizzies accent. I liked Freya’s show stopper cake but her vocal fry is cringey. The right person went home, I think he said he had only started baking 12 months ago, probably to just get on the show. 

No, it is Chigs who had only been baking for a year. 

[sheetmoss]

Scouse   accent

 

[Athena]

On 9/25/2021 at 11:35 PM, MisterGlass said:

Until this episode I thought I was pretty good at understanding a Liverpool accent.

Same. I think Lizzie's accent is one of the thicker scouse accents I've heard in awhile (having not lived the UK for many years) and especially on TV.

Paul Hollywood has a scouse or scouse adjacent accent. Even when talking to Lizzie, he said a couple words more scouse than usual.

The Pru / Maggie similarities in their older RP way of speaking and they are probably two of the poshest and oldest people on set. I liked Noel's chimney sweep comment because that summed it up exactly.

[joanne3482]

The whole time I was listening to Lizzie talk I kept thinking, she talks like Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous! I thought that was just an affectation the character had, not a whole accent unto itself. 

[theatremouse]

11 hours ago, bunnyface said:

Maggie said something about she hoped they didn't make the Prue jokes for "10 days."  Does that mean they filmed the whole thing in a few weeks, in a bubble?

I haven't gone back to rewatch and confirm, but when I watched I thought she'd said "10 weeks".

[bunnyface]

33 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I haven't gone back to rewatch and confirm, but when I watched I thought she'd said "10 weeks".

That would make more sense.  I have to watch it again with my mother, so I'll listen closer when we get to that point.

[Athena]

1 hour ago, joanne3482 said:

The whole time I was listening to Lizzie talk I kept thinking, she talks like Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous! I thought that was just an affectation the character had, not a whole accent unto itself. 

Bubble had a strong Lancashire accent. Lancashire is not too far north of Liverpool.

[rollacoaster]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:46 AM, Bewitched said:

I assumed that the intro skit was only a "gift" for those of us in the US on Netflix.  Does the rest of the world get that reference?  If so, sorry!  (I actually have a soft spot for that song but its not something I think we should consider a great export).

If they wanted to include Billy Ray Cyrus in a more contemporary way, they could have done an "Old Town Road" spoof. 

[Rickster]

On 9/26/2021 at 11:46 AM, Bewitched said:

I assumed that the intro skit was only a "gift" for those of us in the US on Netflix.  Does the rest of the world get that reference?  If so, sorry!  (I actually have a soft spot for that song but its not something I think we should consider a great export).

I’d defer to someone from the UK, but the internet tells me the song went pretty high on the UK charts, and the tune has been used by fans of a number of UK football clubs in various chants and songs. So probably not just a US thing.

[Deskisamess]

On 9/27/2021 at 12:25 AM, Irlandesa said:

I don't know how they filmed it but there's no way they could have filmed it in 10 days.  I believe the first two challenges are filmed at the same day and the third on the second day. 

Yep, but they wear the same clothes. I think they did that on the Sewing Bee also.

[bybrandy]

On 9/26/2021 at 6:46 PM, leighdear said:

When you lose track of how long you're whipping your whipped cream, it's spontaneous!  *LOL*

My mom used to be so afraid of whipping cream in the mixer because she was sure she would make butter so whenever she made whipped cream it wasn't really whipped enough.  I eventually took over whipping the cream.  But then she made butter and it takes enouh longer that she stopped being so worried.  :)

[bybrandy]

I thought Maddie said 10 weeks. 

 

[theatremouse]

On 9/27/2021 at 2:21 PM, rollacoaster said:

If they wanted to include Billy Ray Cyrus in a more contemporary way, they could have done an "Old Town Road" spoof. 

I'm more confused why they intentionally chose a song to get them a rhyme for "flakey" and "tart" for Cake Week. Perhaps they felt the premier needed a Big Production Number, but to me that further shows they do not understand the audience.

[rollacoaster]

21 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I'm more confused why they intentionally chose a song to get them a rhyme for "flakey" and "tart" for Cake Week. Perhaps they felt the premier needed a Big Production Number, but to me that further shows they do not understand the audience.

I think it was more a Big Production Number to open the series as a whole. It was so corny and a total headscratcher. It was trippy, unexpected and ridiculous, and I kinda love it for being off-brand. It sure caught everyone's attention and got everyone to talking, didn't it? 

[Cetacean]

All I can say is, thank heavens for closed captioning.  This is one tough group to understand.

[rollacoaster]

On 9/27/2021 at 5:01 PM, Rickster said:

I’d defer to someone from the UK, but the internet tells me the song went pretty high on the UK charts, and the tune has been used by fans of a number of UK football clubs in various chants and songs. So probably not just a US thing.

I had no idea that this song was popular in the UK! Thanks for sharing!

[Danny Franks]

On 9/26/2021 at 8:26 PM, skipnjump said:

Yes, that was some of the most exaggerated vocal fry that I have ever heard.  Most of the time is it much more subtle.  Is it a result of vocal fry combined with her accent?

I think it's a combination of vocal fry and her Yorkshire accent, which often softens and elongates vowels at the end of words. I'd much rather listen to Freya than to Lizzie, who has that awful Scouse accent that has aggressive glottal stops.

On 9/27/2021 at 11:01 PM, Rickster said:

I’d defer to someone from the UK, but the internet tells me the song went pretty high on the UK charts, and the tune has been used by fans of a number of UK football clubs in various chants and songs. So probably not just a US thing.

Yeah, it was something of a novelty hit, back in the early 90s, around the same sort of time as Right Said Fred and Jimmy Nail's unlikely pop career.

[Deskisamess]

Speaking of the "vocal fry" thing...I've watching a Documentary series on Netflix called Myths & Monsters, and one of the speakers is a Diane Purkiss, a Fellow and Tutor of English at Keble College, Oxford. She specialises in Renaissance and women's literature, witchcraft and the English Civil War.

She has a very odd accent along with an extreme vocal fry that makes me wince every time she speaks. I can't imagine listening to an entire lecture of hers.

[meep.meep]

Rewatched with my son who is visiting.  When Freya was introduced, he started laughing.  Apparently all psychologists are vegan at some point in their lives!  His wife is a vegan psychologist and he's met lots.

Tom completely biffed the signature and then didn't take the showstopper challenge seriously and produced not splendid cake.  I'd say he was the right choice to go.

[WatchrTina]

On 9/25/2021 at 6:26 PM, Tombo said:

It's Saturday evening, Sept 25, 2021 and, for weeks, my spouse and I've been looking forward to watching the new season (#12) of Great British Bake Off which we read in many different sources began showing yesterday in the US. We've had a Netflix subscription of years and have been watching the new season of Sex Education on Netflix this past week. As this afternoon stretched on, I logged on to the Netflix website (and app) to search for the show. I found it listed nowhere. I tried multiple ways to search for it and have had no luck! Can someone give me a clue what's going on?

I'm hoping you've found it by now but one thing to keep in mind is that on Netflix it's knows as The Great British Baking Show instead of The Great British Bake Off due to the words "Bake Off" being trademarked in the USA by Pillsbury.

Edited October 2, 2021 by WatchrTina

[dargosmydaddy]

On 9/23/2021 at 3:11 AM, ShortyMac said:

Freya is showing well for only being 19. Her accent is both intriguing and annoying. lol

She sounds like Doctor Hamster on Peppa Pig...

[caitmcg]

6 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

I'm hoping you've found it by now but one thing to keep in mind is that on Netflix it's knows as The Great British Baking Show instead of The Great British Bake Off due to the words "Bake Off" being trademarked in the USA by Pillsbury.

It’s also known as Collection 9 in the US, because I guess the first few seasons weren’t shown here (when it was on PBS).

[CatLover74]

On 10/3/2021 at 6:22 AM, dargosmydaddy said:

She sounds like Doctor Hamster on Peppa Pig...

Thanks for that image.  Now every time my daughter watches Peppa Pig, I'll be seeing Freya's face on Dr Hamster's body.

[Dobian]

On 9/24/2021 at 10:31 AM, krankydoodle said:

That opening was odd, though Paul seemed really into it even if the local wildlife was apparently not. And I didn't like Matt's Flintstones bit, but was happy that Noel seems to be more aware of when he's potentially distracting bakers than he was in previous seasons. His delight at Lizzie's ostrich story and their matching tops was also a highlight. I don't dislike Matt, but I'd probably enjoy the show even more if it was just Noel presenting.

I'm honestly done with both of these guys.  Watching poor Jurgen grit his teeth through the German Flintstones song was enough for me.  Noel is pleasant, I will give him that, but there is still so much awkward when he is bouncing around the bakers.  This pair was fine I suppose for one season of offbeat crazy, but they don't cut it as show hosts.  I miss Mel and Sue.

[LeDucDiableBleu]

On 10/5/2021 at 9:41 AM, Dobian said:

I'm honestly done with both of these guys.  Watching poor Jurgen grit his teeth through the German Flintstones song was enough for me.  Noel is pleasant, I will give him that, but there is still so much awkward when he is bouncing around the bakers.  This pair was fine I suppose for one season of offbeat crazy, but they don't cut it as show hosts.  I miss Mel and Sue.

I agree. It seems like both of them are trying to build their own brand instead of being the best hosts they can be for the show. And I'm sure the producers tell them to bother the bakers during tense moments but it's still annoying. They stand so incredibly close to the bakers while they're working and it makes it uncomfortable to watch. I was watching the Japanese week ep from last year and Matt asked Noel what he would put in his steamed buns and Noel responded with "human blood." Sorry but I don't need Howard Stern-esque shock factor statements in GBBO (it may have been a different episode, I binged several seasons recently).

[jrzy]

On 9/24/2021 at 4:39 PM, mjc570 said:

What a lovely group of contestants, I like them all.  It's clear they have varying skill levels, but they are all interesting.  Just about all the bakes, even (or especially?) the messy ones looked delicious.

I've never heard of mini rolls, or malt loaves but I would love some.  

Maybe I'm over -sensitive but I didn't really like the ostrich story, I felt sorry for it.  

I feel like they shouldn't have elevations the first week to let them get over any tent nerves, with a double elimination perhaps on the second week.

I missed the ostrich story,  I hope it wasn't something cruel to the animal,  don't know why those stories are ever considered funny.

 

[laurakaye]

On 10/6/2021 at 8:32 PM, jrzy said:

I missed the ostrich story,  I hope it wasn't something cruel to the animal,  don't know why those stories are ever considered funny.

I heard the word "ostrich" but the rest of the story was completely lost on me.  Was it also Lizzie who said "the seepage is massive" when making her mini rolls?  That got a laugh out of both me and my husband, who cannot understand my extreme love for this show but occasionally watches with me when I refuse to change the channel.

After initially being uncertain about Noel, I now adore him but I think he was much better with Sandy.  He and Matt don't play off of each other as naturally as Noel and Sandy.  Plus I loved it when Sandy's voice broke every time she had the awful job of sending someone home.

I'm just happy my comfort show is back.  I was getting a bit bored re-re-re-watching the first few seasons. :)

 

[BradyB66]

23 hours ago, laurakaye said:

Plus I loved it when Sandy's voice broke every time she had the awful job of sending someone home.

 

 

So much this!  The fact that it killed her to send somebody home made me love her more than I already did.

[Leeds]

On 9/23/2021 at 9:53 AM, Aulty said:

Representative of modern England more like - not one contestant from Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales in the line-up this year. And I don't think thats just down to Covid restrictions.
But its a good mix for Netflix's global audience.

Are you suggesting there's some kind of conspiracy theory?  If so, what?  And why would they?

On 9/24/2021 at 2:21 PM, blueray said:

Fyi it has aired in the US :).

I kept thinking the one (Lizzie?) had a Derry accent like she could have stepped of the set of Derry Girls. Of course they said she lives in Liverpool, maybe she moved there?

Her accent is Liverpudlian.

On 9/24/2021 at 8:30 PM, Oosala said:

And of course we found out she was vegan the moment she opened her mouth.  

Also known as editing.

On 9/25/2021 at 8:23 AM, meep.meep said:

\

I don't think Maggie and Pru look alike at all.

 

 

They look alike the same way as everyone British has a mum/aunt/neighbour who looks alike.

On 9/25/2021 at 5:12 PM, meowmommy said:

A couple of those showstoppers, sadly, seemed like they're be right at home on Nailed It.  Whenever I see Rice Krispie treats being used, that's where my mind goes, anyway. 

 

If they go the way of American baking shows and accept Rice Krispies in all the cakes then I'm out.

 

[rereader2]

On 9/28/2021 at 7:46 PM, theatremouse said:

I'm more confused why they intentionally chose a song to get them a rhyme for "flakey" and "tart" for Cake Week. Perhaps they felt the premier needed a Big Production Number, but to me that further shows they do not understand the audience.

I think it was more that "Breaky" is (if your mind works that way) almost "Bakey".

[Crs97]

Years ago when Leverage was first on, they had an episode where you heard the British star’s accent from the perspective of each of her partners and, by the end, she is just talking gibberish.  That is my experience with Lizzie!  I don’t think she is saying words most of the time.

Lizzie is Sophie and I’m Parker