GBBO In The Media

[cherrypj]

8 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

But we'll get it all in one go then, the entire season, correct? 

I believe so. I recall limiting myself to one episode a night out last year. 

[halopub]

The new line up of bakers:

•  Radio Times
•  The Bake Off website

[Ceindreadh]

7 hours ago, halopub said:

The new line up of bakers:

•  Radio Times
•  The Bake Off website

13 bakers? Aren’t there usually only 12?

[Margo Leadbetter]

2 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

13 bakers? Aren’t there usually only 12?

UK Series 4 also started with 13. 

They’re all so young this season! Or I’m so old...

Edited August 21, 2019 by Margo Leadbetter

[Sew Sumi]

33 minutes ago, Margo Leadbetter said:

UK Series 4 also started with 13. 

They’re all so young this season! Or I’m so old...

The cast definitely skews super young this season. 

[Aulty]

6 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

13 bakers? Aren’t there usually only 12?

Gives them a chance to dust off those Bakers Dozen jokes they used in series 4.

I wonder whether TPTB are contemplaiting replacing Paul. His handshake schtick and blue eyed stare are getting a bit old now and he has had some bad press about his private life recently. (he always was my least favourite in the line up)

[PaulaO]

Note from Netflix on my screen last night:  New episode of GBBO on August 30.  I have no idea if it's a trailer or a special or what.

[dleighg]

I found this article: https://deadline.com/2018/08/netflix-mixes-in-three-new-seasons-of-the-great-british-baking-show-for-u-s-1202451357/

which says: 

Season 4-7 of The Great British Baking Show already stream on the service as Netflix collections 1-4. The entire latest season, which already aired in the UK as Season 8 there, will go live August 31.

All 10 episodes of Season 8, which aired last year in the UK, will launch August 31 on Netflix. Season 9 will premiere later this year, and Season 10 will debut in fall 2019. All will be billed as Netflix Originals stateside.

I can't keep track of which season is which. So we haven't seen (in the US) the one that is launching August 31?

[Irlandesa]

I'm confused too.  Are they finally going to show the first seasons?

[dleighg]

I see, that article I referenced is from last year (I was searching for GBBO 2019 but didn't check that this was current)

I see the note on Netflix that "New Episode August 30" but no details. Guess we'll have to wait. But it sounds like Netflix will show the current season (10 I guess?) in "the fall"

[mishy]

19 hours ago, dleighg said:

I see, that article I referenced is from last year (I was searching for GBBO 2019 but didn't check that this was current)

I see the note on Netflix that "New Episode August 30" but no details. Guess we'll have to wait. But it sounds like Netflix will show the current season (10 I guess?) in "the fall"

I saw the trailer for the new season show up in my Netflix the other day and also saw the new episode on August 30th thing, so I just assumed that a few days after it airs in the UK, we'll get that episode? Otherwise what else could it be, if it was the unaired in the US series 1 or 2 then I think that would show up under what Netflix calls GBBO Beginnings which is where season 3 the one with John and James lives. Also why show a trailer for the newest season if that isn't what we're getting? Kind of confusing though. 

[Rickster]

5 hours ago, mishy said:

I saw the trailer for the new season show up in my Netflix the other day and also saw the new episode on August 30th thing, so I just assumed that a few days after it airs in the UK, we'll get that episode? Otherwise what else could it be, if it was the unaired in the US series 1 or 2 then I think that would show up under what Netflix calls GBBO Beginnings which is where season 3 the one with John and James lives. Also why show a trailer for the newest season if that isn't what we're getting? Kind of confusing though. 

I guess the other thing the August 30 show could be is one of the specials that have aired in the UK but not here. But that would be odd timing only a few days after the new season starts in the UK. On the other hand, I would think Netflix would say “new season”, not “new episode”, if they were going to start the season on the 30th. I agree, very confusing, and I don’t know why Netflix isn’t clearer about what’s going on.

[mishy]

42 minutes ago, Rickster said:

I guess the other thing the August 30 show could be is one of the specials that have aired in the UK but not here. But that would be odd timing only a few days after the new season starts in the UK. On the other hand, I would think Netflix would say “new season”, not “new episode”, if they were going to start the season on the 30th. I agree, very confusing, and I don’t know why Netflix isn’t clearer about what’s going on.

So Netflix just sent the trailer to my inbox and said "collection 7" is coming on August 30th and it's definitely the new season so I guess we are getting each episode a few days after it airs in the UK.

[illdoc]

https://decider.com/2019/08/22/great-british-baking-show-collection-7-premiere-date-netflix/  In case the article didn't mention it, Netflix will indeed air 1 episode a week (3 days after same episode airs in UK), on Fridays.

Edited August 25, 2019 by illdoc

[kittykat]

Oooh I like this.  I'm excited to get to see it as it airs in UK.  Spoilers are so rampant nowadays it will be nice to be completely unsullied this time around.

This will be the first season since 4 that they have 13. And we're back to cake in week one.  I'd like to see them start with bread in a future season.

[Quilt Fairy]

I like that I'll be able to watch only one show a week.  Bingeing on this show always seems overindulgent to me.

[khyber]

Great that Netflix will air it the same week. Now I won't have to see it through nefarious means.

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, khyber said:

Great that Netflix will air it the same week. Now I won't have to see it through nefarious means.

Neflix is finally making an honest woman/or man out of you. lol

[Rickster]

I’m enough of an old fogie to say that I really don’t like dropping an entire season’s worth of shows at once, especially when it’s a competitive show like this. I guess I could pretend they’re coming out once a week, but that doesn’t work for me. Last season, I lost interest in GBBO about halfway through and didn’t finish the episodes until this summer (although that might have been due to some changes in the chemistry of the show).

Anyway, very glad Netflix is taking this approach with the new season.

[Margo Leadbetter]

Interesting article from UK S3's John Whaite. I follow him on Instagram and he's certainly had his ups and downs but I found this to be very thoughtful and realistic, and not at all sour grape-y like fellow S3 contestant Dani (her GBBO posts on her blog really turned me off, as likable as I thought she was during the show.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/gbbo-totally-derailed-john-whaite-life-winning-great-british/

[Ceindreadh]

FYI for the 2019 bake off. The first ep has a short montage of previous winners near the start, so if you’re really spoiler averse for prior seasons you might want to fast forward a bit. 

[justmehere]

6 hours ago, Margo Leadbetter said:

Interesting article from UK S3's John Whaite. I follow him on Instagram and he's certainly had his ups and downs but I found this to be very thoughtful and realistic, and not at all sour grape-y like fellow S3 contestant Dani (her GBBO posts on her blog really turned me off, as likable as I thought she was during the show.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/gbbo-totally-derailed-john-whaite-life-winning-great-british/ 

Great article. Very glad to hear that he re-found himself and is pursuing his real passion.

[jpgr]

For those who are interested, Jane Beedle and Howard Middlebun are doing a podcast called "The Bake Down." The first episode was really nice, with some behind the scenes info and their take on the current series.

[Sharpie66]

Thanks so much for mentioning that podcast!! I am midway through ep 1 and have already learned tons.

[krankydoodle]

Manon (s9), John (s3), and Kim-Joy (s9) answer questions about their Bake Off experience. I appreciated that John was honest (tho without getting specific) when asked if everyone in the tent got along, and his silence when asked about Paul was interesting.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 8/21/2019 at 10:04 AM, dleighg said:

I can't keep track of which season is which. So we haven't seen (in the US) the one that is launching August 31?

This is an updated list of all the seasons and their various names/numbers:

UK BBC S1 (2010)
UK BBC S2 (2011)
UK BBC S3 (2012) = US PBS S5 (2018) = US Netflix "The Beginnings" collection 1
UK BBC S4 (2013) = US PBS S2 (2015) = US Netflix collection 2
UK BBC S5 (2014) = US PBS S1 (2015) = US Netflix collection 1
UK BBC S6 (2015) = US PBS S3 (2016) = US Netflix collection 3
UK BBC S7 (2016) = US PBS S4 (2017) = US Netflix collection 4
UK S8 (2017) = UK Channel 4 S1 = US Netflix collection 5
UK S9 (2018) = UK Channel 4 S2 = US Netflix collection 6
UK S10 (2019) = UK Channel 4 S3 = US Netflix collection 7

On 6/24/2018 at 4:05 PM, meep.meep said:

It would be a great service to the watching public (viewers like you!) if someone could make up a master list of seasons that includes the names of contestants.  Something like BBC Season 3, Broadcast date spring 2012, contestants = big-long-list, PBS Season #, Broadcast date summer 2018.

I don't want to go to Wikipedia, because then I will inadvertently find out who won and the elimination order.  You need the contestant names because that's the only thing that distinguishes one season from another.  If it can be copied from the wonderful folks at Wikipedia, I'll give them a donation.

UK S1: Annetha, David, Edd, Jasminder, Jonathan, Lea, Louise, Mark, Miranda, Ruth

UK S2: Ben, Holly, Ian, Janet, Jason, Jo, Keith, Mary-Anne, Robert, Simon, Urvashi, Yasmin

UK S3: Brendan, Cathryn, Danny, James, John, Manisha, Natasha, Peter, Ryan, Sarah-Jane, Stuart, Victoria

UK S4: Ali, Beca, Christine, Deborah, Frances, Glenn, Howard, Kimberley, Lucy, Mark, Robert, Rudy, Toby

UK S5: Chetna, Claire, Diana, Enwezor, Iain, Jordan, Kate, Luis, Martha, Nancy, Norman, Richard

UK S6: Alvin, Dorret, Flora, Ian, Marie, Mat, Nadiya, Paul, Sandy, Stu, Tamal, Ugnė

UK S7: Andrew, Benjamina, Candice, Jane, Kate, Lee, Louise, Michael, Rav, Selasi, Tom, Val

UK S8: Chris, Flo, James, Julia, Kate, Liam, Peter, Sophie, Stacey, Steven, Tom, Yan

UK S9: Antony, Briony, Dan, Imelda, Jon, Karen, Kim-Joy, Luke, Manon, Rahul, Ruby, Terry

UK S10: Alice, Amelia, Dan, David, Helena, Henry, Jamie, Michael, Michelle, Phil, Priya, Rose, Steph

Edited September 16, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[meep.meep]

It's God's work you have done here!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, meep.meep said:

It's God's work you have done here!

Haha, I'm all for lists and organization (and I'm a spoilerphobe so I understand)!

This is a list of the seasons re-sorted to make it easier for people watching on Netflix:

US Netflix collection 1 = UK BBC S5 (2014) = US PBS S1 (aired 2015)
US Netflix collection 2 = UK BBC S4 (2013) = US PBS S2 (aired 2015)
US Netflix collection 3 = UK BBC S6 (2015) = US PBS S3 (aired 2016)
US Netflix collection 4 = UK BBC S7 (2016) = US PBS S4 (aired 2017)
US Netflix collection 5 = UK S8 (2017) = UK Channel 4 S1
US Netflix collection 6 = UK S9 (2018) = UK Channel 4 S2
US Netflix collection 7 = UK S10 (2019) = UK Channel 4 S3

US Netflix "The Beginnings" collection 1 = UK BBC S3 (2012) = US PBS S5 (aired 2018)

Edited September 17, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Quilt Fairy]

Has there ever been a show that had its seasons so messed up between the UK and the US?  Not just once with PBS but two more times with Netflix!  I count Netflix twice because of that "The Beginnings" business.  Although since they do have it, I would love to see Netflix air S1 and S2.  I watched them once back when they were still on YouTube, but it would be great to see them again.  Legally. 

I understand why PBS did it originally, because they started with season 5 and if they had labeled it as season 5, we viewers in America would have said "What happened to the other 4?"   Netflix could have straightened that up and they made it worse. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

@Quilt Fairy I'm holding out hope that Netflix will add S1 and S2 to their Beginnings listing!

[illdoc]

Maybe we should have a pinned post with that UK/US/Netflix listing! It seems like someone is always asking about it, especially when a new season comes out

Edited September 16, 2019 by illdoc

[meep.meep]

It would be great to have it as a pinned post.

Don't slag Netflix either - they have the Christmas specials!

[Margo Leadbetter]

Well, here's an interesting take on Bake Off. 😀

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/09/great-british-bake-off-baking-show-socialism

[Athena]

On 9/16/2019 at 7:15 PM, illdoc said:

Maybe we should have a pinned post with that UK/US/Netflix listing! It seems like someone is always asking about it, especially when a new season comes out

On 9/16/2019 at 8:18 PM, meep.meep said:

It would be great to have it as a pinned post.

The season and series numbering has always been in the first post of the pinned Mod Notes thread. 

[meep.meep]

We appreciate that.  It would be great if it could be formatted as ElectricBoogaloo has done.

It really is extraordinarily complex.

[justmehere]

Came across this article that sums up all the gripes about this season and more - sounds almost like someone who posts or lurks here! Or else, the problems are so obvious, there's no other conclusion. (Warning - spoiler about the eliminated contestant in Dessert week if you haven't watched yet this week.)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/10/04/great-british-baking-show-bake-off-season-10-train-wreck-netflix/3851083002/

It's a shame, really, because they alleviated fears about the transition in the first series/season after the shift but now .... The beginning of this current run had promise, seemingly getting back to basics, but unskilled bakers, testy judging comments, and gotcha eliminations have really hurt it. Anyone know if viewing numbers have suffered? 

[justmehere]

P.S. I like the bakers themselves. It's just disappointing when they seem less than knowledgeable about the basics. They did appear to get better generally with Desserts week. 

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, justmehere said:

P.S. I like the bakers themselves.

I actually love this group of bakers and wish they had been on the original version of the show, not this Channel 4 version where the themes are convoluted messes and the eliminations don't always make sense. 

[kittykat]

This article perfectly sums up my feelings about the evolution of the technical

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/10/the-great-british-baking-show-has-a-major-flaw/599374/

[Irlandesa]

On 10/7/2019 at 12:29 PM, kittykat said:

This article perfectly sums up my feelings about the evolution of the technical

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/10/the-great-british-baking-show-has-a-major-flaw/599374/

I think that was interesting but I had to take issue with their description of kouign-amann as "obscure." It's a pretty trendy pastry that I've seen a version of in numerous French pastry focused cafes or bakeries. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think that was interesting but I had to take issue with their description of kouign-amann as "obscure." It's a pretty trendy pastry that I've seen a version of in numerous French pastry focused cafes or bakeries. 

They're definitely not obscure. They're available at a lot of bakeries and cafes, even ones that aren't exclusively French. I can buy them at Philz Coffee and the local farmers' market so that should tell you how easy they are to get these days. Ten years ago, I definitely had to make more of an effort to find them but in recent years, they're a lot easier to get.

[akr]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think that was interesting but I had to take issue with their description of kouign-amann as "obscure." It's a pretty trendy pastry that I've seen a version of in numerous French pastry focused cafes or bakeries. 

They may not be obscure now, but I'm pretty sure they were before this episode of GBBO aired (the wikipedia entry on them  would seem to bear this out - they date the episode to 2014 & the spread of them in bakeries to 2015). They certainly seemed to me to be one of the most obscure things they'd done when they announced them - certainly more obscure, for example, than  Swedish princess cake or ma'amoul - & more comparable to the weird historical things they'd been doing. It didn't feel like a stunt bake, though, because the techniques, etc, were akin to things you'd expect contestants to know how to do.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I can only speak for my personal experience, but I used to buy kouign amann at the local pop up market every month. When it closed in 2011, I had to start looking for other sources (which is how I found out which bakeries, cafes, and coffee shops sold them!). I even found a place near where Mr. EB worked just in case he wanted to pick some up and bring them home for me. I also found them at local food festivals which was an exciting surprise!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Alice posted a picture with Henry with the caption "brother from another mother," so either they are not dating or they don't want people to think they're dating (I'm going to be non-cynical and assume it's the former).

[Rickster]

In my recollection, kouign amanns became a thing in trendy Chicago bakeries about 8-10 years ago. Certainly more common than princess tortes and mamouls, but then it probably depends where you live.

The New York Times had a profile of Noel Fielding. Confirms that Channel 4 trends younger in its audience than the BBC, and that producers tried to make the show slightly more risqué to appeal to them.

Noel Fielding Profile

[kittykat]

I definitely knew what kouign amann was when that challenge happened.  That's one of the challenges I don't have issue with.  I agree more with the article with regards to liking challenges having the bakers making something familiar but with a twist.  This is opposed to making some five hour thing only professionals have mastered oh and they have two and a half hours and is guaranteed disaster across the board.

If anything the kouign amann was a challenge that was an example of the former.  Make a puff pastry (which the bakers should know) but form it in a way they likely haven't done.  Those are the challenges I like. 

[Mabinogia]

6 hours ago, Rickster said:

Confirms that Channel 4 trends younger in its audience than the BBC, and that producers tried to make the show slightly more risqué to appeal to them.

That explains a LOT. The fact the contestants are overall younger, and much "prettier" and how it feels like their "camera readiness" was far more important this season than their ability to bake or have a basic understanding of how to bake. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Coincidentally, this article about kouign amann popped up in my feed today!

[xander874]

https://www.out.com/news/2019/10/27/it-looks-british-bake-offs-favorite-twinks-are-dating

I assume this is a confirmation. They are so cute!

[Adiba]

1 hour ago, xander874 said:

https://www.out.com/news/2019/10/27/it-looks-british-bake-offs-favorite-twinks-are-dating

I assume this is a confirmation. They are so cute!

I had a feeling it was those two that were dating, and not he and Alice.