S13.E11: The Great Christmas Bake Off

[Athena]

Quote

The celebrities entering the tent this Christmas are former host of The Big Breakfast, Gaby Roslin; Time Team's Tony Robinson; Pop World's Maquita Oliver; former host of The World, Terry Christian and Brookside star Clare Sweeney.

UK Channel 4: December 25, 2022.

 

[Lois Sandborne]

I don't know why, but these are less and less satisfying to watch for me. (I've just watched and don't really remember much of anything that happened.) Maybe it's because it feels increasingly obvious that some PA is just mailing out recipes and instruction sheets to everyone and hoping for the best. I guess it's not really interesting to me to watch a bunch of people who aren't interested in baking "make their first cake" or whatever. I'm not sure I'd rather go back to the Masterclasses with the judges pretending to make their own versions of old challenges, but probably so. Even if they weren't actually producing the final products, Paul and Mary were giving out solid tips.

[RoxiP]

Annoyingly these do not air in the US for quite some time but I kind of agree - I do not watch the shows these people star in so I'm not interested in them personally - I would much prefer to see returning bakers from the regular show (like the New Years show which we also do not get).

[anniebird]

This show (with contestants whom very few Americans will recognize) has become like Nailed It or Worst Cooks... I don't enjoy watching people who never bake try to bake for the first time. The show is much more enjoyable when they bring back former contestants  whom you remember and who know what they're doing. 

[libgirl2]

I watch Blackadder so I knew Tony Robinson. 

[Constant Viewer]

On 12/13/2023 at 4:27 PM, libgirl2 said:

I watch Blackadder so I knew Tony Robinson. 

Me too and got the turnip joke

Edited December 15, 2023 by Constant Viewer

[ombre]

I loved the derry girls ep, having seen an episode or two of derry girls on Netflix, and even dug the next year's show, with the cast of... I can't remember the show's name but it was about queer life, iirc.  Both were very personable people with real chemistry between them. This year's show had a real millstone around it's neck. The whatever the anniversary of channel 4?!?  Lots of random people who know one another in passing and are primarily famous for being talking heads? Oy. That's a heavy load to lift. I'm sure it sounded good in some board meeting but... 

 

But if they wanted to just bring the derry girls back every single year I would absolutely tune in. 

 

Honestly, if they got that gang together to be terrible at a different activity every *month* I'd probably be down with it. Pottery. Basketweaving. Fixing car engines. Bring it! 

[Deskisamess]

I enjoyed the episode with the returning bakers. Did not really enjoy tv personalities who don't know how to bake. Give this format its own show, and stick to regular people who have been previous contestants.

[festivus]

I never know who any of these people are but at least before, like has been said, the actors were quite funny. I've already forgotten what happened on this one and I just watched it 2 hours ago. Except the turnip part. That was sweet and I did think they looked cool. Everything else looked like hot ass.

[xander874]

Agree that this one wasn't as fun as the others. I enjoyed Derry Girls and It's a Sin because I had seen those shows. I do think these contestants were fun and good sports about it and I agree with the winner but overall it was forgettable.

[blueray]

I'm glad to see other people feel the same way that I do. I skipped this one and went straight the the New Years episode as I had no idea who any of the constants are. Which was fine for the Derry Girls episode (as the cast was fun anyway). And I was able to simply check out the show to get who they were. Random TV personalities just don't interest me.

[Ancaster]

On 12/15/2023 at 5:07 AM, ombre said:

 

But if they wanted to just bring the derry girls back every single year I would absolutely tune in. 

 

Honestly, if they got that gang together to be terrible at a different activity every *month* I'd probably be down with it. Pottery. Basketweaving. Fixing car engines. Bring it! 

I'd tune in too in a heartbeat, but I think you missed the underwater part of the  basket weaving!

On 12/23/2023 at 8:23 AM, blueray said:

I'm glad to see other people feel the same way that I do. I skipped this one and went straight the the New Years episode as I had no idea who any of the constants are. Which was fine for the Derry Girls episode (as the cast was fun anyway). And I was able to simply check out the show to get who they were. Random TV personalities just don't interest me.

I think you have the best approach - if you don't know the people and aren't interested, don't watch!  It's not like their target demographic is a few dedicated American watchers who happened to have stumbled upon a delightful foreign show.  I can't be bothered to look it up, but I bet the shows got a huge percentage of the non-cable watching market in the UK.  I'm just imagining all the families drinking their post-prandial cups of tea with their feet up, full of christmas pudding, talking about missing The Queen's Speech, all while eating a chocolate bicky.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Ancaster

[Ancaster]

Here's something Paul Hollywood posted for using up christmas leftovers.  Sorry it's too late for this year.

https://www.paulhollywood.com/post/christmas-leftover-pie

I can't post a picture for some reason, but it's a savoury pie that looks pretty tasty.  I don't/can't bake, so I'll never make it, but I expect a lot of people tried it, and it seems like a good new way to use up the leftovers.  Works for Thanksgiving too, of course.

 

[AZChristian]

3 hours ago, Ancaster said:

I can't post a picture for some reason, but it's a savoury pie that looks pretty tasty.  

Here you go!

 

[Shrek]

5 hours ago, Ancaster said:

I'd tune in too in a heartbeat, but I think you missed the underwater part of the  basket weaving!

I think you have the best approach - if you don't know the people and aren't interested, don't watch!  It's not like their target demographic is a few dedicated American watchers who happened to have stumbled upon a delightful foreign show.  I can't be bothered to look it up, but I bet the shows got a huge percentage of the non-cable watching market in the UK.  I'm just imagining all the families drinking their post-prandial cups of tea with their feet up, full of christmas pudding, talking about missing The Queen's Speech, all while eating a chocolate bicky.

As it's xmas I actually had my tub of Heroes chocolate with my cup of tea while watching it last night.

A bit of background about Channel 4 if anyone cares. As the name suggests it was the 4th channel on British tv (after BBC1 & 2 and ITV) as well as only the 2nd channel with commercials and it is pretty amazing how far we have come in 40 years from just having 4 tv channels to what is available now & how it is available.

[Lois Sandborne]

6 hours ago, Ancaster said:

It's not like their target demographic is a few dedicated American watchers who happened to have stumbled upon a delightful foreign show. 

I admit I'm not the target demographic, but I think that misses the point a little. I was previously familiar with three of 2022's celebrity contestants. It still wasn't much fun to watch them flail around and waste time in the tent.

The person who compared these celebrity episodes to Nailed It I think was on the right track. And I enjoy Nailed It, but it's a wildly different show to Bake Off for me. I watch this show expecting to see friendly people who have some idea of what they're doing face challenges to those ideas.  I'm sure it's hard finding famous people who can cook (and who will do the show), but I wish they'd try a little harder. I was glad to see all former contestants on this year's version.