S02.E08: A Sticky Situation

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

The remaining teams of bakers continue to battle for a spot in the semifinals; in the elimination round, the teams must construct their most complicated cake yet, chosen by guest judge chef Richard Blais.

 

[Quilt Fairy]

I loved Curtis and Yolanda having to search the kitchen to figure out what Joel had "baked".  Harder than you thought, huh, guys?

I was seriously annoyed at Blais when he almost randomly threw in the word "gravitas" when interviewing the one team that wasn't doing an anti-gravity cake. 

I guess the dirty dishes in the dishwasher are now among the clues.  I think that's new this season.  And I have yet to see that the baking tins in the dishwasher are anything but completely clean.  

Edited August 1, 2023 by Quilt Fairy

[mertensia]

Man, I would not have guessed who went home.

Yeah the gravitas was...giving them a clue.

"Can they **show** that on TV?" Heh.

Once again, Joel shows why he is perfect as the host of this show.

Okay, I thought that trick with the bubble wrap was cool.

[chicagofan]

It was the right decision, but so sad that Steph and Cherry are gone.  I figured that that would happen when they were the only team that didn't make an anti-gravity cake, but still hoped that they could pull out a save ala Kristy and Tarsha last week, but it was not to be.

The only team left that I like is Kristy and Tarsha, but I can't see myself rooting for them since I still think that they should have been eliminated last week. It's not just for the math mishap, but that that error ended up as an unfair benefit as they made and had to fill 10 less crepes.

And while I would like a self taught baker to win, just no on T and Fadi. And I haven't liked Laissa and Camille from the start (and still don't), so I guess that means Amber and Yassmeen for the win?

Is it wrong for me to laugh and cheer every time I hear Laissa and Camille complain about having to make a cake? New drinking game!

[Mediocre Gatsby]

Tonight Curtis said it doesn't matter which dessert tastes the best; it's which one comes closest. Tell that to the "we only made 2/3 of the dessert last week" team. 

It was pretty bad to miss the Gravity clue, though. How often is there a book in the kitchen?

(Yes. Still bitter.)

[AZChristian]

I couldn't believe that the two ladies who won almost every  preliminary bake - because they got the clues better than anyone else - MISSED the "gravity" clue.  I'm not a baker, but just watching other baking shows I knew about gravity or anti-gravity cakes.

Just curious.  I know that Joel is VERY tall, but is Richard Blais about 5'8"?  He was no taller than the female judge.

[Maya]

3 hours ago, AZChristian said:

I couldn't believe that the two ladies who won almost every  preliminary bake - because they got the clues better than anyone else - MISSED the "gravity" clue.  

I think the one girl was so excited to finally show off her fondant skills that she saw the beehive and ran with it, ignoring any other clues in the room. 

[silversage]

Each week the rules seem to change. I thought it was the closest looking to the original but then a judge said it came down to taste. Now this episode it’s the opposite. Totally confusing.

[BrainyBlonde]

5 hours ago, AZChristian said:

Just curious.  I know that Joel is VERY tall, but is Richard Blais about 5'8"?  He was no taller than the female judge.

I had to Google this. Supposedly, Yolanda is 5'7 and Joel McHale and Curtis Stone are both 6'4. Yolanda always wears high heels though, so we could probably add 3-4" to her height for her footwear in this photo where they all seem to be standing on equal ground. Richard Blais is said to be 6'0. I would question that because he strikes me as being average-sized, but he really isn't THAT much shorter than Joel and Curtis here.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I loved Curtis and Yolanda having to search the kitchen to figure out what Joel had "baked".  Harder than you thought, huh, guys?

I was seriously annoyed at Blais when he almost randomly threw in the word "gravitas" when interviewing the one team that wasn't doing an anti-gravity cake. 

I did too.  I love Joel getting to pick the elimination bake.

Richard Blais is an ass.  I didn't like him on Top Chef and he hasn't improved since then.

 

[seacliffsal]

Hmmmm, no way could that elimination bake actually be a cake, because as we all know, if the dishes in the dishwasher aren't dirty, then they weren't used.  Curtis very clearly explained that to us last week regarding the four plates that were in the refrigerator that the twins thought meant they had been used.  Also, we know that taste matters as the twins were sent home because their crepes were gummy last week.  Oh, wait, you mean the judges just say whatever they have to say in order to justify their decisions?  That they say whatever they need to say in order to eliminate whoever they want to eliminate?  Okay, sorry-I misunderstood as I thought there might actually be rules for this show.

Nevertheless, I am enjoying the show.  All of the sticky buns looked so good-good choice Joel!  Have never cared for Richard Blais since his first Top Chef season and I didn't see how he added anything here.  I don't like honey so a honey cake would never appear to me.  I do think there should be some type of incentive for having the best tasting bake.  In the real world, taste matters.

[blackwing]

I liked Joel's safety bake.  The clues made sense.  Good for Amber and Yass to see the bowl in the dishwasher with the remnants of the granola and the fresh squeezed orange juice in the fridge.

How can a team see the "Gravity" book and not know to make an anti-gravity cake?  I liked Steph and Cherry, but clearly they were the team to go home.  They were the only ones that didn't make an anti-gravity cake.  Why was it even a question?  I think they used all three flavours just like Laissa and Camille did, and yet the judges seemed to suggest that Camille and Laissa could have gone home because of sloppy execution.  Steph and Cherry were clearly more wrong, they chose the wrong kind of cake.  Not sure why they would have thought the cake would be so simple as a tiered cake with a fondant topping.

Tarsha and Kristy had the best cake in the elimination round.  Their anti-gravity was a work of art.  I loved the way it looked like honey was actually pouring out of the pot and splashing on the cake.  I wish they would have gotten more kudos from the judges, especially since their anti-gravity was by far the best and they were the only ones to only use honey.  They got all the clues.  

I wish the winning team in the elimination round would get an advantage in the safety bake of the next round.  They should get something.  Instead, of the remaining four teams, I think they are most likely to go home next week.

Instead of making things seemingly so arbitrary, I really do think there should be a scorecard that viewers get to see.  Accuracy worth 20 points, Taste worth 10 points, Presentation worth 10 points.  Then we can see exactly what is being focused on and we can see where each team stands.  T and Fadi's erect penis cake was just embarrassing.  They should have had points deducted for that awfulness.

 

[Grizzly]

I couldn't get past Kristy's lipstick color. Not flattering. I would like to have seen Curtis and Yolanda bake the safety dessert. Will not be missing Cherry, I found her to be too dramatic.

[Lurk]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

I couldn't get past Kristy's lipstick color. Not flattering. I would like to have seen Curtis and Yolanda bake the safety dessert. Will not be missing Cherry, I found her to be too dramatic.

 

I didn't know what the gal's name was because I couldn't even see the episode for the lipstick. I just kept getting sidetracked by it.

[Quilt Fairy]

16 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

I do think there should be some type of incentive for having the best tasting bake.  In the real world, taste matters.

That's why I don't get all the Fadi and T hate.  Remember what Curtis said about their pull-apart sticky buns?  "You could open a shop and just make this and there would be a line around the block."  They're good bakers, penis cake notwithstanding. 

[jackjill]

Fadi and T make me smile. I thought I'd be annoyed by them, but they're talented and crack me up.

[Lurk]

21 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

That's why I don't get all the Fadi and T hate.  Remember what Curtis said about their pull-apart sticky buns?  "You could open a shop and just make this and there would be a line around the block."  They're good bakers, penis cake notwithstanding. 

My mind didn't even jump to "penis cake" until they brought it up.  My first thought was it looked like the way rocks pile up in an avalanche or rock slide, not honey pouring out or even anying penile.

[blackwing]

12 hours ago, Lurk said:

My mind didn't even jump to "penis cake" until they brought it up.  My first thought was it looked like the way rocks pile up in an avalanche or rock slide, not honey pouring out or even anying penile.

I think that's because we saw it from a side view and from close up.  From a different angle and from farther away, the honey pot looks a bit glans-like and their pour/drip didn't even look like honey, it was shaft-like.

[7-Zark-7]

Steph and Cherry often had problems with their bakes to the point where I thought they might actually get to the finals on their superior detective skills alone. Funny that they would go out missing a clue that everyone else got.

On 8/2/2023 at 8:59 AM, blackwing said:

I wish the winning team in the elimination round would get an advantage in the safety bake of the next round.  They should get something. 

They really should have a winning team each episode. And they should get some cash.

[DanaK]

The first half with Joel choosing the dessert was so much fun and about as chaotic as you would expect with Joel involved. Kudos to roping the judges into trying to figure out the dessert from the clues in the kitchen; perhaps they should have also baked the dessert for show. Was this time the judges were involved in trying to figure out the dessert?