S14.E10: The Final

[TomGirl]

51 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

Is that the short dude who shuffles about wearing a shabby flasher raincoat?  If so, then I guess I am, put I couldn't have put a name to the actor!

Yup, that’s him!

[chaifan]

3 hours ago, AZChristian said:

Maybe she's an introvert and didn't want to be the center of attention. I'm an extrovert married to an introvert, and that's the first idea I had about Dan's wife not being on camera.

It wasn't so much about her not being on camera, it was that in the whole "at home" segment, she wasn't even mentioned.  That was what I thought was really strange.  I was thinking he was a single dad for a few minutes, then I remembered the call home after winning Star Baker and how he mentioned his wife wasn't answering.  I can see saying "sorry, I don't want to be on camera."  But not sorry, don't even acknowledge my existence on the show.

[Ancaster]

One of the best things about the show is the lack of tragic personal back stories and sob stories about horrible upbringings, failed relationships, and struggles to rub two pennies together.  I don't need to be told every week if someone's struggling with a separation, or a kid has a disability, or they hate their job.

We see enough personal interactions during the baking time to get a bit of a feel for individual contestants, but until the final and the home visits, that's about it.  We see them bake, overcome or otherwise mistakes, smile, sometimes cry a couple of discreet tears, and that's about it.

I'm way more than fine with that.  When the most drama anyone can ever think of is a petulant chucking of an unsuccessful Baked Alaska in the bin, as far as I'm concerned that tells me they've found the winning approach.  For anyone looking for more fireworks and hysteria, there are plenty of other shows for that, on both sides of the Atlantic.

[AnnaBaptist]

13 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

There was a time that Roku had the very early seasons with Mel & Sue. You may be able to find them there and see the before Lucas seasons. They had Mary Berry instead of Prue as well. 

I'm still giggling to myself at Matty kind of prancing around in the background where Paul is trying to do a talking head carrying his cake plate above his head.

My favorite seasons were the ones with Noel and Sandi Toksvig. I have always preferred Prue to Mary Berry, too. I think the formula works best with two men and two women as hosts and judges. While Sandi holds a special place in my heart, I thought Alison did a great job this season, and I am already looking forward to next season.

[Ancaster]

For anyone suffering withdrawal symptoms from friendly  cooking shows and British accents and isms, if you have Netflix I would recommend MasterChef UK.  I am just starting season 18.  The two main judges' comments can get a bit repetitive and I really don't need any more Greg reaction faces, but it's easy watching and I'm expecting the usual nice cast and lack of interpersonal drama, like GBBO.  No tent, so those who get irritated by the fluctuating temperatures will be happy!

I would stress that it is nothing like MasterChef US.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Ancaster

[dleighg]

3 hours ago, Ancaster said:

if you have Netflix I would recommend MasterChef UK.

really? I get this (I'm in the US): 

Edited December 5, 2023 by dleighg

[Ancaster]

That's odd.  I'm watching it right now.  Pacific Northwest.

If you can't, that's really too bad, because I've watched the first couple of episodes and everyone's lovely so far.  There's even a Josh already, a young man of Indian heritage who's cooking in his Grandma's memory, and who is blowing the judges away.

I didn't know Netflix had regional differences in the US - not that I'd ever thought about it.

[Ancaster]

Well, to cut a long story short, it turns out MasterChef UK is in fact not on Netflix.

It does however air on Tubi, so if you good people can access that (free) channel, you can watch a few different iterations of MasterChef, including UK, which I believe was the original.

As I said, I'm watching Season 18, but there are others, including a great UK The Professionals one with eery similarities to this just finished season of GBBO - someone imploding, an underdog winner, etc.

Anyway, I hope anyone interested can find it.

[LeDucDiableBleu]

I just wanted to mention that I heard of lardy cakes on an episode of "Escape to the Country" where the potential homebuyers visited a local bakery and made them. The story was that the region was known for its hog farming and used every bit of the pig as they could a long time ago. I think it was Wiltshire but not completely sure. On a past GBBO someone made twist on a lardy cake in the signature. But I've always been excited to see lardy cakes anywhere since that episode.

[Jordan Baker]

I just watched the finale. I too was spoiled when I googled something about the show. 

This was a good season, with a great group of contestants and a very entertaining new partner for Noel. My one criticism is about the judging. I thought Abbi's dismissal in the third episode was a very bad call, and, as much as I enjoyed Matty's personality and how far he'd come since the early episodes, I thought Josh was robbed in the finale.  

I agree with the poster who said that the judges seemed to hold Josh to a higher standard.  

[RoxiP]

So sad that it is Friday and there is no Bake Off to watch.

[kirklandia]

7 hours ago, RoxiP said:

 

So sad that it is Friday and there is no Bake Off to watch.

 

Last year's holiday episodes are available on Netflix as of today!

[stormy weather]

I apologize as I'm really late to the party but I only got around to watch the finale today. I love Matty, his sense of humour is great, he's cute and he's a super nice person, but I honestly think Josh deserved to win. 

While Paul and Prue were judging his cake it felt like someone had told them to be as critical as they could because Matty was the designated winner and that wouldn't be plausible if they praised Josh's cake too much, as he had vastly outdone Matty in both previous challenges on the episode. I understand "it all comes down to the flavour", but then they should've applied this rule also to the other challenges, where they complimented Josh several times for his flavours over Matty. 

I don't like this mechanism that I see in many reality/competition shows where you're only as good as your last challenge, while everything you've done through the entire season is not taken into consideration in the least. 

Oh well, it was still a good season and I'll watch anything Noel Fielding is in, so I I guess I can't complain. 

[mellyf]

On 12/9/2023 at 11:18 AM, stormy weather said:

I apologize as I'm really late to the party but I only got around to watch the finale today. I love Matty, his sense of humour is great, he's cute and he's a super nice person, but I honestly think Josh deserved to win. 

While Paul and Prue were judging his cake it felt like someone had told them to be as critical as they could because Matty was the designated winner and that wouldn't be plausible if they praised Josh's cake too much, as he had vastly outdone Matty in both previous challenges on the episode. I understand "it all comes down to the flavour", but then they should've applied this rule also to the other challenges, where they complimented Josh several times for his flavours over Matty. 

I don't like this mechanism that I see in many reality/competition shows where you're only as good as your last challenge, while everything you've done through the entire season is not taken into consideration in the least. 

Oh well, it was still a good season and I'll watch anything Noel Fielding is in, so I I guess I can't complain. 

I know I'm repeating myself, but Prue made it clear that Matty had the best bake on the eclairs. I've been watching the early seasons on the Roku channel, and in either the first or second season, Mary Berry was also talking about the bake of profiteroles (or at least something made with choux pastry, and made the same point that Prue was making - the exterior needs to be quite firm. Josh's and Dan's eclairs were too soft on the outside. They also loved at least one of Matty's flavors (out of two?) on the eclairs; I don't remember what they said about the other, so if nothing else, Matty and Josh were relatively even in the signature. Josh definitely won the technical, but it really did come down to the showstopper on this one.

And I really thought Josh was going to have this in the bag because he's been the most consistent of the three, and I liked Josh a lot, but if the win is based on the final episode, I think Matty's win is legit.