S15.E04: Caramel Week

[Lois Sandborne]

I really love this crew of bakers. This is my favorite cast in a long time, personality and skill wise.

Also, Prue and Paul just go ahead and admit you like peanuts. They always end up saying, "Oh I'm not a peanut fan, but that's lovely." Give it up and fly the peanut fan flag already.

I would've eliminated Sumayah this week. Her showstopper looked absolutely disgusting. But, confirming my suspicions, Paul finally outright said they would consider her future potential when making the decision. I think that's unfair, but I know lots of people have always thought this was how they do it.

[libgirl2]

11 minutes ago, Lois Sandborne said:

I really love this crew of bakers. This is my favorite cast in a long time, personality and skill wise.

Also, Prue and Paul just go ahead and admit you like peanuts. They always end up saying, "Oh I'm not a peanut fan, but that's lovely." Give it up and fly the peanut fan flag already.

I would've eliminated Sumayah this week. Her showstopper looked absolutely disgusting. But, confirming my suspicions, Paul finally outright said they would consider her future potential when making the decision. I think that's unfair, but I know lots of people have always thought this was how they do it.

But they have also gotten rid of people who have done well and had potential. I think her age played a big factor in it. 

[Lois Sandborne]

True. I think I meant that for me it just confirms that they definitely don't judge on the week itself. They use whatever factors will justify the result they want, and this may change week to week or season to season. That's not great.

[TVbitch]

It was definitely between the two of them, though, so maybe Paul and Prue felt they had to go with their gut about who would do better going forward. I do think, in general, the GBBO has MUCH less producer manipulation than U.S. shows. I wonder if eliminations have to be approved by the producers like on U.S. shows. 

Loved Prue's reaction to the cotton candy.   

[dleighg]

The level of talent this season is amazing. Usually there are a couple of bakers who have a wicked shortbread or chocolate chip cookie, but are really not big on technique. Even Sumayah, whose mirror glaze was a disaster, did a very nice job on her Chihuly homage. Nobody seemed to freak out by the sugar work requirement. 

There were a couple funny moments with Noel playing off of Brit slang:

Mike saying is dessert was "Pollocks" and Christiaan (I think it was) saying that people call him "Wonka. At least that's what I think they call me."

[Straycat80]

Kudos to Nelly for staying so calm when Noel destroyed her bowl of Carmel and had to redo it. These hosts should be more careful. 
I don’t know if Georgie deserved star baker, the judges weren’t blown away by anyone this week. They maybe went by her winning the technical.

The right person went home, I’ll miss Mike. 

[dleighg]

39 minutes ago, Straycat80 said:

Kudos to Nelly for staying so calm when Noel destroyed her bowl of Carmel and had to redo it.

I would have been so mad at him.

[Dirge]

I loved the orange baking dishes they used for the tarts. 

I assume that Noel said something about destroying Nelly's caramel, but it didn't really matter so they skipped it. I would've left it in if he said it, though. 

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, Dirge said:

I assume that Noel said something about destroying Nelly's caramel, but it didn't really matter so they skipped it

you mean in the judging section? Yeah I agree. I guess it didn't matter since she had enough time to make more. But it was very childish of him to be so clumsy. 

[Rammchick]

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

Even Sumayah, whose mirror glaze was a disaster, did a very nice job on her Chihuly homage. 

I live in Chihuly country so I was tickled to see this.

11 minutes ago, dleighg said:

you mean in the judging section? Yeah I agree. I guess it didn't matter since she had enough time to make more. But it was very childish of him to be so clumsy. 

I'm thinking he's going to be much more careful from now on.

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

I guess it didn't matter since she had enough time to make more.

Except I assume the caramel that was made with the pears in it was cooked longer and would have more flavor than her second batch  They said her tatin didn't have much flavor, and I think that could be why. 

[Deskisamess]

On 10/16/2024 at 10:05 AM, Lois Sandborne said:

I really love this crew of bakers. This is my favorite cast in a long time, personality and skill wise.

Also, Prue and Paul just go ahead and admit you like peanuts. They always end up saying, "Oh I'm not a peanut fan, but that's lovely." Give it up and fly the peanut fan flag already.

 

Prue doesn't like peanut butter, which doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't like the taste of peanuts.

I think the right person went home. I also like this group of bakers, but I think the challenges are also too easy. I thought that last year also. 
I'm rooting for Nelly. She seems like a cool gal.

[Sesquipedalia]

I thought almost all the showstoppers looked amazing, especially Christiaan's wave cake and Andy's cotton candy tree. But *especially* Georgie's flower cake. They went on about how small it was, but it looked stunning to me. 

Sad to see Mike go. He is so nice and always laughing.

[kirklandia]

The biscuits decorations look like Pollocks? (Or bollocks?)

They were calling me Wonka? (Or wanker?)

Prue giving Mike a hard time (sorry!) about his bulge.

Christiaan (oops, my bad - it was Mike) kneeling in front of the oven. "Gonna come out now… I am gay!"

Rated PG for suggestive dialogue!

Edited October 21 by kirklandia

[blueray]

I think I actually agree with the decision to keep Sumayah and send Mike home. While both had a rough week. She was toward the top in the past weeks. It makes it interesting if they are factoring the whole competition. Especially when it is that close, that it could go either way.

As star baker, I'm glad they gave it to Georgie. As this on the other hand wasn't really close. They always name other people but she was at the top for all the challenges. And since everyone's showstopper was kind of meh, it made sense based on the other two challenges. Well except for Nelly's, I wanted to eat that off the screen, but she just saved herself with it.

9 hours ago, kirklandia said:

The biscuits decorations look like Pollocks? (Or bollocks?)

They were calling me Wonka? (Or wanker?)

Prue giving Mike a hard time (sorry!) about his bulge.

Christiaan, kneeling in front of the oven. "Gonna come out now… I am gay!"

Rated PG for suggestive dialogue!

That was Mike, I think. That said that. And now I get it lol. I honestly didn't at first.

[iMonrey]

Honestly this is such a lovely group of people I hate to see anyone go home at this point. I agree with @Lois Sandborne this is one of the best groups of bakers they've had in a long time, both in terms of personality and skill. And this was one of the most successful Caramel Weeks they've ever had too. Usually they're a disaster. 

I thought the technical would have been more of a disaster, since they had to make two things, one of them being ice cream. I guess making ice cream is easier than I thought.

I wonder if the judges get any kind of palate cleanser between tastes. Going from one table to the next, it's gotta affect how something tastes when you were just tasting something completely different. 

[kittykat]

I was a little iffy when I heard it was Caramel week but I agree this was probably the best one they have had.

Kudos to Georgie for getting Star Baker, she had a great week.  The judges were discussing her or Dylan. For SB, why wasn't Christiann in contention?  He came 2nd in technical and did well on the other two, I'm just sur theprised his name didn't come up.

Not surprised Mike went home.  Yes Sumiyah did not have a good showstopper but the death knell for Mike was when they said it wasn't a mousse cake.  Sumiyah had decent flavors and followed the brief but Mike had too much sponge and it was too sweet.  Besides Sumiyah was 3rd in technical while he was near the bottom.  And they do look at all three challenges so overall Sumiyah had the slightly better week.

Mr. Kat keeps complaining about the infections and the way Sumiyah talks.  I laughed and was all, "honey, let me tell you about little thing we call vocal fry."

[kirklandia]

6 hours ago, blueray said:

That was Mike, I think. That said that. And now I get it lol. I honestly didn't at first.

Are you referring to the bulge situation?   Prue made a comment during the judging of the signatures, Mike did reference it later.

(I had tried to get a screenshot on my phone, it blacked out all but the text.)

[blueray]

1 hour ago, kirklandia said:

Are you referring to the bulge situation?   Prue made a comment during the judging of the signatures, Mike did reference it later.

(I had tried to get a screenshot on my phone, it blacked out all but the text.)

No, the part with taking his food out the oven. But I might just be getting the constants confused.

[stormy weather]

2 hours ago, blueray said:

No, the part with taking his food out the oven. But I might just be getting the constants confused.

No you're right, it was Mike who said that! I love him, such a sweet and funny guy. I understand Sumiyah did better than him overall, but I'll still take Mike over her any day. Can't anymore with the vocal fry, and once you hear it you can never unhear it. Ah, teenagers!

As far as the caramel bowl incident, I think Nelly's reaction was great but I also think she managed to keep her cool because caramel is quite simple to make again and she had enough time (although I heard that time on cooking shows is a pretty relative concept, the contestants generally have as much as they need and then they edit the footage to make it seem like there's a set time limit —  but I might be wrong). In any case, if she didn't have enough time, I'm sure the production would've given her a few extra minutes to remake it because it wasn't her fault the bowl got broken. 

Anyway, they're such a nice bunch of people that at this point I'm going to be sad to see anyone go pretty much each week.

Edited October 20 by stormy weather

[kirklandia]

2 hours ago, blueray said:

No, the part with taking his food out the oven. But I might just be getting the constants confused.

Oops, my bad - fixed it.
(Not confused, just got lazy.  I'm usually pretty good about fact -checking.)

Edited October 20 by kirklandia

[magdalene]

Most of the time I want to try what they make but I have never liked caramel, too sweet and I don't care for the sticky texture.

Noel is a bit of a klutz isn't he. So far the right people have been going home every week.

[AZChristian]

10 hours ago, magdalene said:

So far the right people have been going home every week.

But this group is so likeable that it feels like they're sending Mister Rogers home every week.

[iMonrey]

15 hours ago, stormy weather said:

I think Nelly's reaction was great but I also think she managed to keep her cool because caramel is quite simple to make

Is it? It seems like every year they do it most of the bakers have trouble with it. This is the first time I can remember nobody really flipping out over it.

[Percysowner]

I really liked Mike and was sad to see him go. I do think he was the right choice. He was in the bottom last week and all of his bakes this weak didn't work. From a personality view, I wanted him to stay, but I was convinced that he was the one who needed to go.

[AZChristian]

Mike's "going-away" letter after his elimination.  

[Orcinus orca]

21 hours ago, magdalene said:

Most of the time I want to try what they make but I have never liked caramel, too sweet and I don't care for the sticky texture.

Ditto, I absolutely hate it so these are my least favorite episodes. And even with the quality of the contestants someone always has caramel catastrophe so I can't believe it's all that easy to make.

Mike seemed so sweet and was obviously the class clown that everyone loved.  I hate to see anybody go, this is an extra special group this time.

[Bumblebee84047]

9 hours ago, AZChristian said:

Mike's "going-away" letter after his elimination.  

 

Well, now I'm crying.

[Deskisamess]

10 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

Ditto, I absolutely hate it so these are my least favorite episodes. And even with the quality of the contestants someone always has caramel catastrophe so I can't believe it's all that easy to make.

 

The season that they made stroopwaffles, no one got the caramel made correctly. Every one of them turned out gritty. And if memory serves, it is usually one of the harder challenges with many failures.

Something was different about the show last season, and it's carried on into this season.  There have been many fewer failures and disasters.

[janie jones]

On 10/17/2024 at 7:58 AM, TVbitch said:

Loved Prue's reaction to the cotton candy.   

I loved that it came after Noel saying she says such mean things but it sounds so pleasant with her accent.

On 10/19/2024 at 5:16 PM, stormy weather said:

 In any case, if she didn't have enough time, I'm sure the production would've given her a few extra minutes to remake it because it wasn't her fault the bowl got broken.

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't Rahul or somebody have a bowl explode and they gave them more time?

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, janie jones said:

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't Rahul or somebody have a bowl explode and they gave them more time?

I want to say yes, but I think that had to do more with having to clean all the glass shards at his work station. 

[dgpolo]

10 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

16 minutes ago, janie jones said:

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't Rahul or somebody have a bowl explode and they gave them more time?

I want to say yes, but I think that had to do more with having to clean all the glass shards at his work station. 

It wasn't even his bowl. It was one of the glass containers of ingredients sitting on his bench.

[Deskisamess]

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

I loved that it came after Noel saying she says such mean things but it sounds so pleasant with her accent.

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't Rahul or somebody have a bowl explode and they gave them more time?

They didn't give him "more" time, they gave him the 15 minutes lost while cleaning up the shattered canister.

[MerBearHou]

Self-deleted my post :)

Edited October 22 by MerBearHou

[BradyB66]

On 10/19/2024 at 8:16 PM, stormy weather said:

As far as the caramel bowl incident, I think Nelly's reaction was great but I also think she managed to keep her cool because caramel is quite simple to make again and she had enough time (although I heard that time on cooking shows is a pretty relative concept, the contestants generally have as much as they need and then they edit the footage to make it seem like there's a set time limit —  but I might be wrong). In any case, if she didn't have enough time, I'm sure the production would've given her a few extra minutes to remake it because it wasn't her fault the bowl got broken. 

If you listen to the Bake Down podcast (which I highly recommend, by the way), two previous contestants, Jane who was in the finals in Series 7 and Howard from Series 4 are on it, often along with Dan from Series 9.  They constantly state that the show sticks to the time very strictly.  If they say you have 2 hours, you have 2 hours, no more.  If you're not done at the end of 2 hours, tough.

They do say that the editing will play around with what you see when.   If you see someone racing to the freezer in a panic when Noel and Alison make the five minute call, that person did race to the freezer at some point, but it might not necessarily have been in the last 5 minutes.

[chaifan]

On 10/19/2024 at 8:16 PM, stormy weather said:

Can't anymore with the vocal fry, and once you hear it you can never unhear it. Ah, teenagers!

Not just teenagers, Christian also has a bizarre vocal fry affect.  On top of an accent that seems to go all over the place.  But both have vocal fry.  I hate it.

I love caramel.  Absolutely love it.  And other than the stroopwaffles, nothing really wowed me this week.  The fancy Twix bars by both Georgie and... Andy?  Not sure, but anyways... they seemed a bit boring.  I really didn't get Paul's almost handshake for Georgie's bars. 

Why were so many people using the same small circular mold for the show stopper?  Is that a traditional mold for a mousse cake? 

I was really hoping to see more done with spun sugar in the show stoppers.  I loved Sumyah's ode to Chihuly, but it seemed small for a showstopper.

 

[Rammchick]

On 10/20/2024 at 8:44 AM, iMonrey said:

Is it? It seems like every year they do it most of the bakers have trouble with it. This is the first time I can remember nobody really flipping out over it.

Caramel is finicky oftentimes because of the weather -- it hates heat and humidity.  Maybe they just had better weather this year?

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, BradyB66 said:

If you listen to the Bake Down podcast (which I highly recommend, by the way), two previous contestants, Jane who was in the finals in Series 7 and Howard from Series 4 are on it, often along with Dan from Series 9.  They constantly state that the show sticks to the time very strictly.  If they say you have 2 hours, you have 2 hours, no more.  If you're not done at the end of 2 hours, tough.

They do say that the editing will play around with what you see when.   If you see someone racing to the freezer in a panic when Noel and Alison make the five minute call, that person did race to the freezer at some point, but it might not necessarily have been in the last 5 minutes.

But were they on a season where someone's bake got messed up because of another contestant?  Or even worse, a host or a judge? I'm sure they adhere to times strictly but I have to think there'd be some sort of allowance for production interference.

As for the playing with time, that becomes obvious when "5 minutes left" is being called and there are people with no decorations yet turn out a fabulous finished product.

[dgpolo]

3 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

But were they on a season where someone's bake got messed up because of another contestant? 

Definitely! Howard had both! Deborah took his custard and used it so he had to use hers, judges judged it separately and said his was better. Then Sue (the host) put her elbow down on one of his English Muffins, which were rising.

[libgirl2]

20 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

As for the playing with time, that becomes obvious when "5 minutes left" is being called and there are people with no decorations yet turn out a fabulous finished product.

They do that on so many of the competition cooking and baking shows that I just dismiss it. 

[LilJen]

On 10/20/2024 at 1:38 PM, AZChristian said:

Mike's "going-away" letter after his elimination.  

He is so cute. I want to pinch his cheeks. Only I’m not quite grandma age and he probably has a good foot and a half over me.

[peeayebee]

He sure reminds me of Stephen Fry.

[Deskisamess]

On 10/22/2024 at 10:59 AM, libgirl2 said:

They do that on so many of the competition cooking and baking shows that I just dismiss it. 

The editing makes it seem like this. The timing and the various shots aren't necessarily in any type of order.

[oliviabenson]

I love nelly. I bet she makes a great friend. 
 

[SemiCharmedLife]

I love caramel and this episode was heaven!  These excellent bakers even make caramel look easy.  I would love to be a judge for an episode of GBBO!

I was very impressed with Dylan's lemon creation.  It was understated, but very elegant.  The sugar leaf was the perfect touch.

[Ancaster]

Following is Mike's bio from the GBBO website.

................................................

Mike:

29, Wiltshire
Farm Manager

Shortlisted for Young Farmer of the Year at the 2024 National Arable and Grassland Awards, and considered a friend to all, Mike is a fourth-generation farmer, working on his family farm alongside his parents and sister. He is an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community within farming and was an ambassador for the National Farmers Union in 2022. Amazingly, Mike is growing all the flowers for his upcoming wedding to partner Matt. Mike’s baking style is homely and wholesome. He likes making big, hearty bakes using high-quality local ingredients that can satisfy lots of people at parties and gatherings. He especially loves using seasonal fruits and edible flowers from his garden and farm – and is even making his own wedding cake.

[PaulaO]

I’ve always liked Noel but this season he has endeared himself to me, minus the caramel incident.  He seems like a gentle soul.  Nelly looked fab in her orange outfit.  Georgie’s mirror glaze was impeccable.   I watch with close captioning s when vocal fry starts, I mute the volume.

[dleighg]

6 hours ago, PaulaO said:

I’ve always liked Noel but this season he has endeared himself to me, minus the caramel incident.  He seems like a gentle soul.

I agree. And he's so much more fun to watch since they ditched Matt. Those two brought out each other's bad little boy personalities.