S05.E04: Desserts

[Meredith Quill]

Yes you are quite right; it is indeed made with the British audience in mind, (we aren’t all hankie clutching, twinset & pearl wearing snobs over here; most of us love a bit lot of witty banter) and thusly so successful that it went from a cult hit to a mainstream show, and even managed to make the leap from BBC2 to BBC1 primetime (no mean feat) for this the 5th series; which is what you're currently viewing (you’re welcome America). In addition to the primetime slot, the show also has a spin off chat show (An Extra Slice) dedicated to it and a huge mainstream following in the UK. This all happened despite Paul H receiving a lot of backlash here for his extra-marital dalliance, which included many fans calling for him to be dropped from the show, evidently they decided they had a winning formula and so stuck with him. Therefore, I doubt that they would consider making any changes to the judges or presenters line-up anytime soon.



As for the question of equipment; I’m pretty sure they own the equipment by now and the freezer thing is more likely down to availability of power supply outlets due to the show taking place in a marquee.

 

TL:DR you may not like them but they are here to stay.

[heebiejeebie]

Yeah I'm guessing most of the dislike for one or both of the hosts has to do simply with them and not an appreciation or lack thereof of "Brit humor" which while it might seem homogenous comes in all shapes sizes and soundbites.  What with it just ebing like that everywhere at the end of the day.  I do think just one might lower the forced efforts of the other and it seems Mel is always a bit more interested in delivering up info instead of a soundbite.

 

I do wonder if Diana was miffed at finding someone's work ina  freezer she felt it did not belong, took it out and didn't really think it through as to what she was doing.  Ultimately it is one the show to sort it out so the mitigation from her camp seems a bit over defensive since we do know she took it out and we do know what happened to it and the level of melt I find not matching the production's timeframe excuse no matter how hot it was.  There were stumbles, Iain paid for it and it seems odd if the show was as strong for the decision to send him home to put it all on him really in the end.  That is what I have an issue with when they could have been pro-active on the shoot with weather or they could have tweaked it to let Iain stay and tell them two would be going home next challenge. 

[magdalene]

I think Martha, Chetna and Norman are my favorites. Martha's skills amaze me and I want to taste everything Chetna makes. And Norman's dishes always look yummy. I don't have any problem with his "simplicity".

[DHDancer]

I think Martha, Chetna and Norman are my favorites. Martha's skills amaze me and I want to taste everything Chetna makes. And Norman's dishes always look yummy. I don't have any problem with his "simplicity".

 

This .... and  .... this!  It makes me very cranky that Norman's traditional recipes are being undervalued: I have to admit to thinking many of the others are over-complicated just because.  I'd eat Norman's recipes every day and twice on Sundays!

 

And yes, I'd love to experience some of Chetna's flavour combinations, but then I'm a big fan of Indian food anyway. Even given that, I find her combinations thought (and taste) provoking.

 

And I'm amazed that Martha is doing this competition AND sitting her finals!  I sincerely hope her academic results are as good as her culinary ones!

[DeLurker]

Pudding is simply a term for dessert as a course , BusyOctober.   Sponge usually means a Genoise.  

 

So Pudding in England doesn't usually have to do with the term custard, it's usually a term for a course, not a specific dish.  

Learned something knew!  Thanks!

 

The two hosts don't bother me - they are a bit chipper for my personal preference, but most people are so I am guessing that is a me thing.  I rather like how the one tastes things and then takes claim to them if she likes them. 

 

I liked Jeff Foxworthy on the American version too - an unexpected host choice given our other competition shows.

 

Paul Hollywood is a lot more likeable here than he was on the American version.  I found him to be too abrasive.

 

I'll miss Iain, but I wouldn't want to see Norman go either.

[Darian]

My beautiful show! I loved everything little about it.  I'm an American and even love Sue and Mel. But now, it's tainted. The cookie has crumbled, the sponge has dried to dust, the cream has soured. I won't even say how I feel about Diana or I would sound like a crazy person, but I will call out the show for its handling of this. Fine, Ian binned his dessert, so send him home. He was gracious in admitting he shouldn't have. But after they eliminated him, I wanted a judge or presenter to say, "Now, for interfering with someone else's work and adversely affecting it, Diana, you will have a time penalty in the next episode." Something like that. Maybe even let Ian back for the next series or something. Anything. And if no one other than the bakers noticed, it's still a show problem. Boo.      

 

Until that point, I was still smitten. Such creativity. It's rare in a TV series competition for me not to have favorites (well, I kind of do but it's a long list), to be rooting pretty much for everyone to do their best, and still be riveted about the outcomes. I know I'll be back for the rest of the episodes and I'll be happy for the winner. 

[Mrs. P.]

Watching this show has really made me miss the American version. I'd love to see it given another season, with Jeff F. and Paul H. again, but without Marcella V. Is there an American version of Mary Berry who could judge w/Paul? Or maybe Mary could cross the pond w/Paul and judge our show?

[Zahdii]

Yes, but only if they only instruct their participants that they're not here to garner TV time, they're not here to "not make friends", and they're not around to stir up controversy.  They're there to Bake.  Famewhores will be edited out as much as possible and removed as soon as possible.

[Mrs. P.]

Thinking about this further, I realized that Mary's baking 'vocabulary' is so decidedly British that she might not translate well in an American baking show. Then I thought about Elizabeth Faulkner. Isn't baking her primary area of expertise? She might work as a judge.

[mlp]

 

Then I thought about Elizabeth Faulkner. Isn't baking her primary area of expertise? She might work as a judge.

 

I was totally with you until you said that.  LOL  I don't like Marcela at all but I loathe Elizabeth Falkner.  She is all about herself and a nice baking show needs no showy karate kicks.  Also, she enters every contest and never wins so I suspect she's not as good as she says she is.  There must be someone else who would be a good fit with Jeff Foxworthy and Paul Hollywood. 

 

I like Mary Berry a lot but I don't care for the two hosts.  They seem to be a discordant note in an otherwise genteel setting.

[Darian]

I'd love to talk about who I'd replace Marcela with, but since it's not episode specific, is there a better thread? I'd love to hear other people's ideas, since I think there must be a good number of candidates (that my choice is better than ;) )

[Meredith Quill]

I'd love to talk about who I'd replace Marcela with, but since it's not episode specific, is there a better thread? I'd love to hear other people's ideas, since I think there must be a good number of candidates (that my choice is better than ;) )

 

Feel free to create one :)

[shandy]

 

"Now, for interfering with someone else's work and adversely affecting it, Diana, you will have a time penalty in the next episode." Something like that.

 

While I think there were lots of poor decisions (crappy freezers, a frozen dessert on a 'hot' day in England, not showing Luis constantly opening the freezer allocated to Iain originally) I wouldn't want the atmosphere to become like US reality. I think, even with 'bingate' it's such a charming show. I can't decide if its faux naïveté, rather calculating about it, or just British, but I love its lack of worldliness. I did look at the bingate gifs on twitter from last summer, but they were so genteel it was funny.

 

I've caught up with the American Baking Competition through the shady internet underworld and my biggest roadblock, apart from Marcela being so so wrong, was the redemption arc for the snarky winner. Show don't tell, why do editors think we need the message spelt out for us? I love how the arcs in GBBS/GBBO are so hopelessly lame - they aren't really arcs at all. Ooo Chetna that chilli will make Mary cough .. I can't take the suspense!

 

Great fun to speculate on who would be a Mary Berry in a US version!

[Darian]

Feel free to create one :)

Oh, thank you. If I can think of a thread title half as clever as most of those I see here, I will (it's not looking hopeful). 

[Pallida]

shandy, I also questioned the "hot" part until I realized they were also running a bunch of ovens in close proximity. Even though it's open air, I'm assuming the temp inside the tent was higher than the general weather statement.

[Zahdii]

http://www.pbs.org/food/features/explaining-bingate-controversy-America/

 

The only new information I got was that the hottest day of the year was a whole 77°F!  I thought it got hotter than that in the UK, but regardless, that's not very hot to me.  Then I remembered what someone up thread pointed out, that they have ovens going so that's going to add to the heat.  They don't have air conditioning in the tent, so that didn't help.  And it's a tent.  I've gone camping and I've got to tell you that inside a tent in bright sun is at least 20 degrees warmer than outside. 

 

All those ovens, all those people (remember there's a camera crew there, too), recipe for disaster when you're making Baked Alaska.

 

There was another thing that someone pointed out, and that was Ian's recipe:  "If you think about it, it was probably chemistry that did his ice cream in. The extra oil from all those ground up sesame seeds probably lowered the freezing temperature enough that only a blast freezer (or a decent chest freezer + more time) would have worked."

 

Ian might have been caught in a perfect storm of disaster.  His recipe was one that probably needed as much time as it could get in a good working freezer.  But it was very hot in the tent, the freezers seemed to be substandard since two of the five broke down.  The bakers had to share the remaining freezers, something that Diana didn't seem to realize.  Everyone kept opening and closing the freezers as they put their cakes in (and some of them seemed to keep checking on them once in there).  Then Diana removed Ian's cake so she could put hers further in the back and either forgot or "forgot" to put it back in.

 

I still don't believe that Ian's cake was left out only 44 seconds before he found it, but I can't say because the editors didn't provide enough information.  That's on them.

 

It would have been better if the show had had the bakers make something else that day, but as the production schedule and the order of the 'menu' is set up well in advance I don't know how they could do that.  The bakers knew that they were supposed to make Baked Alaska on that day, they had provided their recipes in advance, and only the ingredients needed to make those recipes were available.  So switching to another challenge wouldn't work.  The show couldn't put off the challenge until even the next day because the show was only shot on weekends and the competitors were going home to their daily lives during the week, not to mention the cost of filming an extra day.  The show might not even have permits to shoot during the week.

 

The best thing would have been to see production try to bring in extra freezers on the fly, and tell the bakers that regardless of what happens, there will be a winner but there will be no one sent home.  Instead, next week two people would be sent home.

[DeLurker]

 

But it was very hot in the tent, the freezers seemed to be substandard since two of the five broke down.

And they really did not look like commercial quality units.  On other cooking shows they always have a blast freezer (think that is what it is called).

 

I hope the take away from all of this is that they invest in better quality equipment and/or have a contingency plan established to address unexpected problems with a fairer decision.

 

I really like that they show and taste everyone's dish.

[Qoass]

I always think of Baked Alaska as a single serve dish.  If everyone had made a single serving or two, I think it would have been more successful if less showy.

[Zahdii]

Yes, the scheduling is off.  Most PBS stations ran Episode 5 tonight, others are running a week behind.  There's a link above if you want to catch up online.

 

ETA:  Well, there was.  Either I got it wrong or it was removed.  I'll send you the link if you want.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Zahdii

[lark37]

Late to the party here as I'm just catching up with this show, but if anyone else is still reading, I have a question.  My personal favorites are Kate, Martha, Richard, and Norman.  While I was watching this episode, at the end when the two hosts were discussing who was leaving and who was "star baker" with Mary and Paul, they distinctly said "who's our star baker this week" and Mary (I even ran it back to double check) said oh definitely Kate!"  Then, they turned around and and declared Richard "star baker" again.  I like both of them, but since Richard won the week before, I was hoping Kate would finally win. Did Paul overrule her in favor of Richard? I read through this entire thread to see if anyone else mentioned it, but the thread seems to be heavy with the Diana/Iain debacle.  Didn't anyone else hear that? 

Edited February 9, 2015 by lark37

[Meredith Quill]

I think they likely asked "who's up for star baker this week?" - that's what they usually ask, as they never reveal who has won it until the end.

More importantly, Paul cannot overrule Mary or vice-versa, one has to convince the other and they must reach a mutual agreement.

[GaT]

There's nothing on TV & as I scrolled through I saw an episode of this show & decided to watch. It turned out to be this episode, so I got to watch Iian get screwed again. His ice cream was soup, 

[7-Zark-7]

On 8/28/2014 at 1:51 PM, Athena said:

It was unintentional of course. I do think it was probably she took out, forgot about it, and it melted.

I originally thought this as well, but then I thought... she could have moved Iain's Baked Alaska over and put hers in along side, instead she took his out entirely which suggests that she didn't think there was room for both, so what was her plan for the dessert she removed? Was she at least planning to tell the room "Hey, I took out this dessert whoever's it is because it's my freezer and there isn't enough room"?  I would have liked it if someone asked her what her plan was. I don't think she had one. I think she was more focused on getting her stuff done and couldn't really care less about attending to someone else's problems. 

[rose711]

I just watched this episode. My take was that Iain acted like an immature child with his melted ice cream and his having a tantrum was not at all what I expected. The host was right there trying to calm him down. He went right over her and trashed his work. He looked like an ass to me. I thought the edit was to make him look like less of a crazy hothead and not to point fingers at someone else.

I can see why the show and the editors mighty have been surprised at the public response. There is certainly no reason to harass an older woman over the judges decision to eliminate an insane person who threw out their own work.

The entire reaction has me very confused. Why dlt.oes Iain not get a lot of heat for behaving so badly? It's the editing making it look like it's not his fault- but it is his fault. Like I said, I'm confused.

Edited January 7, 2017 by rose711

[halopub]

On 1/23/2015 at 8:44 AM, Zahdii said:

The only new information I got was that the hottest day of the year was a whole 77°F!  I thought it got hotter than that in the UK, but regardless, that's not very hot to me. 

The 77 is based on Sue's voiceover. Paul was very clear at the time of the initial kerfuffle and stated that it was 30C the baking day after all those additional freezers failed. So 86F. There are news reports that year which talked about a number of days around 90. We can probably look up historical weather in Welford, but I don't know which weekend that episode was taped.

23 hours ago, rose711 said:

The entire reaction has me very confused. Why dlt.oes Iain not get a lot of heat for behaving so badly? It's the editing making it look like it's not his fault- but it is his fault. Like I said, I'm confused.

He did face consequences for his freak out. Without anything left for the judges to taste, he got booted. With the lack of working freezers on a very hot day, others like Chetna also had melted creations but presented what they had. He also had to address the media rabble about his own "meltdown" (seriously Newsnight?) in the immediate aftermath of the broadcast.

I'm not going to revisit my lengthy earlier posts, but I don't think we'll agree about what level of responsibility Diana may have had Iain's creation failing to set. You are certainly not the only one who believes Diana got thrown under the bus by production, regardless of Sue's utter surprise at the uproar the episode created. Diana and her family felt that way. If I recall correctly, there was a report that contestants asked production for a non-elimination that week because of the impossible tent/freezer conditions. Hollywood, though, felt that would be rewarding Iain's breakdown.

Richard Burr did notice that contestants last year (2016) each got their own freezer, so Love Productions may have learned their lesson on that front.

[rose711]

22 hours ago, halopub said:

The 77 is based on Sue's voiceover. Paul was very clear at the time of the initial kerfuffle and stated that it was 30C the baking day after all those additional freezers failed. So 86F. There are news reports that year which talked about a number of days around 90. We can probably look up historical weather in Welford, but I don't know which weekend that episode was taped.

He did face consequences for his freak out. Without anything left for the judges to taste, he got booted. With the lack of working freezers on a very hot day, others like Chetna also had melted creations but presented what they had. He also had to address the media rabble about his own "meltdown" (seriously Newsnight?) in the immediate aftermath of the broadcast.

I'm not going to revisit my lengthy earlier posts, but I don't think we'll agree about what level of responsibility Diana may have had Iain's creation failing to set. You are certainly not the only one who believes Diana got thrown under the bus by production, regardless of Sue's utter surprise at the uproar the episode created. Diana and her family felt that way. If I recall correctly, there was a report that contestants asked production for a non-elimination that week because of the impossible tent/freezer conditions. Hollywood, though, felt that would be rewarding Iain's breakdown.

Richard Burr did notice that contestants last year (2016) each got their own freezer, so Love Productions may have learned their lesson on that front.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm not assigning responsibility for who's fault was that the ice cream didn't freeze. Even if it was 100% her fault, that could've been discussed with the judges and producers. I mean someone use somebody else's custard and that was discussed and evaluated. I don't see any reason this would've been different if he had not  freaked out and had an incredibly childish tantrum.

My comment about it being his fault is based on the fact that he threw his dessert away. I think if he hadn't thrown his dessert away he  would've had a different outcome. That's why I see the entire incident as his fault. 

At least the show went back to normal somewhat after that incident, unlike other reality shows where people are just acting up for screen time. That's the thing I love the most about the show, people arent just creating drama so they get their face on TV.

Edited January 9, 2017 by rose711

[Neko]

Just caught this episode, five years too late, or however long it's been since it aired.  I don't think Diana acted with malicious intent, at all.  I think she probably forgot about Iain's ice cream because she was focused on her own work, and it just snowballed into this shitty situation.  I agree that Iain could have handled the situation better, but sometimes our emotions get the better of us, and we do things we're not proud of.  So, no one is a villain here, they're just human, and it was an unfortunate thing that happened.

It sucks that Diana ended up having trouble with her olfactory nerve.  How utterly disappointing to have that happen during a competition where she felt like she was having her time in the spotlight, after cooking/baking for her family for over 60 years.  I feel bad for her. :(

[cherrypj]

I think the producers missed the boat with Iain: he was way too intense for the show they’re trying to create. You notice he never had anything to say? Mel or Sue would talk, and he would just nod along. His most interesting feature was Russet Gandalf. 

As for the drama-free vibe GBBO aims for, it’s definitely not a feature of British shows in general. It’s a feature of THIS show, and I wish more shows copied it. 

[AZChristian]

We've been watching this season this week.  I love this show.  I would give an arm to be a judge for just one week.  Not even a judge . . . just someone sitting outside the tent in the rain eating leftovers.

[Crs97]

I just watched this episode (so many years later - thanks, Netflix!) and am surprised Diana got so much flak.  When he asked about his ice cream her first reaction IMO was a sudden realization and regret that it was on the counter.  It was only when he reacted strongly that she got defensive and asked her question suggesting that he had his own space in the other freezer.  I don’t know why the public decided that was proof of her nefarious plan, and of course the comments immediately turned to her physical appearance.  Wasn’t Chetna right there with her?  She didn’t seem to get flak for keeping quiet.  
 

Paul was right: it wasn’t his fault, but he had a problem with one element and dumped it all rather than have them judge the rest, which wasn’t fair to anyone.  I am fine that he is gone and hate that it caused so many problems for her.

[Aulty]

They are not as sexy as a SMEG but a chest freezer would be so much more efficient for challenges like those. Or just let them prepare the ice cream the day before - its what you'd do at home.

[blueray]

They were sharing the freezer, she just didn't know that he didn't have another freezer to use. I think she did feel bad at the moment, however she easily could have told him to move it or yell toward him that she was going to move it out of the freezer and he'll have to find another place for it. Instead she said nothing and it sat out. Obviously, then became his fault when he threw everything away.

[Crs97]

If I had to guess, I think she meant to put it back after she got hers in and then forgot.

[Adiba]

On 8/29/2020 at 2:20 PM, blueray said:

They were sharing the freezer, she just didn't know that he didn't have another freezer to use. I think she did feel bad at the moment, however she easily could have told him to move it or yell toward him that she was going to move it out of the freezer and he'll have to find another place for it. Instead she said nothing and it sat out. Obviously, then became his fault when he threw everything away.

I thought Iain had to share a different freezer? For some reason he put his ice cream in Diana's and Chetna's freezer? 

On another season, didn't the contestants get to make bavarois the night before or something similar that needed to set?

[Crs97]

I know on one season I saw via Netflix there was one time you could choose which dough you wanted to start with for your showstopper.  Choosing one dough allowed you to start the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  I can’t remember if it was extra time, or if they got say 30 minutes the night before and then lost 30 minutes the next morning. 

[AZChristian]

4 hours ago, Adiba said:

I thought Iain had to share a different freezer? For some reason he put his ice cream in Diana's and Chetna's freezer? 

On another season, didn't the contestants get to make bavarois the night before or something similar that needed to set?

This is what Iain Watters said about it afterwards:

Watters said that two of the Bake Off freezers had broken the day before, leaving a shortage for the bakers to use for their puddings. He also disputed Beard's claim on the show that they had each been allocated their own freezer space. "This is an important point – we didn't have designated freezers, as Diana said on the show, and a couple of freezers broke down the day before so we started with five freezers and we went down to three.

"The freezer I was using at the start of the day had got filled up with other people's ice-cream. I went over and there was a space in the freezer on the other side of the tent, which Diana and Nancy and Chetna were using, so I stuck mine in there. I had no reason to believe it would get taken out by anyone."

[Adiba]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

This is what Iain Watters said about it afterwards:

Watters said that two of the Bake Off freezers had broken the day before, leaving a shortage for the bakers to use for their puddings. He also disputed Beard's claim on the show that they had each been allocated their own freezer space. "This is an important point – we didn't have designated freezers, as Diana said on the show, and a couple of freezers broke down the day before so we started with five freezers and we went down to three.

"The freezer I was using at the start of the day had got filled up with other people's ice-cream. I went over and there was a space in the freezer on the other side of the tent, which Diana and Nancy and Chetna were using, so I stuck mine in there. I had no reason to believe it would get taken out by anyone."

That makes sense. Probably Diana didn't know or forgot that there weren't enough working freezers when she asked didn't Iain have his own. At any rate, I feel they should have been given more time to make ice cream on a hot day if there were too many people sharing freezers.

[Crs97]

It sounds like a chaotic mess and no one knew exactly what people were supposed to do.  If he had served what he had, I think they probably would have decided not to send anyone home.  I just feel horrible that Diana was so villainized for it when I thought it seemed to be an innocent mistake.

Wasn’t he the one making black sesame ice cream?  I don’t recall the judges seeing all that excited to taste it.