S09.E10: The Final

[Athena]

Quote

Paul and Prue set three challenges to test the bakers' skills, including an intricate, multi-layered landscape Showstopper that could win them the title

[Aulty]

What a weird weird set of challenges. The doughnuts were ok, but I would have chosen a different technical challenge (the pita bread challenge would have been great for bread week) and whoever came up with the final showstopper challenge should be given a day off when they decide on next years task. Green, grey and blue food colouring is so unappetizing, especially on the telly and none of the baked landscape looked appealing. It was as disappointing as the disastrous wedding cake challenge a few years ago.

I'm ok with Rahul winning mainly because Kim Joy's display was really underwhelming considering her usual level of creativity. Ruby's showstopper was too messy. Rahul was really unlucky with the jar bearking and giving him some time back was ok. It was good that he insisted on not using anything he had on the bench wenn the glass broke.

 

With the weather having such a big effect on the bakes, they should really start shooting earlier in the year (I loved the earlier seasons when it was raining cats and dogs during the judging). And when will we get an All Stars series of Bake Off?

Edited October 30, 2018 by Aulty

[dippydee]

Not going to lie I would have preferred either of the other two to win but well done to Rahul anyway.

The Showstopper was kind of meh since I wasn’t amazed by any of them, there was no wow. But I really enjoyed the Technical on the campfires. It wasn’t baking but it was cool to see them doing something completely different, though it must have sucked for them in that weather. I loved Noel teasing Ruby that she was already in hell. They are fun together, if Sandi decides to take a episode off or something I wouldn’t say no to Ruby filling in for her.

The “where are they now” portion was fun too. I liked seeing the London crew (and of course Ruby drinking direct from the wine bottle) and the Northern crew meeting up for dinners/drinking.

[halopub]

Ugh. Between the campfire technical and the landscape showstopper this has been a painful season finale. I felt for all the finalists. At least the donuts looked tasty.

I really liked what Heidi Stephens at The Guardian had to say:

Quote

It hasn’t been my favourite series this year, mostly due to Channel 4 ramping up the tension with challenges that are too complex and don’t give our bakers enough time to do well. From the start we all agreed that this year’s batch of amateur bakers had real talent, and for me the joy of Bake Off is in seeing them succeed, and sitting on my sofa thinking “I could try making that”. Of course the odd mishap is always fun, but there’s very little enjoyment in seeing people become stressed, exhausted and crying because they have been set up to fail. And for the first time since I started watching the show, there really hasn’t been anything I’ve fancied trying at home. Bake Off is supposed to be a gentle, charming baking show, not a gruelling reality gameshow – please, Channel 4 and Love Productions, give us back the GBBO we’ve always loved next year.

Congrats to Rahul. He may be the first winner in awhile who I don't expect to parlay their win into professional baking or a TV career. He's certainly loved by many, not the least Noel, but I have a hard time imagining him putting himself out for regular public scrutiny.

[BellyLaughter]

Congrats to Rahul! 

Yes! To filming when it’s cooler

Yes! To an All Star Edition!!

Yes! To a return to quality, traditional home baking.... these are supposed to be home bakers....not highly trained pastry chefs....

Edited October 30, 2018 by BellyLaughter

[CaliCheeseSucks]

Loved Rahul and was thrilled that he won but... what an odd finale. The doughnuts seemed like an early-season challenge, the parameters of the pita challenge just seemed unnecessarily drama-inducing. The showstoppers all fell flat to me, not to discount the hard work that went into them. However, it feels like in the past, the final showstoppers were, well, showstoppers. None of these made me go "wow."

Edited October 31, 2018 by CaliCheeseSucks

[Snow Fairy]

I was very surprised that Rahul won. Maybe because he should have left in the last 2 episodes. I was expecting Kim Joy to win honestly

But yes, very strange finale. Honestly, I did not like, visualy, none of the showstoppers. Weird layouts, weird colors - there were so many better showstoppers throughout the season

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ooh donuts!

Ruby's family is gorgeous. Her sister Sonya, her cousin Veena, and her mom are all beautiful. According to the school report they showed, she was known as Iminder when she was a kid. When I was a kid, I hated my name. I didn't realize that my parents chose my name so I told my mom I didn't like my name. She told me that I could change it when I turned 18. I was very young when she told me this (maybe six?) so my interpretation was that when you turned 18, you could just pick a new name, which gave me a goal and a time frame. I ended up not changing my name when I finally reached my 18th birthday (not because I grew to eventually like my name but because I couldn't think of a name that really felt like me), but I know several people who have legally changed their names. I am always fascinated when people change their names so finding out that Ruby used to go by a totally different name made me like her a little bit more than before! She is hardcore for taking the week off from work to practice for the finals.

It must be hard for Rahul to be so far away from all of his family. I remember when my family moved (just my parents and my sisters). We used to live in the same city as both sets of my grandparents, plus all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mom's side and we moved 2000 miles away to a city where we had no family and knew no one. We still had each other so it wasn't terrible, but it definitely took some adjustment to have no family within driving distance. I can only imagine how much harder it is to be in a completely different country without any family!

I loved seeing all of the other creations that Kim-Joy has created at home for her boyfriend Nabil. The one with the flowers painted on was gorgeous!

Rahul's mango crème pâtissière filled donuts with paisley royal icing looked better from a distance. The red paisley was a nice contrast with the white icing. He was squeezing the piping bag so hard that I was afraid that it would burst and then it exploded. Poor guy. I knew that he was in  trouble with his spiced orange ring donuts with cinnamon, ginger, and orange buttercream flowers as soon as I saw the drawing/description. Putting big buttercream flowers on top was a mistake. The dough was underproved and had a tight texture.

Ruby's dulce de leche filled cinnamon donuts with galaxy glaze were okay looking but this was definitely not the greatest galaxy design I've ever seen. And it's criminal to underfill donuts! But at least the judges liked the texture of her donuts. Her raspberry and cardamom rainbow ring donuts were disappointing looking too. They weren't a complete trainwreck, but they were not impressive looking at all. Sadly, the inside matched the outside and was disappointing.

I loved the bright blue of Kim-Joy's amaretto diplomat filled lemon donuts with orange glaze and I liked that they were totally filled with cream inside. There's nothing more disappointing than biting into a filled donut and getting no filling. Her lemon ring donuts with iced bumblebees were so delicate and cute.

Interesting that Prue pronounced pita correctly but Paul kept pronouncing it with a short I sound.

On the one hand, the technical challenge put all three of the bakers on similar footing since none of them knew how to use the outdoor fire. On the other hand, it seemed so mean to make them bake on a fire when it was already really hot outside! Congratulations to Kim-Joy for coming in first! I laughed when Ruby said, "I didn't come in last. I came in third." Ha!

When they initially described the final showstopper as landscape desserts, I wasn't entirely sure what that entailed. It was so sweet to see the bakers hug each other after they were done with their final showstopper challenge while the production crew clapped for them. So cute that Rahul wouldn't touch Ruby and Kim-Joy because his hands were still covered in all that frosting.

Ruby's magical edible landscape with lemon crème pâtissière choux mountain, cardamom shortbread hills,  passionfruit cake with passionfruit curd, blueberry compote, salted pistachio brittle stepping stones, ice malt lake, raspberry mushrooms, and unicorns had a lot of elements but it definitely did not look like a showstopper. It looked very clumsy and amateurish. That was not something that looked worthy of the finale.

Kim-Joy's lost city of Atlantis landscape with ginger cake, orange buttercream, ginger biscuits, salted caramel filled well, and fondant seahorses was very colorful. All of the sugar decorations were beautiful.

Poor Rahul! It must have been ridiculously hot for a jar to explode. Paul mentioned earlier in the day that it was already 32C (89F) and that it was getting hotter. I'm glad that the judges gave him an extra 15 minutes to make up for all the time he lost while production was cleaning up all the broken glass from his work station, but I think he was so stressed at that point that he wasn't 100%. His edible rock garden landscape with orange buttercream plants, cardamom flavored choux rocks, chocolate orange cake with orange buttercream, lemon joconde, green orange curd pond, and ginger biscuit stepping stones turned out better than I thought it would.

So cute to see all the guys hoist Rahul up!

One of my favorite things about the finale is seeing what all the bakers are up to now. I love that so many of them are still hanging out together. I wish we'd had more individual updates on everyone though.

I agree with the review above - I don't like seeing the bakers stressed out because the challenges are too difficult or they aren't given enough time to complete them. I want them to do well, not fall apart from the stress.

None of this week's challenges seemed like finale challenges which was disappointing. I want to see grand crazy over the top showstoppers for the finale!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes:

Signature challenge - donuts
Rahul's mango crème filled donuts
Kim-Joy's lemon ring donuts

Technical challenge
pita

Showstopper challenge - landscape desserts
Ruby's passionfruit cake
Rahul's chocolate cake
 

Edited October 31, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[halopub]

3 hours ago, CaliCheeseSucks said:

The showstoppers all fell flat to me, not to discount the hard work that went into them. However, it feels like in the past, the final showstoppers were, well, showstoppers. None of these made me go "wow."

There was a behind-the-scenes profile a few years ago that detailed how the contestants submit all of their signature and showstopper plans before the season starts taping and don't know the order of the themes.  I wonder how many contestants ultimately decide to make major adjustments to their showstoppers as the season rolls out or if it's just too time consuming.

 

50 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

We still had each other so it wasn't terrible, but it definitely took some adjustment to have no family within driving distance. I can only imagine how much harder it is to be in a completely different country without any family!

Rahul was definitely fortunate to have such supportive British friends and their reactions definitely stood out:

50 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I loved seeing all of the other creations that Kim-Joy has created at home for her boyfriend Nabil. The one with the flowers painted on was gorgeous!

-

I knew that he was in  trouble with his spiced orange ring donuts with cinnamon, ginger, and orange buttercream flowers as soon as I saw the drawing/description. Putting big buttercream flowers on top was a mistake.

-

When they initially described the final showstopper as landscape desserts, I wasn't entirely sure what that entailed. It was so sweet to see the bakers hug each other after they were done with their final showstopper challenge while the production crew clapped for them. So cute that Rahul wouldn't touch Ruby and Kim-Joy because his hands were still covered in all that frosting.

-

His edible rock garden landscape with orange buttercream plants, cardamom flavored choux rocks, chocolate orange cake with orange buttercream, lemon joconde, green orange curd pond, and ginger biscuit stepping stones turned out better than I thought it would.

It did feel a little odd, though, that there was no mention of her extended family, who I guess were at her finale picnic table. It was a pretty quick pan of the crowd.

Maybe Rahul could have gotten away with three frosted stripes of flavors?

Yeah, someone got too cute by bookending the season with portrait and landscape showstoppers. I'm glad Rahul did manage to create something that was at least thoughtful on how flavors would interact, as unappetizing and rushed as it looked. I bet my young nephew would love the idea of dipping rock-shaped cookies into the green sludge of a pond, though.

It was lovely to see Sandi be so maternal towards Rahul - I don't think she gets to interact with the contestants enough.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Rahul's exit interview

Ruby's exit interview

Kim-Joy's exit interview

[CaliCheeseSucks]

14 minutes ago, halopub said:

It was lovely to see Sandi be so maternal towards Rahul - I don't think she gets to interact with the contestants enough.

That was genuinely touching - I teared up.

I wasn't familiar with Noel or Sandi prior to last season and halfway through this one, my review of them went from "They're fine" (last season) to "Mel and Sue who?" Honestly, I liked M&S at the time but now I don't miss them at all. Noel is so genuine, caring and kind towards the bakers and as you said, Sandi hasn't really gotten to have those moments, but she delivered here and in a very big way. I love them.

[Lois Sandborne]

13 hours ago, Aulty said:

What a weird weird set of challenges.

Indeed.  The challenges didn't really gin up any portent or suspense, and weren't even very interesting when you get right down to it. I mean I love a good doughnut as much, or probably more than, the next gal, but they were just a strangely pedestrian (and American?) choice for the final.  And all that rigmarole with the pita over the campfire was vaguely ridiculous.  I agree it might've played better for me during bread week.

Rahul's luster dimmed quite a bit for me over the last several weeks, but I'm not upset at his win.  He's a very good baker.  Out of everything that was made in this episode though, I think I'd have liked to taste Ruby's passion fruit cake most.  It looked so tender and divine.  And I still would've personally preferred to see her or Kim Joy take home the pretty plate.

I agree that Sandi and especially Noel have made themselves at home in the presenter role.  I only knew Noel from Taskmaster, where he was absurd and adorable, and he has carried that on here quite nicely.  I loved when he was kidding Ruby about whether she might have actually died and gone to hell during the pita fiasco.  And Sandi too is starting to come into her own with the warm maternal or kind aunt sort of thing; I think she had moments of that with Rahul and others like Briony as well.  They can stay.

[3 is enough]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ruby's family is gorgeous. Her sister Sonya, her cousin Veena, and her mom are all beautiful. According to the school report they showed, she was known as Iminder when she was a kid

Maybe she has an "Indian name" and a "British name"?  Her mother and sister had British names too.  My son's best friend is Korean.  He goes by Paul but he does have a Korean name as well.  I think that is a fairly common practice.

16 hours ago, halopub said:

Congrats to Rahul. He may be the first winner in awhile who I don't expect to parlay their win into professional baking or a TV career. He's certainly loved by many, not the least Noel, but I have a hard time imagining him putting himself out for regular public scrutiny.

I totally agree!  Aside from his self confidence issues, he strikes me as being almost painfully shy.  But occasionally he made a comment that showed that he is actually quite witty.  I think he is a completely different person when he is in his element and with people he feels comfortable around.  I loved his interactions with Noel and Sandy.

I also felt the finale was "off".  The technical was strange, and the showstoppers were quite clumsy looking.  Between showing the contestants upset and crying, and having ridiculous challenges like the outdoor technical, the show is veering away from the Bake Off we all know and love.  

That being said, I liked Noel and Sandy last year, but I loved them this year.  Their interactions with the bakers are just lovely.

Edited October 31, 2018 by 3 is enough

[Corgi-ears]

Now Ruby is the worst Indian in the room.

[Aulty]

2 hours ago, CaliCheeseSucks said:

I wasn't familiar with Noel or Sandi prior to last season and halfway through this one, my review of them went from "They're fine" (last season) to "Mel and Sue who?" Honestly, I liked M&S at the time but now I don't miss them at all. Noel is so genuine, caring and kind towards the bakers and as you said, Sandi hasn't really gotten to have those moments, but she delivered here and in a very big way. I love them.

Jep! Not to take anything away from Mel and Sue who set the tone of the whole show and their style is still how the presenters of other incarnations are chosen. Apparently M&S used to talk over people in season 1 when they started crying  or having a breakdown so the production team couldn't use the footage to the contestants disadvantage. It helped Bake Off to become a warm and friendly show for the coming seasons.

I loved Noel on IT Crowd and was very happy with him joining the new Bake Off. I was more wary about Sandy, who I only knew from quiz shows like What the Dickens and QI (she is great on QI) - I thought they were to different in age and character. I am glad I was wrong, they are great. The short skits before each episode have been a lot better this year too. Do you remember the rumors before their first season started, that they all hate each other - Sandy is always knitting in a corner and Paul and Prue only talk during the judging?

[Writing Wrongs]

18 hours ago, dippydee said:

Not going to lie I would have preferred either of the other two to win but well done to Rahul anyway.

Same, but I figured it would go that way.

[Occasional Hope]

Non of the showstopper slooked great (def not a good idea for Kim Joy to say brightly she was trying to make her ruins look mouldy ;) )I think in the end it was all about flavour.

[Danny Franks]

Well, that was predictable. I think Prue would adopt Rahul, if she was allowed to, and either of the women would have had to blow him out of the water, to have any chance of winning. I just find him very frustrating to watch. I don't feel like he's gone on a journey of discovery and improvement, or learned anything new about himself. He seemed to approach this whole thing as just another challenge he had to pass, and was terrified of failing.

As one of the eliminated bakers said, "if Rahul wins it, he probably won't believe it. He'll probably still think he's not good enough." And Paul saying he still doesn't realise how good he is. No, and he probably never will.

This was not an impressively constructed final.

Doughnuts? Half of them just ring doughnuts with icing? Really? Though the dulce de lece and cinnamon ones that Ruby made sounded like they'd be amazing. If they had enough filling.

And a gimmicky, silly idea to completely change the format of the show and ask bakers to cook on an open fire? That seemed designed to elicit the exact reactions of confusion, stress and misery that they got. And most of the challenge is making dips? But I did laugh at Ruby getting annoyed with the tomato that kept rolling off the fire, as though she couldn't understand why it would do such a thing. Here's a tip, Ruby - it's round.

Then the showstopper felt too vaguely defined, and again designed to cause stress. Hot summer day + chilled desserts? Yeah, good luck. But also, it seems the lack of a structure to follow left the results looking pretty shabby. Worse than shabby, they were ugly.

I still like Noel and his rapport with the bakers. He loves teasing Ruby, and she gives as good as she gets, but he also loves poking gentler fun at Rahul, who responds better to that than he ever does to anything Paul and Prue say.

And Sandi is really touching as the maternal figure, but she seems to have less objectivity than either Mel or Sue did.

Ruby introducing Rahul to her family was really sweet. She seems like the life of any party, no matter how rowdy it might get. I was happy to see big, smiley Anthony again, and Manon looking very fetching.

That clip at the end of Ruby chugging wine from the bottle, while Anthony and Manon sipped from glasses, summed her up, really.

[rhys]

Yep, not gonna lie at Ruby's mom named Kelly. For real? But one gorgeous family. I too love seeing the stuff at the end showing what the bakers are doing. I do enjoy seeing that they continue to get together.

[Lunula]

I was disappointed that Rahul won, only because I think he should've been eliminated in one of the last two episodes leading up to the finale. I honestly don't know how/why he scraped through. I have always loved this show because it truly felt like they judged based on that week, not on past performance, not on "fan favorites" or "judge favorites" or "show producer favorites" - but Rahul advancing the last two episodes screamed, "the producers want him here!" and as a viewer I felt manipulated. Don't get me wrong, I think Rahul is fabulous - but he clearly coasted into the finale not based on his last two weeks, but rather the weeks that came before. 

I also didn't like all the new "firsts" this season - spice week, vegan week, Danish week, etc. And to spring this weird campfire challenge in the finale was off-putting and not entertaining. As a baker myself, I understand there are only so many things that can be done and they'll have to duplicate ideas from past seasons, so they'll have to think up new things - but throwing so much of it into one season interrupted the sweet, genuine, unpretentious flow this show has always had for me. 

I'm also loving Noel and Sandi - I was worried when Mel & Sue left, but I think they are doing a great job. Prue does nothing for me, however - and Paul handed out way too many handshakes this season. 

[jpgr]

6 hours ago, Lunula said:

I also didn't like all the new "firsts" this season - spice week, vegan week, Danish week, etc. And to spring this weird campfire challenge in the finale was off-putting and not entertaining. As a baker myself, I understand there are only so many things that can be done and they'll have to duplicate ideas from past seasons, so they'll have to think up new things - but throwing so much of it into one season interrupted the sweet, genuine, unpretentious flow this show has always had for me. 

YES! So much this. I don't mind at all when they include some savory baked goods, but I make a clear distinction between baking and cooking. I'm a baker - give me flour, sugar, and butter and I'll go to town. I don't like cooking, and don't want to see three varieties of salsas made on my baking show.

[Aulty]

6 hours ago, Lunula said:

I also didn't like all the new "firsts" this season - spice week, vegan week, Danish week, etc. And to spring this weird campfire challenge in the finale was off-putting and not entertaining. As a baker myself, I understand there are only so many things that can be done and they'll have to duplicate ideas from past seasons, so they'll have to think up new things - but throwing so much of it into one season interrupted the sweet, genuine, unpretentious flow this show has always had for me.

I thought Danish week was great and the idea for vegan week was good but somehow vegan challenges are always setup so that everyone can moan about them, its so annoying.

What I always liked about Bake Off is when they feature recipes that are not in everyone's standard repertoire and that viewers then try to replicate. Usually those were slighty more ambitious or exotic but featuring ingredients that are not too hard to come by - often these were the technical challenges. This year I feel the aqua faba pav is something that a lot of people have or will try. Maybe the rye breads from Danish week too (the apple-spheres looked delicious, but you need special equipment).

So, these are the sort of thing that I want to see more of, and there certainly are quite a few options left in European and international baking. If they keep the signature and technical in that ballpark they can do all the biscuit chandeliers, cookie scenes, baked selfies and sugar sculptures they want for the showstoppers.

[trow125]

On 10/31/2018 at 1:13 PM, Danny Franks said:

Well, that was predictable. I think Prue would adopt Rahul, if she was allowed to, and either of the women would have had to blow him out of the water, to have any chance of winning. I just find him very frustrating to watch. I don't feel like he's gone on a journey of discovery and improvement, or learned anything new about himself. He seemed to approach this whole thing as just another challenge he had to pass, and was terrified of failing.

This was not an impressively constructed final.

I agree wholeheartedly. The showstoppers were all dreadful looking and while I'm happy for Rahul and his fans, I was rooting for either of the women to take it.

I'm hoping there will be a Christmas special this year, to help me forget this final!!

[Athena]

On 10/31/2018 at 4:13 PM, Danny Franks said:

I don't feel like he's gone on a journey of discovery and improvement, or learned anything new about himself. He seemed to approach this whole thing as just another challenge he had to pass, and was terrified of failing.

I've had a couple of days to think about it. While I do think Rahul is talented with his flavours, the edit they had for him felt like the show wanted another Nadiya. She did grow a lot on the show and her journey moved a lot of people. Even now, she's one of the most successful winners and her TV career is very healthy. I think the producers are still looking for another finalist like that. 

There was a sense the show was pushing Rahul's confidence and journey on the show, but I agree that he didn't see it as a journey of discovery. There was the same terror of failing throughout. It was frustrating at times. 

I'm not sad that he won or that he won't be seeking a public TV presenter role, but it's not the sweetest win especially all the show stoppers looked lackluster and not that appetizing.

[TVbitch]

Are Landscape Desserts really a thing? I'm afraid none of the show-stoppers stopped my show. 

I have been saying all season that between the obscure challenges and the lack of time, they were not allowing these talented bakers to shine. Based on some of the earlier bakes that Ruby, Kim Joy and Rahul presented, I felt cheated out of the amazing show-stoppers they had within them that we will never get to see. 

I kind of feel like they chose Rahul as the winner, and perhaps kept him in the competition longer than he might have been deserved, because they all knew that whether he won or lost, the impact of that on him was going to be MAJOR --emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and even physically! Of course he did have merit, but I would have chosen Kim Joy. Maybe in the future they should screen the contestants to make sure they are not too fragile for such a competition. 

[3 is enough]

Honestly I think Rahul's fragility was greatly magnified through the magic of editing.  That is not to say that he isn't insecure to a certain degree, but  the Channel 4 producers seem to be going for a slightly more cutthroat, roller coaster version of the show.  Showing the contestants crying, weird challenges like the fire pit pita bread- it is not quite the same as the BBC version.

Sure, Rahul is nervous and insecure.  But at the same time, he left his family and home to get his graduate degree in the UK.  That shows that he isn't quite as fragile as they made him out to be.  If I remember correctly, he has been in the UK for 8 years, so I assume he chose to stay after graduating.

I do agree with those who think he will not turn his victory into any type of television career.  He just seems too shy and retiring to enjoy that on a regular basis.

[Amarsir]

I thought cooking pitas over a fire pit was a fun turn at a very non-traditional technical challenge. To test the fundamentals you might as well get truly back to basics. But maybe not for finale week. Still I liked it better than the other two rounds.

Congrats to Rahul. I can't say I was rooting for him but I wasn't against him either. 

[halopub]

I was maybe vaguely aware that open fire cooking, as opposed to grills, is trendy again in restaurants but I didn't realize that included home cooks and baking. The challenge felt more like something that I'd see on Food Network, not from Love Productions.

On 11/1/2018 at 9:53 AM, Lunula said:

I was disappointed that Rahul won, only because I think he should've been eliminated in one of the last two episodes leading up to the finale. I honestly don't know how/why he scraped through. I have always loved this show because it truly felt like they judged based on that week, not on past performance, not on "fan favorites" or "judge favorites" or "show producer favorites" - but Rahul advancing the last two episodes screamed, "the producers want him here!" and as a viewer I felt manipulated. Don't get me wrong, I think Rahul is fabulous - but he clearly coasted into the finale not based on his last two weeks, but rather the weeks that came before.

I can see why Briony went home before Rahul so to me the more arguable week is Danish week. And it's an interesting argument. Choose the person who performed badly, but attempted to fulfill the challenges or pick the contender whose bakes looked much better (and edible) but didn't pass the brief for two of them. I can see why Rahul would be chosen then, but the judges' decision implies Manon should have had some notion that her bakes wouldn't pass the challenge rules.

[Catri]

On 11/1/2018 at 6:53 AM, Lunula said:

I was disappointed that Rahul won, only because I think he should've been eliminated in one of the last two episodes leading up to the finale. I honestly don't know how/why he scraped through. I have always loved this show because it truly felt like they judged based on that week, not on past performance, not on "fan favorites" or "judge favorites" or "show producer favorites" - but Rahul advancing the last two episodes screamed, "the producers want him here!" and as a viewer I felt manipulated. Don't get me wrong, I think Rahul is fabulous - but he clearly coasted into the finale not based on his last two weeks, but rather the weeks that came before. 

I also didn't like all the new "firsts" this season - spice week, vegan week, Danish week, etc. And to spring this weird campfire challenge in the finale was off-putting and not entertaining. As a baker myself, I understand there are only so many things that can be done and they'll have to duplicate ideas from past seasons, so they'll have to think up new things - but throwing so much of it into one season interrupted the sweet, genuine, unpretentious flow this show has always had for me. 

I'm also loving Noel and Sandi - I was worried when Mel & Sue left, but I think they are doing a great job. Prue does nothing for me, however - and Paul handed out way too many handshakes this season. 

I have a completely different perspective as I've thought almost since the beginning that occasionally there have been teacher's pet bakers who've passed certain weeks on things other than the merit of their bakes that week.  The three who come to mind first are Rob from S02, Ruby from S04 and Candice from S07.  They didn't all win or even go to the final, but I think that each of them should have been eliminated before they were. 

Right there with you on the rest though, except for Noel and Sandi, who I like, but still don't think they hold a candle to Mel & Sue.

[justmehere]

Yeah -- a strange finale with disappointing challenges. The technical bothered me in particular for a few reasons. The technicals have been about testing fundamental knowledge used in unique ways to push the bakers' skills. This one was ridiculous because it wasn't in the realm of anyone's knowledge. Add to that, baking out in the hot sun... people can get sick being in direct sun, not to mention dealing with a fire. It was a bad stunt and unworthy, really.

The time restraints throughout have been frustrating -- especially when they're judged as if they had plenty of time -- and one editing element really bothers me: When they say they have five minutes or especially when it's one minute left, they show that the bakers obviously have a huge amount to complete, and then they are all finished and presented, supposedly in that last minute. Such crap to increase the viewers' tension. They've done it all along, somewhat, but it was over the top this season and annoying.

The showstopper -- agreed with many other comments that they looked entirely unappealing, which surprised me a little. They've done landscape sorts of things before (maybe smaller scale), so the visual choices from all three seemed odd. I also agree with the judges that Kim-Joy's choices weren't up to her level. She had some great elements in the smaller decorations, of course, but using ginger cake and biscuits was too much of the same. It hurt her chances a lot, which was really too bad.

I wondered if Ruby might get it, but while she does have great flavors, Rahul's seem to be exceptional. Both creations looked terrible, so if flavor was the final tie-breaker, there it is.

I agree that he squeaked through a couple of times, but as noted, Briony messed up in week 9, and Manon didn't follow the briefs in the other week. I would have been happy with any of the 3 going into this final. No one did especially well in the first two challenges, and Kim-Joy made a bad flavor choice at the end, so it came down to Ruby and Rahul. I would have been happy either way.

[Enigma X]

I am okay with Rahul winning, but he annoyed me throughout. I can't say it was his constant wincing. I don't know.

 

I adored Kim-Joy and Briony though.

[halopub]

Rahul doing a live cooking segment on itv's This Morning. He looked less anxious than he was in the tent and began explaining why before he had to get on with the demonstration.

[Rammchick]

In general, I don't understand why the show has so many challenges that are completely weather dependent.  The chocolate spheres, the collar cakes, the blancmange, etc. were all flops because it was so hot in the tent.  At least we didn't get the usual chocolate sculptures.  That would have been an unmitigated disaster.

I appreciate the attempt to try new things.  So how about filming in April instead of July or August or whenever this is?

[Enigma X]

I think the blind technical should be eliminated. 

[Occasional Hope]

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

 So how about filming in April instead of July or August or whenever this is?

Rain and cold.

1 hour ago, Enigma X said:

I think the blind technical should be eliminated. 

No1  It's a core part of the challenges the bakers face.

[Enigma X]

4 minutes ago, Occasional Hope said:

Rain and cold.

No1  It's a core part of the challenges the bakers face.

I get that but I still think it is flawed to judge people on very confusing outcomes of baking directions. It truly is a guessing game and has not much to do with skill or talent. 

[krankydoodle]

On 10/31/2018 at 8:36 AM, halopub said:

Rahul was definitely fortunate to have such supportive British friends

I teared up when we heard from Rahul's friends: "My life would be a lot poorer if I hadn't met Rahul." What a lovely thing to say about someone. It must be rough for him to live so far from his family, but he is indeed lucky to have such people in his life. The clips at the end with his parents were very sweet.

I give Rahul a lot of credit for recovering as well as he did from the jar exploding. When the crew asked what ingredients they should keep, he didn't dither and immediately suggested they just get rid of everything. It also looked like he had to spend his additional 15 minutes with everyone watching him, which must've added even more pressure to an already nerve wracking situation.

I also had a good laugh when Noel asked him what word he would use to describe himself, and Rahul came back right away with "depressing."

On 10/31/2018 at 7:13 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I loved seeing all of the other creations that Kim-Joy has created at home for her boyfriend Nabil. The one with the flowers painted on was gorgeous!

The peeks we got of Kim-Joy's home baking were so impressive. I'm tempted to join Instagram just so I can follow what she does.

And I'm so glad we got to see Terry looking well and enjoying himself in the post-Bake Off scenes since he wasn't at the finale.

Edited November 11, 2018 by krankydoodle

[halopub]

Ah, but you don't have to have Instagram to look at her page.

 

7 hours ago, Rammchick said:

In general, I don't understand why the show has so many challenges that are completely weather dependent.  The chocolate spheres, the collar cakes, the blancmange, etc. were all flops because it was so hot in the tent.  At least we didn't get the usual chocolate sculptures.  That would have been an unmitigated disaster.

I appreciate the attempt to try new things.  So how about filming in April instead of July or August or whenever this is?

I posted the below in one of the other episode threads. Paul and Prue talked about how really hot it got on the weekends. I think they do start filming at the end of April but that their late spring/early summer was just that brutal. There's also a BBC article that explains the changeability of British weather. 

23 hours ago, halopub said:

I think filming starts sometime in April.

Radio Times: Bake Off judges reveal how the summer heatwave affected the contestants – and their bakes

[Winter Rose]

Boy am I glad I cheated and looked at the thread. I liked Ruby and Kim-Joy grew on me, so I was really hoping one of them would win. Oh well, at least I know not to watch the episode. It sounds like the challenges were disappointing as well.

[Rinaldo]

On 11/11/2018 at 11:47 AM, Enigma X said:

I think the blind technical should be eliminated. 

The technical is hands down my favorite part of every week.

23 hours ago, Enigma X said:

I get that but I still think it is flawed to judge people on very confusing outcomes of baking directions. It truly is a guessing game and has not much to do with skill or talent. 

I'll concede that once in a great while the instructions have been misjudged -- minimized to the point of unfairness -- but not often. In general, the technical challenge tests them on their knowledge of basic principles and procedures, things that a master baker should know: the right temperature for X, the correct method to mix up Y, the pitfalls of Z. The instructions, generally, don't randomly leave out essential words, they summarize the task as a series of known steps, as if for professionals ("Do procedure A, throw together a B"). Those who know these essential procedures do well, as we've seen many times. It has everything to do with skill, talent, and experience.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Rinaldo said:

The technical is hands down my favorite part of every week.

Mine too. Not being a baker, I am in awe of how close they get to what it should be given the minimal instruction. But I agree, Rinaldo, it's about testing their basic knowledge, because if you are going to call yourself the best, you better know how to make a genoise sponge, or know the different types of meringue (I will admit to not knowing there even were different types before watching this show. My meringue knowledge was confined to knowing I love lemon meringue pie). And the judging is how well you did against the others, not how close did you get. The winner of the technical could have something that isn't even close to what it should be, so long as it's better than everyone else's so they just have to try their best. I also think we get some of our best, fun moments from that segment as the bakers mostly take it in stride and have fun trying to figure out what the hell they are making. 

My least favorite would be signature just because I love the unpredictable nature of the technical and I love the results (usually) of the showstopper. But I think the balance of the three challenges is just right. Test them on a basic thing they can practice, on their knowledge of making things without following a recipe, and then let them show off what they can really do. I also like that the two more basic bakes are done on day one and they are given a lot more time to do their showstopper the next day.  

I feel like the show came up with the perfect formula for a successful show without the forced drama. I don't consider the technical forced drama because it is drama about baking, not about personal issues and family back stories that are meant to make us feel for certain players, or ridiculous "punishments" given to whoever came last in a challenge. Now, if the last place person in the technical got less time for their showstopper, or had to bake it without a mixer while everyone else has one, or any other kind of BS like that, I'd hate it. As it is, I find it immensely entertaining. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I like the technical challenge for two main reasons (1) it's judged blind so everyone has a much fairer chance at being judged without bias and (2) none of them can prepare for this challenge ahead of time.

There have been bakers in the past who correctly guessed what the technical challenge would be that week based on the theme, but in general the bakers just have to deal with what's thrown at them. No planning ahead like they're allowed to do for the signature and showstopper challenges!

I do think it's a bit much when the recipe leaves out key information. Yes, you should be able to use your baking knowledge to make an educated guess, but at the same time you are given one chance to make this and being off by a few minutes on your bake time can lead to serving something raw or burnt.

But I do like the technical challenges so I wouldn't want it eliminated. On other versions of the Bake Off shows, they only have two challenges per episode so they don't have a technical every week and I haaaaaaaate that.

[ae2]

On 11/11/2018 at 4:27 PM, krankydoodle said:

I teared up when we heard from Rahul's friends: "My life would be a lot poorer if I hadn't met Rahul." What a lovely thing to say about someone. It must be rough for him to live so far from his family, but he is indeed lucky to have such people in his life. The clips at the end with his parents were very sweet.

I am sure that they were prodded so I don't fault them for saying this, but the other parents/family said things like, "I'll be so proud of her if she wins the competition." Rahul's friends took the chance to simply say simply how much he means to them. It was touching!

[Occasional Hope]

I think the technicals help the bakers to bond seeing as they're all in the same boat.

[leocadia]

On 11/1/2018 at 10:42 PM, Athena said:

I've had a couple of days to think about it. While I do think Rahul is talented with his flavours, the edit they had for him felt like the show wanted another Nadiya. She did grow a lot on the show and her journey moved a lot of people. Even now, she's one of the most successful winners and her TV career is very healthy. I think the producers are still looking for another finalist like that. 

There was a sense the show was pushing Rahul's confidence and journey on the show, but I agree that he didn't see it as a journey of discovery. There was the same terror of failing throughout. It was frustrating at times. 

This was my take as well,  While I felt for Rahul, there didn't seem to be any joy for him in the process.  He had all of Nadiya's insecurities without any of the excitement or happiness when she did well.  Production seemed very heavy-handed this season.  It seems like either they were bending over backward to push the "Rahul as winner" narrative or else his skills were so far beyond everyone else that they purposely mislead the audience into thinking his mistakes were worse than they seemed.  In either case, it left a bad taste overall.

[GaT]

RAHUL??????? That caught me completely by surprise, I didn't think he had a chance, & I was rooting for Ruby.

On 11/1/2018 at 6:53 AM, Lunula said:

I also didn't like all the new "firsts" this season - spice week, vegan week, Danish week, etc. And to spring this weird campfire challenge in the finale was off-putting and not entertaining. As a baker myself, I understand there are only so many things that can be done and they'll have to duplicate ideas from past seasons, so they'll have to think up new things - but throwing so much of it into one season interrupted the sweet, genuine, unpretentious flow this show has always had for me. 

I agree, it feels like they're remaking the show & not for the better. Cooking outside over a fire is too gimmicky, this whole season feels too gimmicky to me. And the three dips have nothing to do with baking, why are they being judged on them? None of the showstoppers looked like they tasted good to me, they looked more like craft projects than food.

Like the madeleines last episode, I found the doughnuts to be over-decorated. Much too much icing & decorations on them.

I thought it was ridiculous that they couldn’t cool the tent down enough to stop chocolate from melting, but now letting it get so hot that glass jars explode is way past the point of reasonable. Rahul could have been seriously hurt by flying glass.

I didn't enjoy this season as much as previous seasons because of all the "new" stuff. They need to go back to how the show was before.

Edited November 15, 2018 by GaT

[Mabinogia]

8 hours ago, GaT said:

I agree, it feels like they're remaking the show & not for the better. Cooking outside over a fire is too gimmicky, this whole season feels too gimmicky to me.

I agree. The first season with the new network and new hosts/judge was good, it felt like GBBO but this season Noel and Sandy felt like they were trying too hard to be Mel and Sue with the intros and while it didn't bother my last season, this season it made me miss Mel and Sue something fierce.

The fire pit cooking was just ridiculous. WTF was the purpose of that? The show had a near perfect formula, maybe it's because this is my warm, comfy blanket show on a cold, miserable day, but I prefer knowing what to expect. I am fine watching a new group of bakers tackled the same challenges as before. This show is my fluffy bunny slippers show. I want comfort not increasingly convoluted challenges. 

[macaddict]

Holy crap, is that a werewolf outside the tent at 35:40?

[Sharpie66]

He was chasing Noel on the lawn a few episodes ago.