Kids Baking Championship - General Discussion

[mlp]

36 minutes ago, susannah said:

I don't think a baker's work habits or even their track record should determine their safety in each round. They should be judged on the taste and appearance of what they make each round only. ............................... Also it occurred to me that none of them made "3D" faces, since they all were flat.

I agree.  I was just speculating about what the judges might have been thinking.  Obviously, I have no idea what they actually thought.

I'm pretty sure Valerie said the faces had to have 3-D elements.  Which they all did.

[RoxiP]

I think what really Hurt Nemo was not having ears to go along with his earrings.  Plus his expression should have been one of the simplest to create and he didn't achieve that (and why didn't Bella make glasses instead of sunglasses?).  I suspect Haylin's braces might be relatively new because her moms accent isn't as strong (of course her mom might not be Kentucky born and raised).  She certainly seems to be very sweet. I'm not mad at the final four although I am hoping for a Keaton, Jonah, and Haylin final three. 

[susannah]

1 hour ago, RoxiP said:

I think what really Hurt Nemo was not having ears to go along with his earrings.  Plus his expression should have been one of the simplest to create and he didn't achieve that (and why didn't Bella make glasses instead of sunglasses?).  I suspect Haylin's braces might be relatively new because her moms accent isn't as strong (of course her mom might not be Kentucky born and raised).  She certainly seems to be very sweet. I'm not mad at the final four although I am hoping for a Keaton, Jonah, and Haylin final three. 

Too bad Nemo didn't give his face a nose ring...no need for ears! 🙂

[Rammchick]

18 hours ago, susannah said:

I don't think a baker's work habits or even their track record should determine their safety in each round. They should be judged on the taste and appearance of what they make each round only. 

We can't taste what they bake, and we also don't see everything that goes on -- all we see is what the editors create and what the producers want us to see.  So while we might think the judging looks unfair, there might be more there than just "meets the eye".

[SilverLake0315]

On 2/9/2021 at 1:07 AM, susannah said:

I can't believe they gave her a pass.

The impression I've been getting the past couple of episodes is that Valerie really favors her.

[Starry-Eyed]

On 2/9/2021 at 1:09 AM, Adeejay said:

I find it interesting that all the minority kids are being eliminated. Things that make you go hmmm.

While it's definitely crossed my mind that the remaining cast is getting whiter and whiter, I haven't seen any bias in who gets eliminated. The only times I've disagreed with the eliminations, in this season, it's been a minority contestant who was saved (sometimes also a minority contestant who was sent home). While I don't think this is the most skillful batch of kids they've had on the show by a long shot, I do think Keaton, Haylin, and Jonah have consistently been some of the best bakers, and it's hard to see the season shaking down in a way that they wouldn't have at least two of the top three spots.

On 2/9/2021 at 4:39 PM, susannah said:

I don't think a baker's work habits or even their track record should determine their safety in each round. They should be judged on the taste and appearance of what they make each round only. Duff has said often that people eat with their eyes first. It was clear that Duff couldn't wait to get Nemo out of there. While his face may have been rushed, it looked like a face, and they said the cookie was good. Bella's was a huge mess, and improperly baked. There was no way she should have gotten a pass.

I feel like the more obviously a baker screwed up, the nicer Duff and Valerie are about it. They frequently (or at least the edits do) highlight the things the contestant did right and don't dwell on all the mistakes because everyone already knows this is a big screw-up and there's no point in crushing the kid to the ground. It doesn't mean they won't hold the kid accountable for it in the judging.  It was really, really, really obvious Nemo's face was thrown together in a big sloppy rush. His piece was much simpler than Bella's. While we only have the judges' word on how they tasted, and it's true they critiqued her for underbaking, to me, Bella's was very obviously better than Nemo's. Bella made a lot of intentional choices. She didn't always execute them perfectly and the judges didn't always like them, but they weren't some haphazard result of luck.

I think excited is a more challenging emotion to convey than happiness, and I was surprised the judges didn't mention at all the anime-esque marks she made on her background to accentuate the idea of excitement. She kind of failed at not having her glasses mask the eyes, but she tried to think through a solution for it. Her face had personality. It was clearly going for something, even if it didn't come off as clearly as Bella wanted.

I'm going to miss Nemo. I liked him a lot (although his dad got on my nerves) and Bella is a hard sell at times. But she won this round for sure.

What a weird challenge, honestly. Even the "good" ones didn't look that great, and I've noticed the kids across seasons usually struggle when the themes are too open-ended artistically (those superhero cakes...). Who's idea was this?

[TexasTiffany]

4 hours ago, Starry-Eyed said:

I feel like the more obviously a baker screwed up, the nicer Duff and Valerie are about it. They frequently (or at least the edits do) highlight the things the contestant did right and don't dwell on all the mistakes because everyone already knows this is a big screw-up and there's no point in crushing the kid to the ground. It doesn't mean they won't hold the kid accountable for it in the judging.  It was really, really, really obvious Nemo's face was thrown together in a big sloppy rush. His piece was much simpler than Bella's. While we only have the judges' word on how they tasted, and it's true they critiqued her for underbaking, to me, Bella's was very obviously better than Nemo's. Bella made a lot of intentional choices. She didn't always execute them perfectly and the judges didn't always like them, but they weren't some haphazard result of luck.

I think excited is a more challenging emotion to convey than happiness, and I was surprised the judges didn't mention at all the anime-esque marks she made on her background to accentuate the idea of excitement. She kind of failed at not having her glasses mask the eyes, but she tried to think through a solution for it. Her face had personality. It was clearly going for something, even if it didn't come off as clearly as Bella wanted.

I'm going to miss Nemo. I liked him a lot (although his dad got on my nerves) and Bella is a hard sell at times. But she won this round for sure.

On these shows, the judges give positives for a contestant and also give a negative. ITA that the editors decide what to show. We saw Duff & Valerie give Nemo positives even when it was obvious that his didn't meet the requirement of having the ears be made of cookie dough.

Duff had told Nemo at least once before to think about adding a flavor instead of making the usual plain vanilla sugar cookie. This challenge Nemo made a simple vanilla sugar cookie, again. I don't know what happened to his other 2 cookie doughs (I would have added flour) and those did have flavor, but absolutely don't do again what Duff specifically told him what NOT to do. 

Nemo has been a good baker for much of the season so this episode was rather strange. I even thought that maybe Nemo was trying to throw the competition, but what would be the purpose of that. I just thought some things were odd. He mismanaged the first 90 minutes of time. Two doughs and a face shape? Editing showed 30 minutes left and Bella had to remind him to get his cookie in the oven. Nemo got the easier "happy" face in the challenge, but made a black mouth in the shape of what? It wasn't a smile. His cookie looked a little under baked also since it was very light in color. He put what looked like 1/2 an inch of cream cheese frosting on it, way too much. He forgot to make all the cookie components, missing the ears and the nose. I don't remember if eyebrows were included or not. His details on the eyes were quite sloppy. Those blue swirls for earrings were an afterthought. We have seen him function at a higher level. When the season started I thought Nemo would be one to watch. I'm disappointed he did so poorly this round, but I don't think there are politics afoot. 

[MerBearHou]

I thought the same thing about Nemo — he was really, really, really off this episode.  Poor dough (twice), lackluster enthusiasm, kind of flat in his energy, easy decorating task but he couldn’t pull it together, poor time management.  It didn’t feel like the same Nemo we’ve seen in prior weeks.  

[trudysmom]

7 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

It didn’t feel like the same Nemo we’ve seen in prior weeks.

I fell like Nemo is maybe a perfectionist and when things started to go south he kind of spiraled and couldn't recover.  I've seen it lately on re-runs of Spring Baking Championship, sometimes an idea gets stuck in a baker's head and if it doesn't work, instead of plan B, they keep on trying plan A but it doesn't change.  The time factor doesn't help either. I'd go crazy if people were constantly yelling at me how much time I had left and "Get it done!", crap like that.  Kudos to any of these kids with enough guts to put themselves out there.

[Theresa]

What a shame that someone here would bring race into the discussion.  These are children,  they've all been given the same tools,  ingredients,  workspace,  etc. They all receive the same amount of encouragement and kindness along the way.  It's a competition.  At the end of the day,  do you want to stay in it because your creation was superior to another,  or do you want to stay in it because of your skin color? These all seem like respectable kids that want to win it on merit.  That's what everyone else should want for them too.

[mlp]

I'm very happy that Keaton won.  He's done well throughout the competition and he seems like a nice kid.  His final cake looked great despite the clunky oasis.  I liked Jonah a lot too but his cake fell short.  I was hoping Haylin would make it to final 3 but I didn't see her winning so it didn't really matter in the long run.  She's a lovely girl though and I didn't care much for Bella.  I hope Haylin gets a puppy.

[susannah]

I  KNEW Duff was going to give Keaton a pass for his raw dough. I KNEW it. He wants Keaton to win. I think Bella deserved the win tonight, she did everything right and her pies looked lovely. I just saw the finale and knew the little brat  was going to win. His cake looked good but it didn't taste good, but who cares, apparently. Duff wanted him to win.

ETA..Apparently Valerie is still in pain over Eddie's death. It is too bad that they couldn't make their marriage work, since there was clearly alot of love still there.

Edited February 16, 2021 by susannah

[adore]

3 hours ago, mlp said:

I'm very happy that Keaton won.  He's done well throughout the competition and he seems like a nice kid.  His final cake looked great despite the clunky oasis.  I liked Jonah a lot too but his cake fell short.  I was hoping Haylin would make it to final 3 but I didn't see her winning so it didn't really matter in the long run.  She's a lovely girl though and I didn't care much for Bella.  I hope Haylin gets a puppy.

I'm very happy as well! 

I hope she gets a show calf *and* a puppy.  : )

[ChicksDigScars]

I think I know why Valerie liked Haylin. Not just the cute, polite, sweetness.

I can live without the parental involvement. They seriously bugged me, with Nemo's dad leading the pack in that regard. The only time the parents didn't bug me was Mom comforting D'Von after he was eliminated. Maybe they should limit parental involvement to that, because the constant cutaways to parent's reaction were so effing annoying. Just show Mom or Dad being there to greet their son/daughter when they exit the show, assuring them and comforting them. 

Nemo's dad. PLEASE GO AWAY.

 

 

[SilverLake0315]

29 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

I can live without the parental involvement.

Agreed. I don't see the point. They weren't interacting with the kids. They were just extraneous.

I was with Jonah on being kind of annoyed that his mom announced to everyone he'd never made that flavor of cake before. Like... THANKS, MOM 😂

I was ok with Keaton winning. My first choice was Jonah. I just didn't want Bella to win. Feels weird to actively root against a child, but she really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[Grizzly]

I liked how all the kids helped each other in the finale. Very classy.

[NJKBCFan]

Yay, first time my early pick to win it all actually wins it all! Although I think I was actually rooting for Bella to take it. Over the last few weeks, I felt like she just really hit a groove. She's got a lot to be proud of. They all do!  I'll say that I don't understand the wisdom of putting the finale of Kids Baking Championship on at 10pm. 😞

Overall, I thought this was a great season. I liked all of the kids, thought they were all very talented and none were particularly annoying. The challenges were good and varied.  Duff and Val were great as they always are.

Agree with everyone else that the parents need to go, although one thing I did like about having them there was seeing them comfort their child after elimination. This was obviously filmed during the pandemic, and at every elimination I was jarred not seeing the eliminated kid hugged by the other contestants, so it as actually nice to see the parent there doing that. But everything else about the parents was super-annoying.

Until next season!

Edited February 17, 2021 by NJKBCFan

[HyeChaps]

Call me a softie, but it would be nice if each child got a nice consolation gift when they leave.

[NJKBCFan]

30 minutes ago, HyeChaps said:

Call me a softie, but it would be nice if each child got a nice consolation gift when they leave.

They all get to take home the big name plate from their station as well as their apron 🙂

[mlp]

9 minutes ago, NJKBCFan said:

They all get to take home the big name plate from their station as well as their apron

I never knew that.  I'm glad they all get a souvenir but I've always thought that the two runners-up should get some kind of consolation prize, something tangible to show their family and friends.  

I wasn't looking forward to having the parents there but, to my surprise, I didn't mind them at all.  

[springbarb]

Yeah, I didn't really mind the parents, either. They didn't take up too much time.

I was rooting for Jonah, but Keaton made the best cake, I think. I can't get mad about the finale this time.

[MerBearHou]

We lost power here in TX so I missed the show when it aired.  Watching now.  Without Nemo’s dad, I didn’t mind the parents in these episodes.  I liked Jonah the most, then Keaton, but Keaton definitely made the most beautiful cake.  Sad to say bye to Haylin and she took the loss like a champ — she’d handle that show calf just fine!  (But her mom is right — huuuuuuge amount of work on the show circuit)

Never was a fan of Bella.  

I felt Keaton deserved the win.  I actually got a smidge teary for him.  I hope Jonah and he remain buddies — what a fun, compatible friendship they discovered through this show.  

Edited February 17, 2021 by MerBearHou

[susannah]

7 hours ago, SilverLake0315 said:

Agreed. I don't see the point. They weren't interacting with the kids. They were just extraneous.

I was with Jonah on being kind of annoyed that his mom announced to everyone he'd never made that flavor of cake before. Like... THANKS, MOM 😂

I was ok with Keaton winning. My first choice was Jonah. I just didn't want Bella to win. Feels weird to actively root against a child, but she really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

That's how I feel about Keaton. I can't stand his smug attitude that he is the best at everything. I am not a Bella fan but she came through, her pies looked lovely, and her rainforest cake wasn't bad. As I said, Keaton's cake was really pretty but it lacked flavor, I thought Duff said, and not cutting him for the raw dough wasn't fair.

[Guest]

It was a bummer to lose Haylin partway through, but she took her elimination well. And one final "thank yew" when her mom said she was proud of her XD

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that it took until the final 3 for some frustrated tears to finally make their appearance. That alone seemed like a kind of foreshadowing, since Keaton was the only one of the three who never seemed to get hung up on anything. I'm somewhat mystified by the "Keaton is smug and a brat" comments, since I didn't see that at all, but I guess everyone interprets things differently. He just seems like a confident, easygoing kid to me.

I can see why Bella isn't for everyone, but she cracked me up. She's very expressive with no poker face and clearly always says what's right at the surface of her mind, but it never bothered me. She was actually quite helpful and encouraging to both Haylin and Jonah this episode, so I think she's a stealth sweetheart. There was one point when they were announcing the twist, and they had a shot of one of the boys in the foreground, and tiny Bella emerged from behind the giant fridge door with this LOOK that made me laugh.

I was rooting for her, but I'm satisfied with how it all went down.

[Rammchick]

4 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I can see why Bella isn't for everyone, but she cracked me up.

I was not a fan of Bella, but something gave me the feeling she has a "Tiger Mother", can't quite put a finger on it, and perhaps that explains her intensity.

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

I was not a fan of Bella, but something gave me the feeling she has a "Tiger Mother", can't quite put a finger on it, and perhaps that explains her intensity.

To me, Bella seemed a bit too loose and free and silly (and her mom too chill) to be a product of that. I don't know that I'd call her energy "intensity." That implies focus, and Bella - while she could be focused at times - was more "let's see what am i doing hmm that didnt work oh well lets try this lol!!!" It endeared her to me, but definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I think it's kind of awesome that she got good results as often as she did with her somewhat scattershot approach. As she gets older, she could definitely settle down into an excellent baker.

 

[susannah]

7 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

It was a bummer to lose Haylin partway through, but she took her elimination well. And one final "thank yew" when her mom said she was proud of her XD

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that it took until the final 3 for some frustrated tears to finally make their appearance. That alone seemed like a kind of foreshadowing, since Keaton was the only one of the three who never seemed to get hung up on anything. I'm somewhat mystified by the "Keaton is smug and a brat" comments, since I didn't see that at all, but I guess everyone interprets things differently. He just seems like a confident, easygoing kid to me.

I can see why Bella isn't for everyone, but she cracked me up. She's very expressive with no poker face and clearly always says what's right at the surface of her mind, but it never bothered me. She was actually quite helpful and encouraging to both Haylin and Jonah this episode, so I think she's a stealth sweetheart. There was one point when they were announcing the twist, and they had a shot of one of the boys in the foreground, and tiny Bella emerged from behind the giant fridge door with this LOOK that made me laugh.

I was rooting for her, but I'm satisfied with how it all went down.

I think Keaton was overconfident, and was always talking about how good he was at everything. Clearly he was not perfect at everything. I got tired of Bella's whining but I think she had some good moves, as did Jonah and Haylin. I am just bugged because I knew from the beginning that Duff was going to choose Keaton, and giving him passes for his mistakes just increased what seemed to be smugness on his part.

[Kakistos]

9 minutes ago, susannah said:

I think Keaton was overconfident, and was always talking about how good he was at everything. Clearly he was not perfect at everything. I got tired of Bella's whining but I think she had some good moves, as did Jonah and Haylin. I am just bugged because I knew from the beginning that Duff was going to choose Keaton, and giving him passes for his mistakes just increased what seemed to be smugness on his part.

What did Keaton say he was good at besides cake?

Duff isn’t the only judge. How do you know Valerie (or anyone else behind the scenes) wasn’t giving him passes for his mistakes and that they were worse than any of the other kid’s mistakes? 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Kakistos

[springbarb]

8 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that it took until the final 3 for some frustrated tears to finally make their appearance. That alone seemed like a kind of foreshadowing, since Keaton was the only one of the three who never seemed to get hung up on anything.

Before the finale, I actually made a comment that none of the kids had cried this season yet. Usually it happens much earlier!

[HyeChaps]

On Holiday Baking Championship, adult bakers had to make three pies in one pan.

[TVbitch]

The decorating was not nearly as good as some other seasons. That might be partly due to some of the dumb challenges ~make a face! Still, a nice group of kids. I was rooting for Jonah. 

[Starry-Eyed]

I loved the finale challenge! Felt fun and kid-appropriate, with lots of room for creativity, but also a clear direction for the kids to go in. I was rooting for Bella by the end, but Keaton definitely deserved the win with his cake.

[NJKBCFan]

21 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I was not a fan of Bella, but something gave me the feeling she has a "Tiger Mother", can't quite put a finger on it, and perhaps that explains her intensity.

I don't see Tiger Mom there at all. Usually kids of Tiger Moms are pretty timid and hesitant to stand out. Bella seems like the opposite of that. As I've said before, she comes across to me as probably being one of the younger kids in a big family and has had to learn how to be aggressive to get what she wants.

[trudysmom]

A comment about the sheet pan pies (or 'slab pies)) which I absolutely loathe, I can't imagine doing anything other than 2 different fruits or something similar just to keep the bake time between the two the same.  I mean, if you put a filling, and then blind bake the other side, that pan is in and out of the oven, does that effect the crust?  I'm not a pie baker so I really don't know how I'd do it.

As to Bella, she reminds me of Violet Beauregard, the 2nd movie with Johnny Depp.  She and her mom both so competitive.  That competitive nature can be a good thing, healthy for kids in some ways, though it usually comes out in boys more prominently.  I think it can seen unattractive in girls, which is a sad double standard but true.  I think she could have taken the whole thing if not for the gelatin twist.  Although I'm not sure why her icing was weeping off the side of her cake.  

[adore]

7 hours ago, trudysmom said:

A comment about the sheet pan pies (or 'slab pies)) which I absolutely loathe, I can't imagine doing anything other than 2 different fruits or something similar just to keep the bake time between the two the same.  I mean, if you put a filling, and then blind bake the other side, that pan is in and out of the oven, does that effect the crust?  I'm not a pie baker so I really don't know how I'd do it.

As to Bella, she reminds me of Violet Beauregard, the 2nd movie with Johnny Depp.  She and her mom both so competitive.  That competitive nature can be a good thing, healthy for kids in some ways, though it usually comes out in boys more prominently.  I think it can seen unattractive in girls, which is a sad double standard but true.  I think she could have taken the whole thing if not for the gelatin twist.  Although I'm not sure why her icing was weeping off the side of her cake.  

Bella's mom is one of the reasons why I think parents should not be a part of the show.  She looked miserable, sour, and anxious all of the time.

[susannah]

On 2/17/2021 at 12:22 PM, Kakistos said:

What did Keaton say he was good at besides cake?

Duff isn’t the only judge. How do you know Valerie (or anyone else behind the scenes) wasn’t giving him passes for his mistakes and that they were worse than any of the other kid’s mistakes? 

I know how Duff raved about everything Keaton did. Did you see any other kid have completely raw dough? Several other pies were underbaked but his was completely raw.

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, susannah said:

I know how Duff raved about everything Keaton did. Did you see any other kid have completely raw dough? Several other pies were underbaked but his was completely raw.

I honestly didn't keep track through the whole season to see if Duff raved about everything Keaton did, but in this specific challenge, in the judges' discussion of who should go home after that pie challenge, Duff was the one who said his biggest pie pet peeve was raw dough. Valerie said her's was undercooked fruit in the filling. The one who was eliminated was Haylin, the one who undercooked her fruit. So if we take the show's presentation of the judges' comments at face value, Valerie's preferences kept Keaton, not Duff.

But I really think it's difficult, unless you sit down and keep a spreadsheet through the whole season, to track which judge favors which contestant, especially in the kids' seasons. The show includes a range of comments, both good and bad, for all contestants, to maintain suspense and spread the love.

[RoxiP]

Was at my hairdresser this weekend and she has a son about the same age as Keaton - she was laughing because she had just cut her son's hair and said she was grateful that he wasn't into the new fad of short sides and permed top - and I thought that was Keaton's natural hair!  I didn't know it was the trend for this age of boys.  Silly kids!

[Iseut]

5 hours ago, RoxiP said:

Was at my hairdresser this weekend and she has a son about the same age as Keaton - she was laughing because she had just cut her son's hair and said she was grateful that he wasn't into the new fad of short sides and permed top - and I thought that was Keaton's natural hair!  I didn't know it was the trend for this age of boys.  Silly kids!

I remember Keaton saying that he used to have straight hair and it "looked really bad." I was like, so wait, you permed it? It's like that on purpose? It doesn't look bad or anything, I just also didn't realize that curly hair was a trend for boys. I'm way too old to keep up!

[emmawoodhouse]

I thought Keaton's hair was natural. His mom had very curly hair.

[Guest]

Looks like Graysen is taking her baking business to the next level. She's done some little contests and giveaways on a local basis, but now she's launched a website, stepped up her Instagram/TikTok promotion, and so on. The samples on the website (www.gimmesomeshugga.com if anyone cares) look pretty good! Nice to see when one of the kids sticks with it.

[Gramto6]

On 3/21/2021 at 2:29 PM, tracyscott76 said:

Looks like Graysen is taking her baking business to the next level. She's done some little contests and giveaways on a local basis, but now she's launched a website, stepped up her Instagram/TikTok promotion, and so on. The samples on the website (www.gimmesomeshugga.com if anyone cares) look pretty good! Nice to see when one of the kids sticks with it.

Good for her! They all look delicious!

[TomGirl]

Anyone know if/when this show is coming back?

[bkathi]

On 8/5/2021 at 5:25 PM, TomGirl said:

Anyone know if/when this show is coming back?

I don't know but if you get the Disney Channel - they have a new kids baking show starting tonight (August 13).  It's Called Disney's Magic Bake-Off.  

[TomGirl]

2 hours ago, bkathi said:

 

On 8/5/2021 at 5:25 PM, TomGirl said:

Anyone know if/when this show is coming back?

I don't know but if you get the Disney Channel - they have a new kids baking show starting tonight (August 13).  It's Called Disney's Magic Bake-Off.  

 

Thanks!  I don’t know if we get the Disney channel or not, but will look for it!

[susannah]

12 minutes ago, TomGirl said:

Thanks!  I don’t know if we get the Disney channel or not, but will look for it!

I see this on the Disney channel at 10 pm tonight.

[TomGirl]

1 hour ago, susannah said:

I see this on the Disney channel at 10 pm tonight.

Thanks, I have my DVR set!

[susannah]

5 hours ago, TomGirl said:

Thanks, I have my DVR set!

Me too!

[Machiabelly]

Disney channel or Disney+? Or both?

[susannah]

16 hours ago, Machiabelly said:

Disney channel or Disney+? Or both?

It is on the Disney channel.