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Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion


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2 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Who said she was too thin? 

I agree with the poster who would prefer a snarky comedian. They already have an expert panel, and the contestants can explain their bakes. I've seen Molly's cooking show a couple of times, and I couldn't stand her. She's like a younger version of Giada. Gag.

Someone upthread said they didn't trust a skinny chef. I thought they were judging Molly.

I wish the contestants all wore aprons with their names on them like they do on the Canadian baking show.  When there are so many in the first few shows it's hard to remember their names. 

Yes, Alexis was definitely the one to be eliminated on the first show.  It would be nice to see something she baked under perfect circumstances.  As for Molly, waaay too much perkiness and constant smiling for my taste.  I've never seen her show, and doubt that I ever will now that I've seen her on this show. 

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8 hours ago, Refresh said:

Me too. Alexis starts out by saying she’s the youngest so she has more energy? Eyeroll. No one this season is old by any stretch so she can just shut it. Experience in pastry is usually a plus.  Then she makes the rookie mistake of using the attached cake cans. Everyone can have a bad day and that sucks but I won’t miss her. 

Molly’s FN persona is hyper-perky. It’s a lot. Too much. She’s a good home baker and knows a lot but after the first season of her show she became this other thing. My opinion is they dumbed her down into perky Midwest mom. On her show almost all the sweet thing have sprinkles or food coloring. You occasionally get a glimmer of her more sarcastic personality when she’s joking with her husband. I haven’t lost all hope with her but I hope she tones it down. 
 

Not loving the new graphics. The challenges have been good so far, not contrived. 

100% agree. I remember liking Molly when she first came on the scene. But hosting this show is just ruining it for me. She is so annoying!!!!!! And why is this season totally based on her? Every challenge has something to do with her… everyone has to make “mollys flower bonanza cake” , as if no one has ever covered a cake with flowers before. And u have to use a farm fresh cheese because she lives on a farm.  Why??? She is too over the top—-calm down!! I loved the judge trio of Duff, Nancy and Lorraine. Kardea is ok. I just can’t stand when a judge has to be over the top. It’s like, just be normal and give a normal critique of the cake. Ughhhhh. 
i would take any previous host over Molly. 

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(edited)

I know nothing about Molly, have never seen her show, or even heard of her, but I am willing to give anyone a chance. I don't find her perky so much as intense. The way she glowers at the contestant's, eyebrows drawn together, leaning forward, as if she is gonna jump the counter or something. 

But there are so many other things that truly bug. What is this sitting at the judges table stuff? Have any prior hosts done that? I can recall a few times the judges were raving about something, and the host would beg a bite, but I don't remember any of them ever sitting at the table and getting a plate from the contestant. And oh my, does she look out of place at that table; like a little kid who finally made it to the grown ups table at Thanksgiving. I felt like I was watching some aunts and uncles indulging their niece by eating her Easy Bake Oven offerings. And I can only imagine what the vets are thinking; here comes this tweeny something completely usurping the show they have been on for years. I am a Marylander; Duff is a God here, and I can't deny my heavy duty love crush; he really seemed like he was struggling to adapt to this new layout. I felt no connection or camaraderie between the judges and Molly. Nancy seemed like she wanted to slap her and tell her to shut up. 

Which brings me to my biggest Molly thing. OMG, would you leave the contestants alone? I am ok with a quick visit, a "high how ya doing, what ya making" visit, that lasts a few seconds before the host moves on. But holy cow, Molly was conducting full on interviews, or maybe interrogations, as the bakers were trying to concentrate on the challenge. 

Yeah, it is gonna be a tough one for sure. I sure do miss Jesse.

 

Edited by RuntheTable
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10 minutes ago, RuntheTable said:

But there are so many other things that truly bug. What is this sitting at the judges table stuff? Have any prior judges done that? I can recall a few times the judges were raving about something, and the host would beg a bite, but I don't remember any of them ever sitting at the table and getting a plate from the contestant. And oh my, does she look out of place at that table; like a little kid who finally made it to the grown ups table at Thanksgiving. I felt like I was watching some aunts and uncles indulging their niece by eating her Easy Bake Oven offerings. And I can only imagine what the vets are thinking; here comes this tweeny something completely usurping the show they have been on for years. I am a Marylander; Duff is a God here, and I can't deny my heavy duty love crush; he really seemed like he was struggling to adapt to this new layout. I felt no connection or camaraderie between the judges and Molly. Nancy seemed like she wanted to slap her and tell her to shut up. 

Which brings me to my biggest Molly thing. OMG, would you leave the contestants alone? I am ok with a quick visit, a "high how ya doing, what ya making" visit, that lasts a few seconds before the host moves on. But holy cow, Molly was conducting full on interviews, or maybe interrogations, as the bakers were trying to concentrate on the challenge. 

Yeah, it is gonna be a tough one for sure. I sure do miss Jesse.

Jesse actually sat at the table for prior shows (not sure which one he hosted, if it was spring or holiday or what - they all run together for me). I truly think it started during Covid, as I remember them all of a sudden sitting at a regular table (not behind a judges' table) so that they could all be about 6 feet apart/social distancing. It was at this change where the host started sitting at the table too.

I too had never heard of Molly until I watched last night's episode. I will give her a chance, though her perpetual smile is a bit too maniacal for my taste.

I just want to see people bake/create pretty and delicious desserts. My needs are small. 

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13 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

I agree with the poster who would prefer a snarky comedian. They already have an expert panel, and the contestants can explain their bakes. I've seen Molly's cooking show a couple of times, and I couldn't stand her. She's like a younger version of Giada. Gag.

Have to admit, I don't get this comparison at all. Whatever issues people may have with Molly (or Giada), they don't seem anything alike to me. Molly's the chipper home baker, while Giada seems to promote more of a posh, "elevated" cuisine and lifestyle, and projects a more "everything in its place" vibe (I'm trying to choose my words carefully here).

Molly might settle in as the season progresses. When Jesse first started as the Holiday host, the talk was mostly about how bland he was - but now he's seen as a familiar, friendly staple.

I just wish they'd stick with someone as host for this show rather than changing it practically every year.

This used to be one of my favorite shows but now they it’s the Molly show , it sucks .

it looks like FN is trying to make Molly their next big thing . Irs she going to the the female Guy Fieri who is super annoying ?

The episodes is this show now all have Molly’s name on them when I looked on my DVR schedule for the show . “Molly’s Marx Gras “ and “ Coffee and Tea with Molly” are names of upcoming episodes.
Even the first episode’s description was about Molly challenging the contestants to their floral cake thing .   
Molly seems like a nice person and I can her cooking show at times , but she add do over the top dramatic and animated she made the show annoying .

When she literally started freaking out because the one baker said he was using tahini , she looked like she was shaking and ready to convulse with excitement ! So weird !

Why do we need Molly’s over the top facial expressions eating the food ? She isn’t a judge .I would rather have any of the other judges than see that competitions turn into the Molly show, since her big thrill when baking is pouring sprinkles in everything like she is 5 years old !

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1 minute ago, KLovestoShop said:

Ok, I’m confused here.  The Spring Baking show that I’m getting has Sunny as the host and two judges I’ve never heard of.  Sunny said that this show was Spring Baking Championship—-Easter Kitchen.  So what’s the show with Molly and when is that on?

The regular Spring Baking show comes on right before the Easter Kitchen one.

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7 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Molly Yeh? Molly No! 

I watched some of Molly's early cooking shows and she was very different than she is now. No glued on clown smile and none of the goofy side effects. Food not so much in my wheelhouse, but at least then she was more natural. Not a fan of the sprinkles she loves beyond all else but at least she was more natural, now she is more of a caricature. 

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3 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

I watched some of Molly's early cooking shows and she was very different than she is now. No glued on clown smile and none of the goofy side effects. Food not so much in my wheelhouse, but at least then she was more natural. Not a fan of the sprinkles she loves beyond all else but at least she was more natural, now she is more of a caricature. 

Molly was  very different when her show first started, now she’s every goofy and weird on that show Too. I’m sure FN encourages her to be over the top. I still can take her goofiness on her cooking  show more than  on this show since she’s just walking around talking and has nothing to do on this show. 

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(edited)

I used to like Molly on her cooking show, now I can tolerate her show  in small doses since she’s focused on cooking and her annoying, goofy personality and grin is not on screen all the time .

Molly made Spring Baking Championship totally irritating! I actually stopped watching it live so I could watch the recording later and fwd  over her ! Her interviews of the contestants while the were baking with that stupid grin, dumb irrelevant questions, and over the top ridiculous reactions made me turn the channel.

It’s too bad they turned the show into Molly’s  baking show and also want her so over the top. She used to be very likable when her cooking show first started . 
Her open mouth shaking and freaking out reactions over a cardamom , tahini lady bug cookie , made me wish the baker would have flung a spoon of batter into  her open mouth! She literally was shaking like a weirdo with excitement.

Why do I have a feeling we will have a challenge with Molly’s childish sprinkles obsession and she will have an embarrassingly over the top reaction ?

Edited by marmalade
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On 3/1/2022 at 8:11 AM, dleighg said:

I hated that they made each baker tell how a (randomly given) fruit represents them. "I'm a little bit tart and a little bit sweet." Like ALL fruit. What else are they supposed to say.

OMG... like, it doesn't bother me that every contestant had pretty much the exact same response cuz, yeah, that's such an easy go-to (ok well it bothered me a little bit that everyone had a little smirk when they said it because they thought it was SO FREAKIN CUTE AND CLEVER)

But the fact that the FN editors thought, hey, everyone gave the exact same response, so let's go ahead and make sure we include all of their identical responses in like a 20 minute time span... now that was definitely overkill in the worst way

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I also wish that contestants had names on their aprons to help me learn them. I had to look at https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/spring-baking-championship/meet-the-competitors-of-spring-baking-championship--season-8 to remember basically anybody's name.

I'm sure it's producer-driven, but I'm going to grow tired of Carolyn saying she's from Hawaii. She seems like a great baker and should stick around for a long time, but I don't want to hear that every episode!

I really like Justin's lack of exuberance. I think that'll help him stay focused and calm through the competition.

In trying to figure out what Tom's tattoo is supposed to be, I discovered he's worked with Ron Ben-Israel. Hopefully that means we'll see some great things!

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I think I could deal with how over-the-top perky Molly is if it didn't feel like the show revolved around her. I know it's always a bit jarring whenever there's a new host or judge, but none of the previous hosts were this intrusive to my memory. Their names weren't plastered on the title cards, they didn't have multi-minute intro clips played for their first episode, their likes and backgrounds were practically never relevant to the episode's challenge. Even the previous ones that weren't my favorite weren't that hard to ignore. But the show seems to be pushing Molly SO HARD. It all seems more about her than about the judges or the contestants we've barely gotten a chance to know.

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On 3/1/2022 at 11:29 AM, Popples said:

The first I ever heard about Molly Yeh was last year when she was dragged on Twitter for her god-awful popcorn salad. I'd prefer a mildly snarky comedian over someone who is super "twee".

I feel like she unfairly got dragged for that.  As someone who lives in the upper midwest, "salads" like that are staples of old timey church cookbooks.  Many of us who grew up in the area are familiar with cookie salads, strawberry salads (1-so delish and 2-basically jello, strawberries, pretzel crust and a whipped topping/cream cheese mixture) and I guess this popcorn salad (heard of but never had that one).

They all sound awful but also can kind of surprise you (see the strawberry salad).  But more importantly, she showcased a specific food culture that exists in North America that many aren't aware of and often doesn't get highlighted on these shows.  She's perkier than she needs to be and using sprinkles is a brand.  But I think her value is really in her upper midwest/Scandinavian influenced, Jewish and Asian POV.

I preferred other hosts for this show but there are things that crack me up about her so I'm okay with her for this season.  I wonder if it will just be one season considering the titles are so focused on her. 

I do think having her hubby cohost would help, though.

On 3/2/2022 at 11:44 AM, RuntheTable said:

But there are so many other things that truly bug. What is this sitting at the judges table stuff? Have any prior hosts done that?

Yep.  As has been mentioned above, I think it's a COVID thing.  I'm not sure why a big table kept them farther apart than their old set up but apparently they think it does.  Either that or they wanted to shake it up and that just coincided with COVID.

But they probably also have had more hosts willing to eat the desserts.  Jesse was a good host but I highly doubt his diet makes room for tasting the goods.  I like that the hosts taste.  It bothers me on The Great British Baking Show when one of the hosts adheres too much to his diet.  It's fun watching people eat and enjoy without having to critique.

21 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

My Xfinity guide shows a picture of Clinton when I get my show alert. So, it's like two hosts ago. I miss him. 

Yeah.  As a Clinton lover, he was kind of stiff the first time he hosted but he seemed to relax by the second time.  I thought he was perfect for this.  Knowledgeable but not an expert.

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Honest question, and can’t remember if this was from SBC or Easter but WHY do I need acid to offset my chocolate?  Why can’t chocolate just be chocolate?

Also not every baked good needs crunchies my god.

I’m a miserable old crone, and Alexis’s tears did nothing for me (Kardea is a very nice person, however).  From her “I’m a cheerleader I’m a bodybuilder look at my muscles grrr” I was already over it.

That’s what is going to bug me about Molly.  She is both moved by the tears and also the eliminations appear to be too much for her.  Maybe she’ll get over that after the first few, but her personality doesn’t seem to be one that will.

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Can’t stand Molly on her baking show or on the cooking show .

She is so cringeworthy! Even when she didn’t speak and they would show her eating ,  she was making over the top annoying faces and stupid grinning with food in her mouth !

Why has this show suddenly turned into Molly’s show? I think the fact  she represents three different groups is a reason for that .  .

She was super sappy , annoying and on way too much ! 
I also couldn’t believe  she literally started shaking when someone said they were using tahini in a freaking cookie ! That along with her open mouth was hilarious and annoying at the same time !

Oh and I hope they DON’T bring her drippy , greasy haired husband on the show ! We don’t need more reason for her to talk or have more airtime!

it looks like the reaction online has been pretty negative toward the transformation of this show .  I wonder if they will edit out some of the stupid grinning , babbling on and on and cringeworthy Molly reactions from future  episodes .

The only positive about Molly hosting is that her expressions and reactions are so bizarre that we have rewound the DVR recording just to mock her and have a good laugh  when we are watching in my home! 

The crazy thing is that I did like her at first on her cooking show. She was  very real and different in her point of view about cooking . It was interesting seeing different types of recipes.
 But she morphed into a weirdo with her goofy pasted on grin , totally over the top goofy behavior, that makes one wonder if she’s so bored out in the middle of nowhere that she is planting  and smoking  lots of weed ! 

It is also comical that they picked a woman who has an obsession with putting sprinkles on everything she bakes  like she is in kindergarten, to host and comment on bakers who are professionals and or very experienced at what they do!

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I was out of town this week so I missed the show but had read all of these comments.  Needless to say, I was prepped for the Molly Yeh show and when I watched tonight, OMG it sure was her show.  Over the top reactions and borderline baby-talk voice plus the camera shifted to Molly way too often.  I definitely felt like Nancy and Kardea were more subdued at the judges’ table because Molly sucked the air out of the room; Duff just got snarkier and misbehaved a bit more in his comments (which I loved) because he either knew or subconsciously felt that he had to counter-balance Molly’s syrupy sweetness and the imbalance of her presence on the show.  It was NOT good.  

I will say that I enjoyed the bakers themselves and am enthused to watch them.  Some very nice personalities who can really bake.  Poor Alexis though — she was so emotionally zapped and seemed kind of out of it.

Edited by MerBearHou
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On 3/1/2022 at 11:11 AM, dleighg said:

 

I hated that they made each baker tell how a (randomly given) fruit represents them. "I'm a little bit tart and a little bit sweet." Like ALL fruit. What else are they supposed to say.

 

That was just eye-rollingly bad -- "tee hee, I'm sweet and nice but I can be sour!" with Molly laughing like it was the height of wit -- every time she heard it.  I kept hoping someone would say, "I'm hoping this fruit is nothing like me, as I'm rotting slowly from the inside."

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48 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

To me it is so sad that she started out with a good image one i would have liked to watch. But they turned her into some 

FN does that to people. Rachael Ray and Paula Deen also started out reasonably normal but were caractacures by the end of their respective runs. Molly is headed down that slippery slope for cash. 

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5 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

FN does that to people. Rachael Ray and Paula Deen also started out reasonably normal but were caractacures by the end of their respective runs. Molly is headed down that slippery slope for cash. 

Add Sunny to that list! In the early days, she was calm in the kitchen on her first show. Then they moved her to The Kitchen and now she’s OTT loud and, for me, unwatchable. 

I got so sick of Molly that I watched the first hour of this show and then FF’d through the rest. 

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I am also one for missing Jessie, John, or Bobby. I am willing to give this season a chance because I enjoy watching the bakers work. I gave Molly the benefit of a doubt for the first show because I thought that maybe her "interviews" were producer-driven and served as a way for the viewers to get to know a little bit about the contestants. I am relatively certain that Molly didn't come up with those herself.

However, I don't get featuring "Molly Yeh" like she's the star of the show. She's not, the contestants and their baked goods are. I would feel kind of resentful if I were one of the judges and the theme of the show revolved around the host. 

I was bequeathed a copy of Molly's cookbook and when reading the intros to the recipes, it seems like the personality we now see on her own show is a more accurate reflection of who she really is. I don't watch her show very often these days, BTW. I, too, am also weary of the sprinkle obsession. Maybe it's time to pass the torch of "sprinkle queen" on to her more age-appropriate daughter!

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Lots of good bakers to root for and beautiful bakes to look at, so I'm in.

...but, after the show I could barely sleep, cuz my retinas were flashing with the afterburn of the new host's blinding smile. I mean, seriously, she NEVER. STOPPED. SMILING. Even while eating or talking! I tried it and it's hard! They must teach it at the School for Absurdly Cloying TV Hosts. 

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I'm with everyone on their assessments and the show's editing of Molly. She's inauthentic and interrupted the contestants to interject her opinions of their ingredients too much.

The fact the show added her name to the title is insulting to everyone else who has hosted the show. I'm guessing her show is struggling so FN is trying to cross her over with other shows to gain a bigger audience.

I know it isn't new but I really like the addition of the host and judges sitting at the same table. It finally got rid of Nancy feeding Jesse. It got a little too voyeuristic for me with how inappropriate Nancy was about it.

I laughed out loud when Nancy suggested putting powdered sugar on top would make a dessert springy and Kardea asked, wouldn't that look like snow? I was thinking the same thing. I hope they keep those edits in if/when they happen on future episodes.

We'll see how long I can last if the Molly-centric editing continues. 

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They are amping up all the annoying things this season.  The judges are overdoing the clothes, hair, eyelashes, facial expressions, everything!  Molly continues to be over the top perky.  And there were already too many bakers.  Why bring on 2 more?

I felt for Jaleesa.  I was amazed she managed to come back and get her cake done.

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Really like Nancy's hairstyle tonight. I was surprised no one made beignets in the preheat. Don't like them throwing in 2 new bakers. I was just getting to know the ones we already had. At least Halloween brought in 2 people from past seasons. When did Kardea get her medical degree? That was scary with Jaleesa. When her hand was twitching, that seemed to be more than nerves. Glad she was able to complete the challenge. Am I the only one who said Polo when Kardea said Marco? Jennifer never seemed to click with the judges, they were always critical. Duff saying her cake last week looked like a shower cap was funny. I am delighted by Tom. 

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9 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Am I the only one who said Polo when Kardea said Marco?

No, you are not 😆

Yeah, I don't get the two newbies. At least they made them compete against each other for a spot instead of just letting them both in, but still. So random. Did they just have a lot of good applicants and wanted to find a way to fit in a couple more?

My rooting interests haven't really changed from last week. Still liking Carolyn and Justin the best, though there sure are plenty of others to choose from. Every time another baker appeared to present to the judges, I thought "oh right, them!"

(edited)

I got sick of the judges and their “I’m not getting cinnamon. I’m not getting cinnamon” or “It’s not a king cake”.  I’ve never thought that Mardi Gras was anything about spring, so I have no idea why they had them doing king cakes.  Mardi Gras is all about Lent, not spring.  Plus, they’re all concerned about presentation during tonight’s show, but maybe the bakers didn’t know about king cakes and Mardi Gras, so they weren’t thinking about decorations.

Oh for cripes sake.  Stuff your not enough cinnamon up your ample butts. 
 

I don’t get why they’re bringing on two other bakers. What’s the reasoning?  I hope this isn’t going to happen every freaking week, or else I’m out. 

Edited by KLovestoShop
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