Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[RoxiP]

Yes, I made that statement about age and I should have remembered that my daughter (who is 26) wore a poodle skirt to an event at her elementary school back in the day.

My closed captions are turned on in Discovery Plus and I have never been able to figure out how to turn them off so I'm always being assisted in that way...unfortunately the inaccuracies of them drive me crazy...I don't understand why these shows, which are pre-recorded, can't have someone check them for accuracy.  Sometimes they are so wrong that it is almost comedic and yet most of the times I find them tragic.  (I'm a secretary so I notice these things.)

[theatremouse]

Please stop any speculation about any of the contestants' hypothetical diagnoses. Please also be mindful of our inclusion policy.

[kirklandia]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:43 AM, KayVeeTeeVee said:

the first recipe I remember (in the 1950s) was in the Betty Crocker cookbook for boys and girls.  I still use it! 

That cookbook was the first thing I thought of as well!   I still have my tattered childhood copy.  

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by kirklandia

[Darian]

Just binged the season to date and am surprised I'm not liking it back. Just having Jesse and the old format back (except they tried to shoehorn "love" in as a theme) should have made me love it. But Nancy is still Nancy and Duff still has the stench of getting nasty to fans in his defense of Molly Yeh and last season's mess. Plus, now constants know sabotage is ok as long as you pretend it's not. The first challenge after Josh changed the temperature and made some vague statement about doing it that the contestant didn't hear and which adversely affected her back (which actually shouldn't matter), the next challenge should have begun with "Because we have zero tolerance for interfering with another contestant's back, even if no malice is meant, Josh will start this challenge x minutes after the other bakers." Some kind of consequences. I'll go to the end, but I barely care who wins anymore. 

[theatremouse]

On 4/10/2023 at 6:22 PM, CheshireCat said:

I didn't really get 60s from the orange cake. It reminded me of orange, mandarin and lemon. But the chocolate decorations did look amazing.

Oh I thought it was one of the most on-theme. Orange and yellow shag carpet was A Thing. When I think of shag carpet my mental image defaults to the color scheme on that cake, so it made a lot of sense to me. Plus Jesse's shag vest was orange. Josh pretty much took his color scheme from the prompt - Jesse's outfit and the set decoration when they announced the theme.

On 4/11/2023 at 5:50 AM, mojoween said:

If I went to a house and their pool water looked like that, my bathing suit is staying in the car.

In the 60s there was a trend of grotto pools. To me, his cake looked exactly like those. The water wasn't that color, but the lining of the pool is, so it looked right to me. (not saying grotto pools don't exist now, but they tend to be a lot bluer)

On 4/11/2023 at 5:13 PM, Catfi9ht said:

Josh's cake was dry and they liked Jai's cake. Josh should have gone home. Not sure why they picked Jai instead. Very disappointing.

A burnt taste usually looses over a dry cake. Plus if I'm remembering right, his was dry and they took issue with the gradation of his ombre. Hers was not dry, but was not even close to ombre, had burnt taste from the nuts, and the decoration didn't look right. I liked Jai a lot, but there was more wrong with hers in this particular episode.

[cowgirlwen]

On 4/11/2023 at 5:30 PM, CheshireCat said:

Is he all that different though? I think they're just making him out to be different. Or, at least, what he's doing is not original. (Eg, jello cakes and cupcakes in ice cream cones have been around for quite a while). And he often goes off-theme with his different: the pool cake was not a true shag-cake, the arch last week was not really spring because there's no spring under water.

I agree with this, and all the other criticism of Christian's bakes.  He seems to be obsessed with bringing the "WOW" factor with his decorations.  And the judges have repeatedly praised his efforts, overlooking the fact that the bakes didn't meet the theme or requirements of the challenge.  He tries to do too much, without worrying about the basics.  The rest of the bakers have had bakes that were just as decorative, just as tasty (or tastier), AND met the requirements, but still the judges aren't as impressed.    

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, cowgirlwen said:

The rest of the bakers have had bakes that were just as decorative, just as tasty (or tastier), AND met the requirements, but still the judges aren't as impressed

Maybe they are just bored :) 

Was there a show last night? Haven't seen any comments and I haven't checked yet.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, cowgirlwen said:

I agree with this, and all the other criticism of Christian's bakes.  He seems to be obsessed with bringing the "WOW" factor with his decorations.  And the judges have repeatedly praised his efforts, overlooking the fact that the bakes didn't meet the theme or requirements of the challenge.  He tries to do too much, without worrying about the basics.  The rest of the bakers have had bakes that were just as decorative, just as tasty (or tastier), AND met the requirements, but still the judges aren't as impressed.    

To be fair, the judges did call him out on doing too much in the pre-heat, with his melted ice cream/Warhol thing. But then of course they loved his pool shag cake.

8 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Was there a show last night? Haven't seen any comments and I haven't checked yet.

The show airs on Monday night, not Sunday, so it should be on tonight.

[Insert Username]

Spoiler

I don’t understand Nancy’s definition of spring. A pink cake is fall-ish and one with red and oragnge maple leaves is spring-y

Edited April 17, 2023 by Insert Username

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Insert Username said:

Spoiler

How on earth did Nancy call Christian’s pie, covered with a pink chocolate cage with flowers “fall” and then April’s covered with what  looked like red maple leaves “springy”??

 

If this is from today's episode, please don't post about it until after its regular network airing tonight. Or please use spoiler tags.

Edited April 17, 2023 by tracyscott76

[Guest]

Well the problem with having a favorite on this show (at least for me) is that once they're eliminated, my interest level drops to near zero. The Spring edition just doesn't have the thematic hold that Halloween or Holiday do to transcend the loss of my rooting interest.

I won't try to deny that April had a rough week, but I really wasn't buying that "she's won a lot so she's resting on her laurels" narrative that the show was trying to sell. Not everyone can (or wants to) decorate their desserts with weird pointy things, knobby gazebos, or giant cages that completely obscure the pie. I know it was mostly the taste and texture of her pie that lost it for her, but still.

Or maybe I'm bitter lol.

[kathyk24]

1 minute ago, tracyscott76 said:

Well the problem with having a favorite on this show (at least for me) is that once they're eliminated, my interest level drops to near zero. The Spring edition just doesn't have the thematic hold that Halloween or Holiday do to transcend the loss of my rooting interest.

I won't try to deny that April had a rough week, but I really wasn't buying that "she's won a lot so she's resting on her laurels" narrative that the show was trying to sell. Not everyone can (or wants to) decorate their desserts with weird pointy things, knobby gazebos, or giant cages that completely obscure the pie. I know it was mostly the taste and texture of her pie that lost it for her, but still.

Or maybe I'm bitter lol.

I don't understand why the judges are biased against the women. Clement's decoration didn't look like a flower at all, I thought the judges were unfair to April as well.

[Gramto6]

4 minutes ago, kathyk24 said:

I don't understand why the judges are biased against the women. Clement's decoration didn't look like a flower at all, I thought the judges were unfair to April as well.

And there was Nancy saying how Springlike that pokey stick decoration was. If Clement meant it to be new Spring growth he should have put some buds on those sticks. If that was supposed to be some sort of flower, EPIC FAIL, in my book!

Edited April 18, 2023 by Gramto6

[Frost]

I'm sad, but I agree that April was the one to go home.  Her muffins were kind of pathetic looking and her pie decorations looked like autumn leaves to me.  

The chocolate work was really a mixed bag.  Josh and Clement's were outstanding.  The gazebo was an interesting idea but didn't look appealing at all.  Christian's didn't need any skill.  All he did was swirl chocolate around.  Not anywhere near the level of Josh or Clement.   I was shaking my head at Molly's bird nests.  Way too simple.  And there was a day when she would have been dinged for using pre-made chocolate eggs.

[BookWitch]

Well Clement came back from the raw bacon debacle. I think I would have used a maple cream cheese for the frosting and sprinkled CRISPY back on them. 

The dark chocolate at 62% is good. Anything over 70% is to bitter to  me. Do they taste their food as they're making it? The girls should have know their crusts weren't tasting right.  Josh went through all that trouble to make that chocolate cage thing and no one at it. I would  have wanted some at that too. I've never heard of ruby chocolate. Is it good?

[kathyk24]

5 minutes ago, BookWitch said:

Well Clement came back from the raw bacon debacle. I think I would have used a maple cream cheese for the frosting and sprinkled CRISPY back on them. 

The dark chocolate at 62% is good. Anything over 70% is to bitter to  me. Do they taste their food as they're making it? The girls should have know their crusts weren't tasting right.  Josh went through all that trouble to make that chocolate cage thing and no one at it. I would  have wanted some at that too. I've never heard of ruby chocolate. Is it good?

My grandma was a great baker she never tasted her pie crust. Clement should have gone home for raw bacon and ugly decorations.

[MerBearHou]

I thought Josh should have won the day.  His pie was gorgeous and tasted great and was much more “spring theme” than Clement’s.  Though Duff nailed it — Josh’s would be stunning for a wedding.  Agreed that the raw bacon should have been more of a ding on Clement’s overall score for the day.  Sorry to see April go — she sure did not do well in either heat.  

Edited April 18, 2023 by MerBearHou

[mlp]

April was one of my favorites but I can't argue with the decision to send her home.  She had a bad day and both of her bakes ended up on the bottom plus her decorating was the worst of the lot.  I was sorry to see her go but I would have been very surprised if anyone else had been axed.

Nancy's idea of what is "springy" and what is not can be baffling.  She is so annoying.

[CheshireCat]

It was such a pity that April sent home. At first, she reminded me of the baker from last year's holiday baking championship (the one who had to make two bakes several times) but it turned out that she was much more skilled. Maybe she was just insecure at first. I like Christian and Molly less but both had better bakes and decorations today.

I thought the critique of April's muffins was mean. How did her strawberries differ from whatever it was that Christian had topped his muffins with? April made wafer-flower petals, she didn't just spoon something on top and yet, hers was too simply and they not only didn't critique Christian for his simple decoration, they also sort of whistled right past the Christmas-look. And boy, did his muffins look like Christmas!

I have never had a Bloody Mary and I have no idea if Christian's muffins truly had the potential to taste well or not but I had difficulties keeping track of all the ingredients. It sounded like a lot and it sounded like a lot of different stuff that you'd normally avoid mixing together.

I was pleasantly surprised that they did taste the bacon in the bacon-fig muffins. Usually, they don't taste it in that kind of a situation.

I'm not a fan of muffins. I tend to find them rather dry compared to cupcakes but I really would have loved to taste Molly's muffins.

The pies were a mixed bag and again, they whistled right past Christian's no-skill-required dome. I thought it looked pretty regardless and it wouldn't bother me if the judges were consistent. But April gets critiqued for simple decorations, other bakers have been told that this is the XYZ Championship, so they need to bring it and do better but Christian can do a dome that wasn't even in one piece and not get told that he needs to do better? Why not?
Likewise, Molly's chocolate nests.

Christian's pie filling also looked like it hadn't set properly.

Why didn't April do more? Did they show that? I know she said something about making colorful flowers and I believe she had colorful flowers but she had just stuck them into the pie and I was a bit confused as to why. Did she run out of time?

I liked Luke's idea and it's a pity it ended up looking a bit rough.

Clement's and Josh's pie looked absolutely stunning. They were both in a league of their own when it came to pie making and the chocolate decorations. Yes, Clement's flower wasn't a spring flower and more of an abstract flower but there's some major chocolate skill involved in creating that. More so than in what Josh created because Josh used a mold. (Although, I completely understand that he did given the time constraints).

Both pies seemed perfect with regards to taste.

I really enjoyed Duff's critique during this episode. I thought it had the most substance of the three (he was talking about texture and flavors etc and not just about his preferences or if he liked something; it seemed very constructive) and to date!

3 hours ago, BookWitch said:

Do they taste their food as they're making it? The girls should have know their crusts weren't tasting right. 

Tasting pie crust is tricky, though. You kind of depend on having a piece of crust leftover somewhere, somehow, but I think they both had crusts that were perfectly fitted to the pie form.

 

3 hours ago, BookWitch said:

Josh went through all that trouble to make that chocolate cage thing and no one at it. I would  have wanted some at that too. I've never heard of ruby chocolate. Is it good?

The cocoa bean ruby chocolate is made out of is a fairly new discovery. I saw that not too long ago; they thought for a long time that there are only a few kinds of cocoa beans/cocoa trees but realized they were wrong and are currently rediscovering trees/beans that have been around for a while but weren't really known.
Whether it's good probably depends on what you like in a chocolate. My dad who loves milk chocolate and likes dark(er) chocolate (but not too dark) doesn't like ruby chocolate. (He also doesn't like white chocolate). My mom and I really like ruby chocolate.
It has a natural fruit-y note to it. It's hard to describe what it tastes like; I guess, you can compare it to mixing (white) chocolate with raspberry?

 

2 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

 Agreed that the raw bacon should have been more of a ding on Clement’s overall score for the day.  Sorry to see April go — she sure did not do well in either heat.  

Do scores from the first challenge matter when it comes to elimination? Since they announce a winner of the pre-heat, I have always been under the impression that the elimination is based on the second challenge only.

[MerBearHou]

23 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

Do scores from the first challenge matter when it comes to elimination? Since they announce a winner of the pre-heat, I have always been under the impression that the elimination is based on the second challenge only.

I know…probably not.  Maybe I’m thinking of GBBO when they say things like that about having a bad first round.  I just thought Clement’s almost raw bacon was so egregious!  

It’s so curious to me why Canadian Jesse doesn’t say Clement with any French pronunciation at all, but the other bakers pronounce it in the French way (I do too).  Jesse (who I love) always says Clement like he’s from Texas!  

[Salacious Kitty]

28 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I know…probably not.  Maybe I’m thinking of GBBO when they say things like that about having a bad first round.  I just thought Clement’s almost raw bacon was so egregious!  

It’s so curious to me why Canadian Jesse doesn’t say Clement with any French pronunciation at all, but the other bakers pronounce it in the French way (I do too).  Jesse (who I love) always says Clement like he’s from Texas!  

I think Jesse's pretty Americanized now. He's lived and worked in the States pretty much full time since he went to college at Florida (I remember him playing there). It's been a minute. 😃

[rlc]

April was sent home this week because the prechosen narrative for the week was that April's decorating skills were not up to par.

At this point I don't get too angry about these decisions because most of the obvious fodder is already gone, and there will ultimately only be one winner chosen. Luke and Josh have been more underwhelming than April and should have been eliminated before April in my book, but Josh's chocolate work carried him through this week. His crust was not properly baked from what I saw. This season is Clement's to lose.

Edited April 19, 2023 by rlc

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I know…probably not.  Maybe I’m thinking of GBBO when they say things like that about having a bad first round.

Since the German version of GBBO adds up the points from all three challenges, I'm assuming GBBO is the same. Here, it never seems to matter.

I wish we knew. I also wish they had a point system and if they do have one then I wish we could see it.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I think Jesse's pretty Americanized now. He's lived and worked in the States pretty much full time since he went to college at Florida (I remember him playing there). It's been a minute. 😃

He can't be any more Americanized than Mississippi Molly or North Carolina April, though, who've both been consistently shown pronouncing Clement the French way. I feel like they would have gotten that from Clement himself, so it's kind of weird that Jesse (and the judges, I think it was pointed out earlier) aren't saying it that way.

[libgirl2]

Christian's muffins looked Christmasy and I don't think the decoration was anything special. In feel like while they did comment on it, they let him slide. They must have tasted good. 

Josh and Clement's pies were stunning. While neither was all "spring", they did have flowers and they tasted good. 

And yes, the definition of spring is very fluid on this show. 

[RoxiP]

I don't think Christian's dome was simple - I've watched too many other shows where making a dome was part of the challenge and seen a lot of people go down because of it.  It perhaps didn't necessarily fit it with this particular assignment but I wouldn't call it particularly easy to achieve.  And it did have a chunk missing out of it.  

[mlp]

9 hours ago, rlc said:

This season is Clement's to lose.

I'm inclined to agree.  I think the final 3 will be Clement, Christian and Molly.

It has occurred to me to wonder if FN somehow thinks that a French baker winning this season will somehow atone for the disgraceful debacle involving a French baker last season.  Of course, Clement can't win if he screws up in some way that's obvious to viewers.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, mlp said:

It has occurred to me to wonder if FN somehow thinks that a French baker winning this season will somehow atone for the disgraceful debacle involving a French baker last season.  Of course, Clement can't win if he screws up in some way that's obvious to viewers.

If FN does think that, I certainly hope it isn't affecting the judging. However anyone feels about what happened last season, it wasn't the fault of any of these bakers, and they should get the chance to compete and be judged fairly. Not that Clement isn't talented, and he could very well win on his own merits...but he shouldn't win just as some sort of misguided penance for Romy.

I didn't like it when Renee seemed to get a do-over on Halloween Baking Championship, and this would be even worse since it doesn't even involve the same people.

[libgirl2]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

I'm inclined to agree.  I think the final 3 will be Clement, Christian and Molly.

It has occurred to me to wonder if FN somehow thinks that a French baker winning this season will somehow atone for the disgraceful debacle involving a French baker last season.  Of course, Clement can't win if he screws up in some way that's obvious to viewers.

I actually thought the same. 

[carrps]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:31 PM, Darian said:

Duff still has the stench of getting nasty to fans in his defense of Molly Yeh and last season's mess

Whoa. I never heard about this. I also didn't think about this forum for this show, so I'm years behind. I hated Molly Yeh and stopped watched last season's show because she bugged me so much. I stood up and cheered when that French baker walked out rather than use sprinkles as a special ingredient.

I haven't seen this week's show, yet, so sorry to hear about April. I liked her.

Josh has always bugged me for some reason, so I'm a little surprised he's still here. Last week, my sister and I were watching this show and gave each other a shocked look when we saw Josh bring out his cupcakes. Looked exactly like dildoes. Ick.

When does Nancy get retired???

 

[mojoween]

Luke’s gazebo (?) was a hot mess.

However, since the show telegraphed at the beginning what would happen at the end by playing April’s interview where she said she felt good (which could have been done at any old time) there was no suspense to the outcome.

But Molly has been in the bottom more and it should have been her.  No offense.  But she’s not April, dammit.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Luke’s gazebo (?) was a hot mess.

However, since the show telegraphed at the beginning what would happen at the end by playing April’s interview where she said she felt good (which could have been done at any old time) there was no suspense to the outcome.

But Molly has been in the bottom more and it should have been her.  No offense.  But she’s not April, dammit.

I'm even more irritated that Josh is still there over April. He's lucky they got a challenge right up his alley at the same time April had a rough day. Can't really get behind a guy who interferes with another contestant's bake (maybe not maliciously, but interfering nonetheless), only to have his stuff actually turn out worse than the person he interfered with.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Luke’s gazebo (?) was a hot mess.

However, since the show telegraphed at the beginning what would happen at the end by playing April’s interview where she said she felt good (which could have been done at any old time) there was no suspense to the outcome.

But Molly has been in the bottom more and it should have been her.  No offense.  But she’s not April, dammit.

I give Luke credit for trying something  different. Did it look good, no. It reminded me of something from war of the worlds. 

[EllieW]

18 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I know…probably not.  Maybe I’m thinking of GBBO when they say things like that about having a bad first round.  I just thought Clement’s almost raw bacon was so egregious!  

It’s so curious to me why Canadian Jesse doesn’t say Clement with any French pronunciation at all, but the other bakers pronounce it in the French way (I do too).  Jesse (who I love) always says Clement like he’s from Texas!  

The majority of us Canadians are not French.

[MerBearHou]

3 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

give Luke credit for trying something  different. Did it look good, no. It reminded me of something from war of the worlds. 

Ha!  It did — it looked like those huge creatures that were walking around, shooting at people.  Sorry, Luke.

Edited April 19, 2023 by MerBearHou

[Maya]

I am sick of all these shows eliminating the women first. Luke should have gone. He made berry oatmeal muffins and didn’t decorate them. Were those the ones where Nancy said she liked the paper muffin cups?? If only April had used those… 🙄

Also it was very out of character for this show to give them 90 minutes to bake one batch of muffins! LOL. I thought I missed something and they had to do three varieties or something but no. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Maya

[RoxiP]

Let's face it - April didn't have a compelling sob story so she was fodder for elimination if she ever fell into the bottom 2.  Even Molly is more entertaining with her southern accent (and I like both women so that's not a ding against either one).  This show has always been notorious for getting rid of the competent people who don't bring "flavor" in their personalities.

[ruffy666]

On 4/17/2023 at 7:00 PM, MerBearHou said:

I thought Josh should have won the day.  His pie was gorgeous and tasted great and was much more “spring theme” than Clement’s.  Though Duff nailed it — Josh’s would be stunning for a wedding.  Agreed that the raw bacon should have been more of a ding on Clement’s overall score for the day.  Sorry to see April go — she sure did not do well in either heat.  

Josh's pie was STUNNING and I don't often say nice things about any of the bakes ;)  but when they cut into it, it very much looked like the bottom crust wasn't baked all the way; you could see a thin line of uncooked pastry running through the middle.  So I assume in a pie challenge that's a big, big no no!

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

Let's face it - April didn't have a compelling sob story so she was fodder for elimination if she ever fell into the bottom 2.  Even Molly is more entertaining with her southern accent (and I like both women so that's not a ding against either one).  This show has always been notorious for getting rid of the competent people who don't bring "flavor" in their personalities.

And ironically, that's a big part of why April was my favorite. Straightforward, no- nonsense, sometimes saying something with a bit of a twinkle in her eye, but otherwise just put her head down and baked.

[meep.meep]

On 4/18/2023 at 6:25 AM, RoxiP said:

I don't think Christian's dome was simple - I've watched too many other shows where making a dome was part of the challenge and seen a lot of people go down because of it.  It perhaps didn't necessarily fit it with this particular assignment but I wouldn't call it particularly easy to achieve.  And it did have a chunk missing out of it.  

Christian's dome has also been prominently featured in the Spring Baking Show commercial that they run every five minutes on Food Network and HGTV.  I think they like it, and I don't think it was easy to make and present.  It also looked springy.

Oh no- I'm turning into Nancy.

[carrps]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Christian's dome has also been prominently featured in the Spring Baking Show commercial that they run every five minutes on Food Network and HGTV.  I think they like it, and I don't think it was easy to make and present.  It also looked springy.

Oh no- I'm turning into Nancy.

Except the real Nancy said it looked more like fall!

 

[mlp]

1 hour ago, carrps said:

the Spring Baking Show commercial that they run every five minutes on Food Network and HGTV.

I actually like that choral jingle but I think I've seen the commercial about 400 times and it has become very old.  I'll never understand why the PTB at FN don't understand how irritating the saturation is.

[Catfi9ht]

Oof. This show is becoming a parody of itself. What is and is not spring is so malleable it's laughable. Giving someone kudos for using paper cups with flowers on them is such a low bar for what is spring I can't even fathom it. 

Finally, I find it too convenient that the VERY NEXT episode after Josh is saved from elimination, the final challenge covers his strong suit, chocolate.

I realize ALL reality shows are fake and borderline rigged, but I won't watch any that are so obvious they insult the audience's intelligence. This show is creeping slowly toward that border. Depending upon how much worse it gets the rest of this season, I may not watch next year.

I wish I was the kind of person who can ignore the bullshit and just watch how talented people can be. Sadly, my "fairness gene" is so entrenched in my DNA that I can't stop caring about it.

[carrps]

2 minutes ago, Catfi9ht said:

Giving someone kudos for using paper cups with flowers on them is such a low bar for what is spring I can't even fathom it. 

And two different bakers used the same cups, but only one baker was "praised" on camera for using them.

[Catfi9ht]

1 minute ago, carrps said:

And two different bakers used the same cups, but only one baker was "praised" on camera for using them.

Only one baker was praised that we know of because we're being fed a specific story by the editors. This show is beginning to raise my conspiracy tendencies. 😁

[Guest]

1 hour ago, carrps said:

1 hour ago, Catfi9ht said:

Giving someone kudos for using paper cups with flowers on them is such a low bar for what is spring I can't even fathom it. 

And two different bakers used the same cups, but only one baker was "praised" on camera for using them.

If this is the incident I'm thinking of, I might have to (VERY grudgingly) give the show a bit of a pass on this one. If I'm remembering right, the baker who was praised for the paper cups (Luke?) had mostly been dinged for his muffins not being very spring-y, and then Nancy was like "...well I do like your paper cups! They're spring-y!" It felt almost like a consolation, softening the blow type of comment.

But that's the only allowance I'll give them; they cut April so I'm still mad at them grrrr.

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, Catfi9ht said:

Giving someone kudos for using paper cups with flowers on them is such a low bar for what is spring I can't even fathom it

oh man, I'd forgotten about that. Ridiculous.

[CheshireCat]

8 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I think they like it, and I don't think it was easy to make and present. 

Aside from tempering the chocolate (which they all had to do), there wasn't more to it than what they showed: pipe lines into a bowl, let it set and remove it. Sure, there was the risk of breakage involved but with regards to skill level, it was fairly simple. But while it may not have been all that difficult to make, it was still effective and I think that's a skill in itself: knowing how you may be able to achieve something that looks good even though you have to keep it simple.

They showed too little of how Josh made that flower to know what exactly he did but I'd say Clement's decoration required the most skill when it comes to chocolate work.

 

9 hours ago, Maya said:

 Luke should have gone. He made berry oatmeal muffins and didn’t decorate them. Were those the ones where Nancy said she liked the paper muffin cups??

I thought that was Clement but I'm not sure.

[Pi237]

10 hours ago, RoxiP said:

Let's face it - April didn't have a compelling sob story so she was fodder for elimination if she ever fell into the bottom 2.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves with most reality shows, especially competitive ones. You can’t get on unless some tragedy or abuse happened to you. I used to watch The Biggest Loser way back when, until it too turned into the sad sack Olympics.  Pimple Popper is nearly unwatchable for all the repetitive telling of how much ‘certain affliction’ ruined their life. It’s annoying, exploitive and manipulative. 
 

Having said all that, I’m glad this version isn’t overly woe is me. But yeah, you have to be over the top in one personality trait or another to survive.  You can’t just be talented which makes for uneven, frustrating judging. 

[Grizzly]

I don't find any of these bakers to be over the top personality wise. Molly is the most outgoing but seems to be her true self. No one is giving us heart-warming coming out stories or a parent died at a young age. We're just hearing I'm baking this because it's so and so's favorite. And those are producer driven. I'm not disliking anyone. We are down to the most talented of the season and the last few eliminations have hurt. They'll continue to hurt.