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Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion


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2 minutes ago, mojoween said:

The “Friendsgiving” rerun showed up on my DVR randomly over the weekend . . .

I have my DVR set up to record only new episodes, but it seems to be recording EVERY episode that shows up (even the ones that play at 10 in the morning).  The caption for every show seems to be "Jesse welcomes new bakers . . . " even when it's not the first episode of the season.  I've triple-checked my settings, and they're fine.  This doesn't happen on any other show.  Annoying, but now I know just to delete those with that caption.

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5 minutes ago, mojoween said:

I’ve fallen in platonic love with Natasha and when she cried about her melted lobster, I know she couldn’t have seen it, but we all saw what Courtney did and I wanted to reassure Natasha she would be ok.

The “Friendsgiving” rerun showed up on my DVR randomly over the weekend, so I watched it in case I had missed something (who remembers Karen was on this show?) and Duff said Courtney’s cake in that episode was more suited for Halloween.  That was the first thing I thought when I saw her cake design last night.

I felt the same.... it was like don't worry you are safe! I just didn't get Courtney's design. It wasn't Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanukkah.

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12 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Is it just me, or was everyone extra obnoxious tonight?

I hope I never hear the phrase "Lady Flavor" for the rest of my days.

Being able to meow like a cat is not a super power. It's just damn annoying.

I was so confused about 1 and 6 being the best spots for white elephant. That's because the one time I did this, I was number 1 and they didn't have the "last chance" thing. I got a terrible gift, and sat with it for the whole rest of the exchange since no one wanted it!

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1 minute ago, dleighg said:

Being able to meow like a cat is not a super power. It's just damn annoying.

I was so confused about 1 and 6 being the best spots for white elephant. That's because the one time I did this, I was number 1 and they didn't have the "last chance" thing. I got a terrible gift, and sat with it for the whole rest of the exchange since no one wanted it!

When we do white elephant at our department holiday potluck, we go back the #1 and then everyone else has a chance to steal.  So we do two rounds. 

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1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

I have my DVR set up to record only new episodes, but it seems to be recording EVERY episode that shows up (even the ones that play at 10 in the morning).  The caption for every show seems to be "Jesse welcomes new bakers . . . " even when it's not the first episode of the season.  I've triple-checked my settings, and they're fine.  This doesn't happen on any other show.  Annoying, but now I know just to delete those with that caption.

That is happening to me this whole season too.  I check my DVR and it shows a number of eps recorded, but they are all previous eps.  I think it must have to do with how they are coded in the listings, because they usually don't have ep #'s assigned in the DVR listing.  Better too many than miss any!

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I'm so glad that Natasha made it through, she's been very consistently good and I would hate to see her gone so close to the end because of one ingredient she didn't know how to handle. I don't think Courtney is as annoying as other people do, but she is a bit much and I wont miss her. Her last bake was really bad, it looked like a muddy puddle. 

Jer has really come from behind in these last few weeks, even though she is still a darkhorse to actually win. I thought her holiday sloth was adorable, I can see why she won. 

Even if it didn't end up working out, I was happy to see Steven representing Chanukah with his pajama cookie! I feel like they usually have a Chanukah episode, its weird that they left it out this time, although a lot of these weeks have been sort of generically "holiday" instead of specifically Christmas. 

I can see a Natasha vs Raffi vs Rolf final bake and I would be happy if any of them won.

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37 minutes ago, bigmag said:

That is happening to me this whole season too.  I check my DVR and it shows a number of eps recorded, but they are all previous eps.  I think it must have to do with how they are coded in the listings, because they usually don't have ep #'s assigned in the DVR listing.  Better too many than miss any!

Same.  I've decided that when there is no listing for "New", the DVR just decides it is 😉

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15 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Judges love Rolf's, but Nancy doesn't taste bourbon.

That goes two ways.  Either there's enough for Nancy but too much for Duff or Carla, or there's the right amount for the other judges and Nancy can't taste it.  There is no in-between.

9 hours ago, Girl in a Cardigan said:

I never want to hear Courtney's voice or Jer's stupid cat noises again.

I wouldn't have minded the cat noises on their own, but paired with Courtney's baby voice, it was all just TOO MUCH.

 

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So glad they passed Natasha on to the finale! My heart broke for her when she started to cry when time ran out. She has consistently been a better baker and decorator than Courtney so she deserved to go to the finale. 

I loved most of the stuffies they made as decorations for their dessert. Rafi's little bear was super cute although I thought he said the bear would be laying down. 

The white elephant was done all wrong. When I've done it, you don't get to open a new gift and then decide if you want to keep it or swap with someone. You either steal from an already open gift and give up your chance to open a new one or you take a chance and open a new one. The way they did it, there was very little risk involved. And it made no sense that person 1 got another chance to steal from someone at the end. 

And my DVR  has been recording all the episodes too, even though it's supposed to only record new episodes. It's annoying to have to check to make sure I don't actually miss an episode. 

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Steven was getting on my last nerve. Especially with the whole "I'm gonna win it all attitude" and why was I not surprised that he rides some totally over-the-top motorcycle. And calling it "his mistress" (even if his wife started it) cringed me out. Also, I don't think his daughter had a snowman cuddly that looked exactly like the lame snowman he made for the top of his entremet. Riiiiight. And I'm still p.o.'d at him for sticking my bestie Natasha with the sticky toffee entremet. That was the first time EVAH that I've cried along with a contestant on this show. I so felt for her. That poor sad lobster with one claw dangling over the edge of the cake.

Man, that siren red negligee Nancy was wearing was way over the top. I understand though -- she'd have looked like a bowl of mashed potatoes in actual pajamas.

I also loved the image of little guy Rafi wacking people with his giraffe.

I only don't mind Jer's cat noises because she does them so well. If we still had our Max, he'd have been barking at the TV and trying to crawl in the cabinets to find that cat.

 

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2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

That goes two ways.  Either there's enough for Nancy but too much for Duff or Carla, or there's the right amount for the other judges and Nancy can't taste it.  There is no in-between.

Same thing with "pucker."  Nancy likes her stuff sweet and Carla loves a good sour note. I'm with Carla. 

I felt bad for Natasha too.  I really thought she was going home even though she said she thought she was going home, which usually isn't shown for the person who goes home.

This must be the highest-rated baking show because three rounds for the penultimate episode is pretty crazy.   

 

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I was very relieved to see Courtney leave - finally.  I hope Jer goes next.  She seems nice enough but a bit silly and loud and immature.  I suppose the producers egged her on wrt the cat noises but it came across rather 6th grade.

I like everyone else but I've been rooting for Rolf all along and I haven't changed my mind.

For the record, my DVR has been recording random old episodes too.  There must be some problem with the way the descriptions are coded.

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1 minute ago, mlp said:

I was very relieved to see Courtney leave - finally.  I hope Jer goes next.  She seems nice enough but a bit silly and loud and immature.  I suppose the producers egged her on wrt the cat noises but it came across rather 6th grade.

I like everyone else but I've been rooting for Rolf all along and I haven't changed my mind.

For the record, my DVR has been recording random old episodes too.  There must be some problem with the way the descriptions are coded.

I like Jer. I remember her mentioning have a rough childhood and not always being treated nicely. I am pretty sure I know why. I give her credit for being how light she is. Also, I like when she brings in her heritage to her baking. Though, the cat noises could stop now. It was cute at first. 

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6 hours ago, AZChristian said:

I have my DVR set up to record only new episodes, but it seems to be recording EVERY episode that shows up (even the ones that play at 10 in the morning).  The caption for every show seems to be "Jesse welcomes new bakers . . . " even when it's not the first episode of the season.  I've triple-checked my settings, and they're fine.  This doesn't happen on any other show.  Annoying, but now I know just to delete those with that caption.

Same here.

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2 hours ago, mlp said:

For the record, my DVR has been recording random old episodes too.  There must be some problem with the way the descriptions are coded.

There is a problem with the coding, and it's not just this show.   Other people have complained about having to manually set recording for other shows on other networks too.   

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(edited)
21 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Rolf's is beautiful, and well decorated, turning it into a teddy bear/sock monkey. (I think it looks like a clown).

I thought it looked like an elf. 

21 hours ago, mojoween said:

I thought Rolf’s “bear” looked like an elf.

Hah, ok so I wasn't the only one! 

21 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I did too — like Hermey, that elf in Rudolph who wanted to be a dentist.

Oh my gosh, perfect! The pointy hat and human-looking face is what made me think it was an elf. 

21 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I'm not as fond of Steven as the judges are I thought the toilet paper was stupid.

I think if he had made it smaller it would've worked better, but he made it life sized and it overwhelmed the damned dessert! (trifle, I think? can't remember)

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Even if it didn't end up working out, I was happy to see Steven representing Chanukah with his pajama cookie!

I was thinking that if he'd done the menorah in white first, then gone over it with the gold, it would have shown up better against the blue. 

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I can see a Natasha vs Raffi vs Rolf final bake and I would be happy if any of them won.

Yes, this is who I was thinking should be the final 3. When Natasha's bake didn't work out, I said Noooooooo! Don't eliminate her!

5 hours ago, GiandujaPie said:

Rafi's little bear was super cute although I thought he said the bear would be laying down.

Yes, he said it would be sleeping. Changed his mind, I guess. Maybe with time issues, it was easier & quicker to make it sitting. 

3 hours ago, carrps said:

Man, that siren red negligee Nancy was wearing was way over the top. I understand though -- she'd have looked like a bowl of mashed potatoes in actual pajamas.

When she came out in that I said, "of COURSE Nancy would be wearing that". And several times when she lifted the fork to her mouth, she was sticking out her pinky finger. I thought you do that with a "spot of tea", not a forkful of cake.

Rafi sometimes has a Fox Mulder (aka David Duchovny) look. Not all the time, but sometimes. 

My DVR also recorded the Friendsgiving rerun - twice!

 

Edited by Splashy
Formatting & additional comment
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9 hours ago, lavenderblue said:

Omg, me too. I had to mute her immediately because my cats were looking around, alarmed. And she kept doing it. 

Same here.  For 2 weeks in a row, my cat has been curled up in my lap sleeping, and the minute Jer began her cat imitation, my kitty bolted out of the room.  I guess that means her imitation is a good one, but I do wish she would stop.

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1 hour ago, laredhead said:

Same here.  For 2 weeks in a row, my cat has been curled up in my lap sleeping, and the minute Jer began her cat imitation, my kitty bolted out of the room.  I guess that means her imitation is a good one, but I do wish she would stop.

Ditto here.  Sleeping cat jumping out of my lap.  Grrrrr....

(edited)
23 hours ago, RoxiP said:

Same but fortunately she didn't wear an oversize timepiece around her neck. I'm sure she is a sweet person outside of the competition - her mannerisms just kind of got annoying after a while.

Must confess . . . when she said, "You haven't seen the last of me" in her final interview I responded, "Yep, I have."  Her constant repetitions of "Lady Flava" with the hair toss annoyed me.  Don't need to see that ever again.

Edited by AZChristian
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On 12/10/2024 at 2:20 PM, GiandujaPie said:

The white elephant was done all wrong. When I've done it, you don't get to open a new gift and then decide if you want to keep it or swap with someone. You either steal from an already open gift and give up your chance to open a new one or you take a chance and open a new one. The way they did it, there was very little risk involved. And it made no sense that person 1 got another chance to steal from someone at the end. 

That's how it worked the few times I was involved.  You get to pick between a known gift which someone else had already opened or you got an unopened one.

On 12/10/2024 at 4:49 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

Her cat noises wake up my kitty. 

Mine was sitting next to me on the couch.  I expected her to react but she didn't even notice.

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39 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

That's how it worked the few times I was involved.  You get to pick between a known gift which someone else had already opened or you got an unopened one.

Mine was sitting next to me on the couch.  I expected her to react but she didn't even notice.

My kitty has been startled awake two weeks running. Her reaction makes me think that Jer's noises are somehow threatening to other cats. 

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Holiday Finale

S11.E08 Gingerbread House Party

New, 12/16/2024

In the season finale, host Jesse Palmer is throwing a gingerbread house party with all the trimmings! In the preheat, the bakers create faux candy desserts, traditional candy decorations that are actually desserts on the inside. Then, the competitors must take inspiration from holiday eggnog flavors to create the most impressive eggnog desserts for judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller, and one baker will be eliminated. For the final challenge, the bakers construct gingerbread house cakes in unique architectural styles like modern, Tudor, cozy cottage or castle. In the end, only one baker will be named Holiday Baking Champion and take home $25,000!

1. Jer-Pro-NV

2. Natasha-Pro-Mass

3. Steven-Home-Ontario (was on Great Canadian Baking Show)

4. Rafi-Pro-CA

5. Rolf-Pro-Calgary

First Preheat: Faux candy desserts (winner of this phase goes right to the final bake)

Winner and into the final four: Rolf. 

Second Preheat: Eggnog desserts (Four bakers battle to get into the final four, and one goes home). 

Competitors: Jer, Natasha, Steven, Rafi (This is the first time Steven ever tasted egg nog). 

Eliminated Baker:  Jer

Final Challenge: Gingerbread House cakes, in specific architectural Styles:Tudor, Cozy Cottage, Castle, Modern House. Scores are not cumulative, but everything depends on the final bake. The bakers have five hours to bake and decorate the cakes

Final  bakers:  Rolf, Natasha, Steven, Rafi.

Rolf has Modern House, Hazelnut, Raspberry and Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling.  Spectacular cake, very modern. Nancy wants more candy, Carla loves the amount of candy decoration. Duff loves the landscaping, but criticizes the angles, and a hole on the top layer.  Judges love the taste, texture, and buttercream. 

Natasha has Castle, Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Gorgeous cake.  Beautiful castle! And the naughty or nice melting to nice is adorable. Judges love the taste, but say it doesn't look like gingerbread. 

Steven has Cozy Cottage, Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut filling. Great cottage, looks like a gingerbread cottage.  Carla wants more snow effects.  They love the texture, and taste. 

Rafi has Tudor, Vanilla cake with muscadine truffle filling, I love his finished cake.  Judges want a thatched roof, and more candy. 

The cakes all look gorgeous!  Duff says Rafi's tudor was the best execution of the theme.  Steven's was lovely too. 

Winner:  Steven. 

Congratulations to all of the finalists, and the winner. 

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I'm underwhelmed.  Steven's cake was adorable, but I couldn't believe using graham crackers for the roof was OK.   That's a major component of his architecture and he used mass produced graham crackers.  Rolf really got thrown by the modern architecture, which to me would have been the easiest. It was very messy, but the cake itself looked the best to me.  I thought Rafi would have been a deserving winner with his Tudor cake.   Poor Natasha.  Her castle was way too simple and Nancy making a face at the crunchy layer was the kiss of death.

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5 minutes ago, susannot said:

Happy for Steven, the only home cook in the finale.  His chocolate cake sounded incredible and his cozy cottage was clearly the best gingerbread house.

Me too! He met the challenge.  It tasted delicious and it looked cute. He used enough candy too. It looked like a gingerbread house. 

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(edited)

When Rafi said he was using a lot of fondant, I thought “uh oh”.  Nobody likes to eat fondant. 

My 2nd favorite baker (though I really was so fond of this final 4) was Natasha, but her castle was almost elementary-looking.  Not a good final bake for her.

Loved Rolf too.  But his modern house had so many flaws.

Steven’s house was charming and I wanted to come through the TV and have a slice of that cake.  

Edited by MerBearHou
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(edited)

The editing this season pushed a home baker so no surprise who won.

Using already made graham crackers is not very creative but yet you win? Even Natasha was throwing shade when she mentioned using graham crackers would be so easy to use. No wonder people think the winner is already determined.

Edited by ILuvShibaInus
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I liked all four finalists so I woulld have been happy with any of them winning.  I was rooting for Rolf all season but, in the end, I thought Steven earned his win.  His cottage was really cute and neatly done.  I didn't have any problem with him using graham crackers on the roof because, as Duff said, that's what people making gingerbread houses at home do.  They use what they have.  It looked authentic.  The important things were the representation of theme and the cake inside and Steven nailed both.  I'm glad he won.

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