Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion

[faraway]

I had to come on here to say how irritating Justine is. Several are mugging for the camera, but Justine is the worst!  Her Boston accent seems forced and over the top. Anything for attention, I guess.  😉

[MerBearHou]

27 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Nancy, can you hate on Sherrod any more? Please don't bring her back next year. 

Justine often seeks out others to help her correct her mistakes and checks to see what others are doing.  They should shut up and let her make her own mistakes.  IMO she should have been gone weeks ago, even before the sign board that looked like crap.

I have never made a comment directly to FN before, but this has made me so mad that I’m going to reach out to them.  I used to be a Nancy-apologist and stuck up for her quirks, but no more.  I hope to never see her again — she has ruined any good will I had for her.  I changed the channel to a rerun of FBI — I am out.

Edited December 19, 2023 by MerBearHou

[libgirl2]

10 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I have never made a comment directly to FN before, but this has made me so mad.  I used to be a Nancy-apologist and stuck up for her quirks, but no more.  I hope to never see her again — she has ruined any good will I had for her.  I changed the channel to a rerun of FBI — I am out.

I think I'm going to comment to FN. 

[libgirl2]

I will no longer watch anything Nancy is on. I hope it was my imagination but I felt an edge of racism with her attitude to Sherrod.  I normally don't jump to these kind of conclusions but damn, she picked on him. 

I hope I'm wrong and being paranoid.

Edited December 19, 2023 by libgirl2

[MerBearHou]

3 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

I will no longer watch anything Nancy is on. I hope it was my imagination but I felt an edge of racism with her attitude to Sherrod.  I normally don't jump to these kind of conclusions but damn, she picked on him. 

I could have written the above word for word.  I too am slow to think racism but the way Nancy spoke to Sherrod all season, it felt like dislike or perhaps much more negative than that.  And unless Sherrod expressly told Jesse that he is too nervous or shy to banter during baking and to please not interact with him, then I want to know why Jesse never talked to, kidded around, told goofy jokes, asked questions, bantered with Sherrod while he was baking.  

[libgirl2]

7 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I could have written the above word for word.  I too am slow to think racism but the way Nancy spoke to Sherrod all season, it felt like dislike or perhaps much more negative than that.  And unless Sherrod expressly told Jesse that he is too nervous or shy to banter during baking and to please not interact with him, then I want to know why Jesse never talked to, kidded around, told goofy jokes, asked questions, bantered with Sherrod while he was baking.  

Some people are just not goofy so maybe he isn't one of them but I felt a lot of distance with him. It does seem he got along well with the other bakers. 

Color me surprised on the fantastic comment 🙄

Ugh. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

So, Ashley does an off-white wreath, with a floppy bow, and Nancy says it's great.  Then, Thoa does a green wreath with lovely deocrations, and Nancy said the color is too bland.    Sharrod does S'mores macarons, and they are like a real s'more, and Nancy hates it too.     Kevin's is beautiful, and Nancy wants a true red.   I've seen a ton of pink and light green theme holiday decorations.

Justine's looks beige with brown flecks, and looks nothing like macarons, but everyone raves about them.  Why did Justine put carrots for decorations?   And they say the macarons are really lady fingers.  I agree with Carla, Justine didn't do a macaron, and should be eliminated.

  

So the prelim winner is Thoa, and her macaron wreath is amazing.  Also, Ashley, and Kevin.   

So, Justine and Sharrod have to face off for the final spot.  They have to make a dozen stocking eclairs, with two flavors the judges want, sweet potatoes for Carla, and Bourbon for Nancy.     Justine's looks awful to me, Sharrod's looks cute to me.  Both bakes are smart, and went with Nancy's beloved bourbon.  Nancy whines about not enough bourbon. Justine picked the same flavors.  Of course, Nancy raves about Justine's brown socks.   I didn't think Justine's eclair even looked appetizing.    Brown socks as an eclair wasn't holiday stocking to me.   

What the hell is Carla wearing?  A regular long sleeved white shirt, under a poofy strapless promdress.     Carla goes with Justine, Nancy does too, and Duff goes along.   No shock when Sharrod goes home. 

 I think that no matter what Sharrod did, he would have gone home.   The judges and producers want the most outgoing personality, not the best over all baker and designer, so Sharrod was definitely going home first.  They want a extrovert, and one who will make good TV, and they don't really care about anything but that.     They used to have the Best Baker series, and that was purely on baking, and that hasn't been on after the first few seasons, the network wants show offs. 

So they have to do a cake over a train track, according to some themes selected by the show.  

As usual, Nancy kisses Ashley's fanny.    Carla and Duff have some criticisms.  Ashley's cake had the best theme decoration, but Thoa's design was amazing.   

I love Thoa's cake and penguin decorating theme.   The tier with the mountains is excellent work, and the penguins are adorable, and individual.   Nancy's criticism of the decorating is bizarre, and ridiculous.   Thoa's cake is my favorite. 

Kevin does a gnome design, and it's adorable, but under decorated.  They dislike the nonpariels (?) sprinkles on the cookies.  The judges say there's not enough decoration. Carla raves about the cake, and so does Duff.  Even Nancy raves about Kevin's filling.  I don't understand how pro bakers leave out something like milk, or other vital ingredients, it happens a lot, and I just don't know how that happens so often. 

Justine does her pageant prance again.   Her elves and reindeer don't have eyes.  She only decorated the top two tiers but not the bottom tier. It's an incomplete decorating job.  Duff and Nancy act like something's wrong with the cake, it's a total fake out and they're going to rave about it again.  Yes, Duff and Nancy are raving about Justine's cookies and cake flavors, only Carla has a few criticisms.   Carla points out that Justine only decorated the top half of the cake. 

Winner is: Ashley.    

Edited December 19, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Frost]

I'm not an Ashley fan, but her cake looked absolutely fantastic!  Her decorating was spot on.  I can't believe Justine just ignored the whole center of her display!  And Kevin's decorating was abysmal.  Thou's painting technique was fine.  I would have liked more than one technique in her decorating.

I get more and more disgusted with the winner only getting $25K.  The contestants talking about opening a brick & mortar store or a catering van must realize how little $25K would actually do for them.  Kevin's trip to Hawaii was pretty much the only thing mentioned that would be covered by the prize!

[rlc]

On 12/13/2023 at 11:21 AM, rlc said:

I do not think that Justine is a shoo-in to win. Kevin has been very good and steady, and they really seem to like Thoa (I have found her to be very unsteady). Sherrod is delightful, but his bakes always seem to be missing *one* thing- either he has a time issue, or he overreaches. I thought Ashley should have gone home weeks ago, so she'll probably win the whole thing.

Called it.

[libgirl2]

They cut away real fast from the ending. 

[KayVeeTeeVee]

Well, that was shocking!  Hers really was the most completely decorated, and the lemon pie interior sounded fantastic.  I'd like to suggest that at least one (but I wish it was all) of the challenges next year feature the same elements for every baker.  No jostling for a choice.  Even Steven throughout.  Does anyone know  Steven?

 

[HyeChaps]

Haven't there usually been three finalists?

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, HyeChaps said:

Haven't there usually been three finalists?

That was my recollection. That's why I thought we would have two rounds of eliminations when I read there would be three rounds.

[mlp]

I haven't liked Ashley since the first episode but I have to admit that she had the best cake at the end.  Everyone else had issues and hers looked great.  I wanted Kevin to win all along but I knew he wouldn't when I saw his cake.  I wish I could taste it though.  I'm very grateful that Justine didn't win.

Nancy is so obnoxious.  She and Duff seem to be friends so I guess we're stuck with her.

[Snarkastikate]

Just a side note, but why do they provide items in the pantry if they don't want the contestants to use them?  Specifically the non-pariels (sp?).

Ashley was a mediocre performer most of the season, but I guess her finale display was a tad nicer than the rest.  Would be nice if they could consider not just the final challenge in deciding the winner. 

Maybe Nancy needs to be retired, she makes less sense every year.  Enough already with the bourbon.  I'd love to see Jason Smith there.  Yes he's goofy but he knows his baking & his comments on other shows were always well thought out. 

[Irlandesa]

17 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

It's like when you have pie or cheesecake: the crust doesn't just hold in the filling, it also adds a different texture to the pie/cake.

My favorite cake is one with a thin, hazelnut feuilletine/or praline? layer that just adds a subtle flavor and a pleasant crunch from a restaurant in Chicago.  I love having texture in my cakes.

It is a preference thing but since this is a competition, I do think the judges look for dimension in the bakes.

3 hours ago, Snarkastikate said:

The judging this season is just wacky.  One minute they're raving over a shades of brown dessert, the next Nancy is saying the green isn't green enough, "where's my holiday?" & Duff is saying that it needs glitter & sparkles.

I was really irritated when they critiqued the depth of Tua's reds when she had other super red elements. 

 

2 hours ago, Frost said:

I'm not an Ashley fan, but her cake looked absolutely fantastic!  Her decorating was spot on.  I can't believe Justine just ignored the whole center of her display!  And Kevin's decorating was abysmal.  Thou's painting technique was fine.  I would have liked more than one technique in her decorating.

I knew it was going to be either Ashley or Tua after both Kevin and Justine ran out of time to fully decorate their cakes unless Ashley and Tua both forgot sugar or some other major taste disaster.

Since Ashley's only critique was that her cake was a little soft, which really doesn't matter with the graham cracker layer, I knew she'd win by the time they completed Tua's judging.

One thing I do appreciate is that it feels like there was more cake flavor variety with the lemon meringue choice and Justine's jam and cookie butter combo.  Even though Kevin's was chocolate, the filling intrigued me as well. 

5 minutes ago, Snarkastikate said:

Just a side note, but why do they provide items in the pantry if they don't want the contestants to use them?  Specifically the non-pariels (sp?).

It's not that he couldn't use them.  It's that, for the final challenge, they'd expect a baker to incorporate them in a more creative design.  He ran out of time so he threw them on the cake to avoid putting up a plain cake. He admitted it and the judges could clearly guess that's what happened. Compared to the hand crafted decor on the other cakes, it wasn't going to stand up.

[lavenderblue]

Honestly, when they gushed in such an OTT way about the flavors of Justine's cake, I was a little afraid she was going to win even without a completed design. Glad to have dodged that bullet. Ashley's been annoying and I was rooting for Thoa (her macaron wreath was great) but I did like Ashley's cake best so am fine with her win.

Nancy was awful tonight. And I couldn't believe she "jokingly" threw something at Sherrod over the insufficiently bourbonized eclairs. I also noticed that it seemed like Carla was making a point of supporting him in the judging.

Edited December 19, 2023 by lavenderblue

[Pallida]

I am not a fan of “look at me” personalities but at least Ashley is self aware about it. Her cake did look fabulous and she used the chocolate melts effectively in contrast to Kevin’s non pariels (sp?). 
 

Thank goodness for no twists. 

[CheshireCat]

8 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I will no longer watch anything Nancy is on. I hope it was my imagination but I felt an edge of racism with her attitude to Sherrod.  I normally don't jump to these kind of conclusions but damn, she picked on him. 

I hope I'm wrong and being paranoid.

No, I don't think you are. It's something that I've noticed in past episodes, too. I think it's more men than female but when a baker is black, it's very difficult for them to impress her. And I thought tonight, it was really obvious with both Sherrod and Thoa during the first and elimination challenge. Nancy's critique went from over the top for Ashley to so and so for Thoa while Duff and Carla were totally impressed and then when Duff and Carla didn't jump on Nancy's "the macarons are underdone" waggon but actually liked them and loved them flavor, she found something else to nitpick about.
And then there was the way she critiqued Thoa's cake. I do think Ashley's cake had captured the theme better but Nancy really bent over backwards to find something to complain about the look of Thoa's cake. Whoever edited it didn't do Nancy any favors by editing it so obviously.

I'm German, so I have no idea about accents, so Justine didn't really bother me all that much. She seemed a bit insecure but of the last 7 bakers or so, Javier was the only one I didn't really like. (I wonder if it was maybe because he became Nancy's darling after a few episodes and I was afraid that he was going regardless of what he made).
In any case, her éclairs did look better than Sherrod's, so it seemed that she deserved to stay even if her cream could have used more flavor. Sherrod's lacked the Bourbon, too and I had a feeling he'd be the one leaving when he didn't do the dough in the traditional way. I'm not sure if he was taught both the traditional way and the short cut in school but I have to agree, it didn't look as puffed up as it should have. I'd definitely have done it the traditional way for this competition had I been him.

Did the bakers have more time than usual for the final cake? Those really looked amazing. I really enjoyed the final cakes from the Halloween and Holiday Baking Championships; they looked finale-worthy and like the bakers were actually able to show off what they can do. (Or, at least, more so than they often can over the course of the competition).

I thought Justine's cake was the weakest, most likely because the elves didn't have faces and it was a 2D instead of a 3D cake. I was afraid she was going to win because of how in love the judges were with the taste. It sounded like she had the best-tasting cake and maybe she did but I would have been disappointed had she won because of how her cake looked (even if the cakes were iced really well).

Kevin's gnomes were really cute. It's a pity they took up so much of his time.

I was rooting for Thoa. She had skills and she just did her thing and the way she assigned the cake themes seemed fair (although, I appreciated that there wasn't one theme that would have put someone at a disadvantage. They all struck me as themes where you could easily come up with something cute for a cake).
I also loved Thoa's painting, it looked incredible. I just thought that the penguins got kind of lost in the cake. It was really hard to see them for far apart and I think she should have included a couple more (maybe as a drawing) in the top two tiers just to make them more visible. Maybe they could have played hide and seek in the woods or so.

With that said, those penguins were adorable as were her ideas and how she created those ideas. The amount of details was amazing and... well, adorable. Did I mention that?

Ashley's cake looked like something out of a toy store window display at Christmas. As much as I wanted Thoa to win, if the inside was as good as the judges said then Ashley deserved to win because even if I don't want to admit it and Thoa's cake was beautiful, I do believe Ashley delivered on the outside and better than Thoa.

 

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

It is a preference thing but since this is a competition, I do think the judges look for dimension in the bakes.

I was going to say that whether or not one likes it in a cake is a matter of taste but that that's separate from what a baker needs to deliver. I think you're saying it much better. :-)

[libgirl2]

Ashley's cake was well decorated but I was really hoping for a Thoa win. If only Kevin would have decorated his better. Justine's piped on elves did not look good. I don't care how many cookies she made. 

Overall, this season left me feeling not so great. Maybe it is some of the OTT personalities, though Hollie from Halloween didn't bother me. Maybe it is Nancy and her pets who can do no wrong, who wears her bias on her sleeve. This was not a season I will remember fondly. 

[pally]

I knew the minute Ashley finished her cake that she would win as long as it tasted ok.  She had the best-decorated cake by far and away.  I wonder how much time Kevin lost by having to remake his cake.

I never got a sense of racism in Nancy's behavior towards Sherrod.  His techniques have been hit-and-miss00 all season.  He was a more reserved person so it was much harder to play off of him for "good" tv.   

It sounded like all 4 of the final cakes tasted delicious so it came down to the decorating and Ashley aced that

[libgirl2]

7 minutes ago, pally said:

I knew the minute Ashley finished her cake that she would win as long as it tasted ok.  She had the best-decorated cake by far and away.  I wonder how much time Kevin lost by having to remake his cake.

I never got a sense of racism in Nancy's behavior towards Sherrod.  His techniques have been hit-and-miss00 all season.  He was a more reserved person so it was much harder to play off of him for "good" tv.   

It sounded like all 4 of the final cakes tasted delicious so it came down to the decorating and Ashley aced that

Again, perhaps I am just wrong and I do hope I am. I just thought she was not nice to him. Did I think he was going to win this? Not really, but he couldn't do anything to please her. Mistakes he made would be glossed over by her if another person made them. Kudos to Carla for sticking up for him. I got a feeling she didn't like Nancy's comments much. 

[mojoween]

Jesse made sure to say before the final challenge that the winner would be based off that challenge and it seemed to be telegraphed for a Justine win (seriously, after those “macarons”, she should have been bounced then and there, faceoff be damned).  Thank goodness Ashley is a fabulous decorator.

I was not enamored with Thoa’s cake; after seeing Ashley’s clean lines Thoa’s looked messy.  That’s just not my aesthetic.

[libgirl2]

7 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Jesse made sure to say before the final challenge that the winner would be based off that challenge and it seemed to be telegraphed for a Justine win (seriously, after those “macarons”, she should have been bounced then and there, faceoff be damned).  Thank goodness Ashley is a fabulous decorator.

I was not enamored with Thoa’s cake; after seeing Ashley’s clean lines Thoa’s looked messy.  That’s just not my aesthetic.

I have to agree, they were bad, but didn't Nancy just love them? Imagine is Sherrod would have made those?? 

[Suzn]

It's past time for Nancy to leave and let us start to forget her.  She is so obvious in her biases.  Her pets can do no wrong and those she doesn't like, such as Sherrod, can do no right.  She is such a poor judge, her constant complaint that she doesn't "get" a flavor.  Usually in those cases, the other judges do get the flavor, so the failure is her palate.  And I'm sick of her "not holiday enough"; she only likes the brightest red and green and every holiday stereotype.  I don't think I'll watch any more with her as a judge.

I was glad Justine didn't win and was really surprised.

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, Suzn said:

It's past time for Nancy to leave and let us start to forget her.  She is so obvious in her biases.  Her pets can do no wrong and those she doesn't like, such as Sherrod, can do no right.  She is such a poor judge, her constant complaint that she doesn't "get" a flavor.  Usually in those cases, the other judges do get the flavor, so the failure is her palate.  And I'm sick of her "not holiday enough"; she only likes the brightest red and green and every holiday stereotype.  I don't think I'll watch any more with her as a judge.

I was glad Justine didn't win and was really surprised.

Isn't Nancy in the spring one? 

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, libgirl2 said:

Isn't Nancy in the spring one? 

Yes. Not springy enough complaints. 

Wasn't Ashley the one who kept doing cakes challenges when bakers had a choice? To the point that the judges got on her for it? 

If it was her, kudos for surviving to the final CAKE challenge. She definitely showed out 

Re Sherrod. I noticed that he had alternative ways to make puff pastry and choux dough. Both seemed to sink him. Even the peanut gallery commented on the choux method, which was unorthodox. Maybe he needs to learn the traditional methods to get better results. 

But yeah, Nancy nit-picked him to death. 

[libgirl2]

7 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Yes. Not springy enough complaints. 

Wasn't Ashley the one who kept doing cakes challenges when bakers had a choice? To the point that the judges got on her for it? 

If it was her, kudos for surviving to the final CAKE challenge. She definitely showed out 

Re Sherrod. I noticed that he had alternative ways to make puff pastry and choux dough. Both seemed to sink him. Even the peanut gallery commented on the choux method, which was unorthodox. Maybe he needs to learn the traditional methods to get better results. 

But yeah, Nancy nit-picked him to death. 

Ah, yes! Now I remember. Ugh! 

Yes, Ashley did get called out for making cakes. Remember the opera cake challenge where she didn't make an opera cake? She lucked out. 

I think Sherrod was taking risks for sure. Again, I don't think  he would have won the whole thing, but you can criticize without being a jerk. 

[Pi237]

I didn’t think the final challenge advantage was much of an advantage. But at least it didn’t unfairly hurt one of the bakers.

Loved the macaron wreaths. Thoa’s colors were great! Not every Christmas decoration needs to be neon red and green. Nancy likes ‘em loud and tacky. 
 

I keep saying, but, wow- $25,000 is a chump change prize for the work and stress. Inflation, people! At least give them $100,000! You can’t even buy a van with $25,000.

Too many open mouthed WOWs! Omg shut your mouths. It’s only 25 grand. Not worth it!!

I appreciate when the bakers explain techniques, or how a batter is supposed to look. Dont know how they answer questions so calmly when stressed. I’d be a monster on this show. Yelling-Not Now!! With sweat running down my face and alot of F bombs dropping. 

The other bakers talked more to Sharrod than Jesse did. I appreciated his laid back vibe.  Hope he comes back for Spring. 
 

I was good with Ashley winning. We loved to have tried her lemon meringue cake. 

[Pi237]

“We’re only allowed to buy my niece neutrals.”  🤣

[tennisgurl]

Seriously, is Nancy going to ask Justine out for drinks after this? The judges, especially Nancy, have always had their favorites, but this season it really impacted my enjoyment of the show. It really became uncomfortable watching Nancy nitpick Sherrod to death while being rather rude while she lavished praise on Justine no matter what she did or how hers looked. Even when she didn't even make the right thing! The judging in general was really annoying this season, it all seemed so random. One baker gets knocked for making something brown and not "festive" enough, and another gets a rave for making something just as brown but is apparently now festive enough for some reason.   

The most "what the fuck" judging moments from this episode was Nancy complaining about Thoa's layers looking too different in tone. What does that even mean? Then when they got on Kevin for having pink macarons and not red ones, why does that matter? Pink is a perfectly fine Christmas color, why are their ideas of what is or is not properly festive so rigid? 

Ashley is damn lucky that we ended on a cake bake, the judges have been on her all season for only doing cakes, if this was anything else she probably wouldn't have won. I was rooting for Thoa or Kevin, personally I liked her macarons and her cake the best, but Ashley did make a really nice cake.

Those last two challenges were both adorable, I loved the Christmas train village and their cute Christmas scenes. All the cakes looked really cute and festive!

[carrps]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Pink is a perfectly fine Christmas color, why are their ideas of what is or is not properly festive so rigid? 

Not "their." Nancy's.

 

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Ashley is damn lucky that we ended on a cake bake, the judges have been on her all season for only doing cakes, if this was anything else she probably wouldn't have won.

Yep. How nice for Ashley that the finale was right in her wheelhouse. Ugh. I've found her unbearable (heh, unbearable) since the first episode. This finale left a sour (lemon?) taste in my mouth.

I don't want to see or hear Nancy ever again.

I was rooting for Thoa. She just seemed so nice in a natural, not fakey, way. I also want to eat at her family's Vietnamese deli. I love Vietnamese food! So cute about her and her sister's names. Thu must be a popular name. I have known two Thu's!

 

[Salacious Kitty]

@tennisgurl the final bake is always a cake. That's why I commented that Ashley was lucky to have survived to make it that far. 

[Madding crowd]

I don’t find Nancy or the other judges to be any different than judges in other baking shows. Nancy, Duff and Carla are friends outside the show and they goof around and tease each other. I just watched an episode of the British Baking Show and Paul and Prue are much tougher than the judges on here and Prue likes festive designs and booze! They both just told bakers their work was dismal, not worth tasting and other comments. I like the show and the judges and agreed with the winner. I liked Thoa’s cake but agreed with Nancy that the cartoon like penguin scenes seemed different than the painterly top. The Teddy Bear cake was cute and finished in a very clean way.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

20 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I think that no matter what Sharrod did, he would have gone home.   The judges and producers want the most outgoing personality, not the best over all baker and designer, so Sharrod was definitely going home first.  They want a extrovert, and one who will make good TV, and they don't really care about anything but that.     They used to have the Best Baker series, and that was purely on baking, and that hasn't been on after the first few seasons, the network wants show offs. 

I like Sharrod and think he's on his way to fine career in baking but he was not the best overall baker or designer, regardless of his more reserved personality, among the final five. He still has a ways to go with both his technique and his decorating skills. I thought that he was the correct choice to send home because Justine's eclairs had much better height and volume than his did. It's a shame in the sense that I wish all five competed in the end but IMO they made the correct choice there.

And ultimately I think that they made the correct choice with the main heat. I wanted Justine to win (what can I say? As a fellow Massachusetts resident, I like to root for the home team and Justine's personality doesn't bother me) and of the four, liked Ashley the least. But her cake was decorated beautifully and the inside of her cake was innovative in ways that Thoa's wasn't. I think that if either Kevin or Justine had finished their decorating, one of them would have won because their cakes were similarly inventive but unfortunately they didn't. So I think the judges made the right call, ultimately. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Splashy]

I was rooting for Thoa or Kevin to win, but Ashley really did fulfill the challenge the best. All the cakes sounded delicious to me, but I am partial to lemon and was salivating at Ashley's. Would have loved to try Thoa's, too, but even as she was constructing it, I thought there was not enough apple, so was not surprised at that criticism. Loved her, though.

What I'm pissed about with the bake-off was that Sherrod actually helped Justine by suggesting she put the eclairs back in the oven. He should have just said, "yep, they taste fine" lol. Then he gets eliminated after helping her do better. Grr. 

Other random thoughts:

When Nancy wanted "richer" reds & greens in Thoa's macaron wreath, I cringed because I detest food dye and I always go the pastel route because of it. I will not eat something that has a whole bottle of dye in it (red velvet cake, for example) because that's what you have to do to get the really saturated colors. No thanks. So, I think that's why some of the decorations that a few of the bakers did looked pink. They were going for red but didn't want to choke anyone with the taste of too much food dye. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it (because that's what I'd do, too).

I noticed Kevin didn't unwrap the candy canes on his sleighs. I seem to remember someone else in a previous season got dinged for that, so was surprised there was no mention of it. Could have happened, though, and it didn't make the edit. 

 

 

 

[springbarb]

I thought the top two layers of Justine's cake looked amazing, but I also felt like she tended to fall back on decorating cookies throughout the season, and then using cookies as decorations for whatever the challenge was. I guess I'd like to have seen more cake decorating.

Still, pleased with the outcome. Ashley's cake looked phenomenal. I would've loved to have tried that or Kevin's, particularly.

[jcbrown]

1 hour ago, Splashy said:

What I'm pissed about with the bake-off was that Sherrod actually helped Justine by suggesting she put the eclairs back in the oven. He should have just said, "yep, they taste fine" lol. Then he gets eliminated after helping her do better. Grr. 

Other random thoughts:

When Nancy wanted "richer" reds & greens in Thoa's macaron wreath, I cringed because I detest food dye and I always go the pastel route because of it. I will not eat something that has a whole bottle of dye in it (red velvet cake, for example) because that's what you have to do to get the really saturated colors. No thanks. So, I think that's why some of the decorations that a few of the bakers did looked pink. They were going for red but didn't want to choke anyone with the taste of too much food dye. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it (because that's what I'd do, too).

You are so right--I had forgotten that Sherrod helped Justine. I admit he did make some technical errors (don't use a rando method for making pate a choux in a competition!) but still believe Nancy did not always have to be so dismissive and nasty to him. It read racist to me, whether or not she intended that.

And I also agree about all the food dye and co-sign your theory! I asked Nancy out loud during the episode exactly how much food coloring did she want to eat? She did not answer, even though I asked her more than once.

[lavenderblue]

4 hours ago, springbarb said:

I thought the top two layers of Justine's cake looked amazing, but I also felt like she tended to fall back on decorating cookies throughout the season, and then using cookies as decorations for whatever the challenge was. I guess I'd like to have seen more cake decorating.

Yeah, she did that all the way back with the Thanksgiving table opera cake and it bugged me then, too, when others were actually utilizing cake decorating techniques (and she won that one). Maybe she might've preferred doing the Christmas Cookie Challenge.

[Irlandesa]

3 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Yes, Ashley did get called out for making cakes. Remember the opera cake challenge where she didn't make an opera cake? She lucked out.

Sure but that was way back when there was more competition.  A baker who makes something that tastes great but isn't 100% aligned with the brief in an earlier round usually survives because someone else makes something the judges can't or don't want to eat. 

That really doesn't happen once the bakers make the finale.

I can't find the quote but someone asked if they get more time in the finale.  They get 5 hours for the cakes which is usually more time than they get. Still a tight time frame considering how much decorating they need to do.

 

[Salacious Kitty]

4 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Sure but that was way back when there was more competition.  A baker who makes something that tastes great but isn't 100% aligned with the brief in an earlier round usually survives because someone else makes something the judges can't or don't want to eat. 

That really doesn't happen once the bakers make the finale.

I can't find the quote but someone asked if they get more time in the finale.  They get 5 hours for the cakes which is usually more time than they get. Still a tight time frame considering how much decorating they need to do.

 

Yes, Justine commented that she would normally take two days to make the challenge cake. And she didn't finish.

[dleighg]

9 hours ago, Splashy said:

What I'm pissed about with the bake-off was that Sherrod actually helped Justine by suggesting she put the eclairs back in the oven. He should have just said, "yep, they taste fine" lol. Then he gets eliminated after helping her do better. Grr

both of them looked really pissed at the "judge-off." But he had a good reason!

[Joan van Snark]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:30 PM, Snarkastikate said:

Maybe Nancy needs to be retired, she makes less sense every year.  Enough already with the bourbon.  I'd love to see Jason Smith there.  Yes he's goofy but he knows his baking & his comments on other shows were always well thought out. 

PLEASE NO JASON SMITH!!!  I don't despise Nancy as much as many others do and she DOES annoy with her insistence on red and green.  People started using other colors besides those decades ago.  My own tree has not a drop of red, and is mostly gold, turquoise, violet and magenta--yet I still get lots of compliments and it looks very 'holiday'.  

I think to even insinuate Nancy is racist because she didn't praise Sherrod enough is ridiculous and dangerous in this time of 'cancel culture'.  

But for the love of all that is holy, no Jason Smith please!  I don't need cornpone one-liners throughout the show. 

[kathyk2]

I think Nancy does play favorites but Carla and Duff didn't like Shrrod's eclairs' think they should rotate the judges on all the baking shows.

[2soon2tell]

Maybe they should consider blind judging. The bakers could watch off camera so they could learn from the critiques, we wouldn’t be subjected to the “I baked this because it reminded me of my grandma who lost her little fingers when she came in last competing in the Iditarod” stories, and the judges couldn’t play favorites. 

[Popples]

1 hour ago, 2soon2tell said:

Maybe they should consider blind judging. The bakers could watch off camera so they could learn from the critiques

That's what they did on BBQ Pitmasters (until the last season) and I always thought that was a better way of judging.

[Texasmom1970]

14 hours ago, 2soon2tell said:

Maybe they should consider blind judging. The bakers could watch off camera so they could learn from the critiques, we wouldn’t be subjected to the “I baked this because it reminded me of my grandma who lost her little fingers when she came in last competing in the Iditarod” stories, and the judges couldn’t play favorites. 

I was just thinking last night about the blind judging. I think it would be great, but unfortunately this will probably never happen. 

Every time I watch these shows I am always saying I don't want to hear your life story just bake. I want someone to come on and say I started baking to fund my drug addiction or something realistic not the happy, life stories!

[Starry-Eyed]

Maybe they could just blind judge the preheats, if completely blind judging wouldn't provide enough reality tv drama. Even that much might shake up/prevent some of the judging biases.

[Salacious Kitty]

12 minutes ago, Starry-Eyed said:

Maybe they could just blind judge the preheats, if completely blind judging wouldn't provide enough reality tv drama. Even that much might shake up/prevent some of the judging biases.

Nah, they need to blind judge the main heat. That's where being a favorite (or not) is most weighty. 

[bilgistic]

8 hours ago, Texasmom1970 said:

Every time I watch these shows I am always saying I don't want to hear your life story just bake. I want someone to come on and say I started baking to fund my drug addiction or something realistic not the happy, life stories!

I've heard so many reality show contestants say they're "here for my kids", and I think, wouldn't your kids be better served if you were HOME WITH THEM? Like, there was a single mother (so she told us 1,000 times) who was eliminated early on. Who had her three young kids when she was on the show?

Don't mind me; I'm just a childfree, hateful shrew of a cat lady.