I miss the historical segments. Though since them leaving inspired me to start my UA-cam channel, I guess I have to thank the producers for ditching them.
Same, I was like "What do you mean they should only focus on the tent?? Non-British viewers aren't going to know about half of these things they're making, so getting to see the history behind it was a welcome break in the pacing and a wonderful tidbit of information!"
As someone who is Mexican Mexican week was such a huge miss because they chose such bad challenges and then didn't even properly know the ones they did. Tres Leches is supposed to be wet and most people don't consider it too dry if it doesn't have a little bit of milk pooling at the bottom. Claiming it needed to be not soaked as well as stacked was just such a horrible challenge. It was unfair to contestants because it made so sense and it was just such a horrible representation of the dish. Also tortillas require no baking, so tacos for a technical challenge just make no sense. Pan dulces like Conchas, breads like bolillos, cakes like chocoflan, all good standard Desserts that have interesting construction for people outside of the culture would have been good challenges. There's even "fancier" stuff like Mostachon which is similar to a daquois/pavlova could have been a good challenge. It felt so insulting because it looked so blatantly like no one did even a spec of research. We have so many delicious baked goods/dishes to choose from, it really wouldn't have been that difficult to find 3 online
I'm as English as they come, but even I know that Mexico and other Latin American countries have a plethora of renownedly celebrated pastries and desserts. I was shocked they aired these segments honestly.
As an American, Mexican week was shocking. So many people had never had a taco before. I was like, how is that possible? Oh right. They’re not next door to Mexico.
One thing i noticed with Noel & the other hosts since Mel&Sue is that there isn't thesame enthusiasm for the food. The new hosts aren't stealing scraps, licking the bowls, stuffing one of each pastry parcel in their pockets. The hosts eating, not as expert judges, but just as people, brought the audience into the tent. You remember that it's not just art, it's food.
Alison is always sneaking some tastes! Last episode I watched someone gave her a a ton of delicious but untempered chocolate. She grabbed it and was walking around eating it 😂😂😂😂
@MaeMills310 oh see that's nice. I had given up on the show. I'm glad they finally got another host that appreciates the food. Maybe I'll give the new season a try next time I have Netflix
that's part of why Sandi left, they're not really allowed to taste anything. she said it was torturous to just sit there and watch other people eat the delicious food and talk about how delicious it was and not be able to eat it. i don't think that's any of the presenters' faults.
@ oh they definitely do! they're just not technically allowed. they get away with it because they're cheeky and great and it's kind of part of being a presenter now
The Mexican Week pisses me off, not because of how awful the pronunciation of "pico de gallo" was, but because of how rich and diverse Mexican pastries are, and it would've been a great way to expose more people to our pastries which are overshadowed by European pastries in particular.
I still haven’t gotten over their abysmal attempt at s’mores. They reprimanded the only contestant who managed to melt the chocolate and crisp the marshmallow. S’mores are supposed to be sloppy!! Only time I was actually screaming at the screen 😅
I'm only a few minutes into this video, but I remember RUNNING to the Internet this season when Paul said he'd never tried/heard of gochujang. Talk about screaming at the screen. Like, as a food guy, a food JUDGE, what rock has he been under? I'm white as a lily over here in the US South, with nary a Korean in sight, and still managed to hear about it years ago, pre-covid. It's now my go to and I love it more than siracha and tobasco. It's in basic grocery stores, not even specialty shops. Thankfully, other people online noticed that too and validated my shock lol. Like, just as wild as the Mexican episode. What kind of bubble are they in over there?
@@Hippotigris99 Gochujang isn't exactly well known here, but it is widely available. Korean food has been gaining popularity here since around 2017. In defence of Paul though, he's a trained pastry chef. There is a whole world and multiple lifetimes of knowledge to learn in patisserie, it is not surprising he isn't knowledgeable on savoury dishes. Indeed, at higher levels of training, it is more common for chefs to specialise in either savoury or patisserie than to do both.
Yeah, I was horrified at what they'd done to s'mores, turned them into some fine dining experience. (I think this was where I heard one of the contestants say, "I think 's'mores' just means melted marshmallow." Gah!
I would have accepted that it died when it moved channels and lost Mel & Sue but resurrected itself last season with Alison. Sandi and Noel never really gelled, and I fully agree that Matt and Noel were one note, but Alison and Noel have this "We're both 11 year olds at heart" dynamic that brings out the best in each other while still being different enough that things don't get boring. You can even feel Alison's lightheartedness spreading to Paul and Prue. Now they just need to make Nelly the new host of Bake-Off Juniors.
Alison is so genuine. The phrase "big hearted" is a cliche, but I can't think of a better description. She took Georgie aside when she was suffering from the pressure of the competition and TV cameras. Without Alison, she might not have made it to the end of the contest, never mind win. She said to Steve, "Do you want me to walk back with you?" when he felt unwell. That wasn't for the cameras. She was almost out of shot and said it very quietly. She's a credit to our region (she is from a town very close to mine)
I couldn't find someone willing to make a vegan cake for my wedding in 2019. Ended up making the vegan lemon lavender cake from great British baking show myself. It was a huge hit and cemented lemon lavender as our "couple's flavor" like one would have a couple's song
I got really into Great Pottery Throwdown. Its from the same producers as Bake Off and is a similar concept but it has a lot of heart to it and i get really invested.
I'd forgotten about this show! I've recently gotten into the pottery side of yt, so will check out this series again. Thank you so much for mentioning it.
So the Mexican theme week was when the show died, and it REALLY died. And then they came back and corrected many of the mistakes they'd made in the previous 2-3 years. I, for one, am so glad! I love the sweetness of the show, especially now, and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Very well done!
Noel Fielding is such a treasure on this show. And I understand it saved his life. Before he discovered the glory of baked treats, he'd been on David Bowie's Thin White Duke diet of milk, hot peppers, and cocaine for twenty years.
The thing is they went from "two comedians who have worked with each other their whole careers and have decades of professional chemistry" with "two random comedians from different generations and backgrounds randomly smushed together". It didn't really work.
@@claclarolo1 He's certainly not for everyone. And I've never been the biggest fan, despite so many of my hipster friends being obsessed with Mighty Boosh. And yes, he absolutely does that. The guy really isn't that funny. But I think his appeal is less about being funny and more about being silly. That has its own charm.
I genuinely don’t care if it’s a bit or not that jab at Mexico is INSULTING. Their food is a literal gift. Tres leches cake, the improvement on Flan, tacos, burritos. My family is having Mexican food for Christmas.
My husband and I use to watch GBBO religiously like everyone, especially during the worst of the pandemic. But we fell off after series 12 as it felt like they were ramping up the drama and the hosts' bits were getting more annoying, and then hearing about the car crash that was Mexican week we didn't feel like we missed much. I've recently went back and watched series 14-15 by myself and I 100% agree that they've made some changes in the right direction. Alison is a breath of fresh air and I love her bubbliness, and it feels like they're pulled back on making the challenges more and more extreme. You still have the ridiculously hard technicals and they somehow always seem to do chocolate week on the hottest week of the year, but it's overall felt more cozy again and I'm happy for it
Need to come back and rewatch this as I don't want to wake my partner but this current series has been excellent, Alison has revived the hosting dynamic and the bakes have been stronger than ever
I agree that the challenges feel so hard and unfamiliar. For example, Doughnuts are familiar but are hard to make if you don't make a lot of doughnuts! I sometimes think they feel they can't repeat challenges from previous series, when I wish they would. I can't remember the individual bakes that well, I just remember the contestants, and the new contestants would bring their own twist to it anwyay so it'd be fresh. In defence of some of the national themed weeks, it was always going to be 'national bakes with a british/individual baker's influences twist' because that is what every single bake is in the tent, regardless of origin, so someone choosing to bring in indian flavours on a japaense dish is just how every bake is in the tent. However, they clearly just needed to hire a consultant that would advise on dishes that were actually japanese in origin, like bao buns being chinese. Honestly they already bring in foreign dishes for challenges anyway, especially technical challenges, so I think the national weeks feel redundant anyway since we already get national dishes represented in the series. I think weeks like vegan week work better as that's a scenario that is common in the baking world in Britain. Would love to see a full gluten free week or someting! That's a challenge to make food that's GF but close to the original bake.
I would love to see a week without the most common allergens. My grandson is allergic to eggs, soy, dairy, and nuts & legumes. Those are pretty common allergens. Often the substitutions for one item on that list, is another item on that list. Soy milk, almond milk, pea protein (legume), aqua faba (legume), and don't get me started on the egg substitutes that contain egg.
When my stepsons was little, he would cuddle with me on the couch and watch this show with me. Those are some really fond memories for me. It really helped us bond those first few years of being a newly blended family.
I was a caregiver for my Mom, and she had dementia. This show was fantastic, as it was calm, with happy people talking and very little drama. It was never about the food for us, it was another form of human contact for her during Covid. For that alone, I'll always love this show. I'm sure that's true for many who are housebound, or otherwise needing soft, friendly human voices.
Having watched every season since they started airing them on PBS way back in the day in the states, I will say that the pairing of Noel and Allison is the best we've seen from hosts on the show. I feel like they're two people who legitimately think the other is funny, and it really comes through in their interactions with each other and the contestants.
Yeah I think Alison is the best host on the show. She is just so funny but also has so much kindness in her heart. I just love her! But I also love how weird Noel is!
I agree. Allison brings great fresh energy to the show, while it's just really funny to see Noel just so past any pretense of professionalism. "Oh no, I overbaked my cake" - Noel: "Want me to go stab Paul Hollywood?"
@EntertainTheElk it is very endearing. If this means anything to you it's similar to RLM with Mike and Rich. On the surface Mike may appear mean to Rich. But, in reality, no one can make Mike laugh like Rich. Like if you watch enough, you realise, Mike has a specific laugh that he saves just for Rich. Low-key wholesome.
One thing that has always confused me- why go through the rigmarole of judging the technical blind? What difference does it make? It seems like such a gimmick for absolutely no reason. I know bakers have their own flaws and positive points, like being whacky with flavours, but not the extent I think that one round merits blind judging while the others don't...
Doing away with the country weeks was the best decision. My friends and I in San Antonio ranted for a While about all the things wrong with the Mexican week episode (you can't tier a tres leches cake unless it's too dry), but since they brought Alison on, it seems to be a lot like the older seasons in the best ways.
The showstoppers are less over-the-top in recent season -- which make me think they should rename it back to the final challenge. I remember seasons where people trying to walk their showstoppers to the table without it falling to bits was part of the overall judging.
They should soft launch the international week again with an American week featuring Ina Garten as the guest judge. She’s the perfect vibe for the show. Then, do the same for more international theme weeks with guests who can share the culture and lend expertise like suggested.
Do you remember when they tried to do American pie? No one knew how they’re supposed to be and a lot of them tried to take the pies out of the pan whole! It would be less racist but no more accurate.
'Champion of champions' like in Taskmaster. Great idea. I also liked the suggestion in the video of having guest judges from other countries (or even specialties) to add variety and for education.
@@EntertainTheElk I LOVE the holiday episodes - they are so funny because the stress of actually winning the show isn't nearly as high - it's just a good time had by all.
I love Bake Off. Alison is great, or 'bostin' as we say on her home turf. I love hearing the local accent, we hear it so rarely on British TV. Noel is a surreal genius, Prue has a dry and wicked sense of humour, and as a woman in her 80's is a great example to us oldies. Prue knew exactly what she was doing when she said "tell us about your beaver". She knew it would crack Paul up and embarrass him 😇
I stopped watching after Mary left but I agree that the show just tries too hard to be funny. As a brit I liked that it was calm & everyone was kind, I didn't need presenters that tried too hard to be funny.
If you stopped watching EIGHT seasons ago, then you don't have a foot to stand on to make judgements about the cast. You've literally missed 3/4 of the content of the show. That would be like me going on about how much worse FIFA players and annoncers are now than when I watched a couple of world cups back in the 90s and haven't watched any since.
Yeah, it’s not intentional ignorance, most average British people are genuinely that clueless about other cultures. Here if you’re not wealthy or in an environment that encourages you to seek out food from other cultures, your culinary perspective revolves around whatever supermarkets and takeaways market as cultural food… which is usually something silly like katsu curry crisps or ‘Mexican’ wraps from Tesco
I don’t know. Post internet, it’s possible to learn a lot more. They could have given them more help if they cared, or picked bakers who have been to Japan. They didn’t care to get it right though.
Man, i love bake off. Glad to see a video of it pop in my feed. Seeing a snippet of season 14 got me all kinds of excited as I haven't watched it yet. Thanks!
Germany has it's own version of The Great British Bake Off that's been running for 11 seasons. There's also two spinn-offs, one featuring tv famous people and one with professional bakers. The mood in all three shows is also more on the cosy side and every time they have a week themed on a country the bakers just have to bake recepies from that country. How did those themed weeks in British Bake Off even happen? Don't the contestants have time to do some rersearch on the country beforehand?
Okay so what was the day the Great British bake off died then??? Like I get it's a series but if the whole point of the video is " season 1 was a little bit different and better in some ways and worse in others", what the kind of video is that? That's how every single show is. I'm just confused.
I love that they their lesson from the backlash for their racism was to not even try. I wish instead of worrying about offending others.. they’d be pay attention to what exactly was offensive about that episode. I’d LOVE to see bakes and desserts from other countries. Is it that hard to do a sincere job at it and not caricature them though? Because with that response, it feels like maybe caricaturing other countries was the point, that there was no real curiosity towards other cultures. :/
So to summarize, the negative changes are (1) the technical is harder, (2) the bakes in general are harder, and (3) they did a few poorly received theme weeks (and have now stopped). So really the only current criticism is that the bakes (including the technical) are harder?
I used to watch this show with my mom, and we used to talk about it when we lived separated by half the country. It's hard to watch now that she's gone.
i love this show, it's become a comfort watch for me. i'm actually re-watching old seasons on netflix right now, actually. i do wish i could see those early seasons. i started watching it when it would air on PBS with mary berry still on the show, but can't remember what season was my first - i know the tent was in it's current fixed space, though. but yeah, i do love noel and allison. always loved noel since finding the mighty boosh ages ago (ridiculous how many times i've rewatched that weirdness lol).
So happy this has finally been released. From a production standpoint, I'd love to hear a version with Jex's vocals more upfront in the mix as they're buried here.
I can't tell you how many times I wish the bakers would just be given an extra half hour for their bakes in recent seasons. I'd watch something else if I wanted time pressures, thanks.
The show is better now that Mel, Mary, Sue, Sandy and the bald guy have gone.. Noel is the only one that has grown on me. I just love Paul, Prue and Alison.
I remember when they asked the bakers to make baklavas in the signature challenge. My (Iraqi) husband and I were cringing soooo hard... the pronunciations, the butchering of what a baklava even is, the way Paul and Pru judged the bakes... painful, painful, painful!
I was chatting to an American on a Discord server, and the topic of reality TV came up. He said that he and his wife were fans of GBBO, with me surprised to hear that they got the show over in The States. When I asked why he liked it, he said it was because it was a nice change of pace from those overly dramatic and competitive American reality shows. However, he was confused by the change in hosts and judges, not knowing about the behind-the-scenes. For those of you who don't know, GBBO used to air on the BBC until their competitor (Channel 4) bought it to air as a rival to BBC's Strictly Come Dancing (Or Dancing With the Stars to all you yanks). Love Productions (GBBO's production company) found Channel 4 to be a more profitable station since the BBC has different rules for its commercial activities (In the UK, TV owners pay a 'TV Licence'; a tax that funds the BBC to avoid advertising and influence from political parties. Channel 4 is the opposite, being public owned but funded by advertisements). With a change in station, hosts Sue & Mel left, with Mary Berry staying with the BBC out of "loyalty" (Though some speculate that it's because of a stereotype that Channel 4 is seen as the "hip and cool" station with the BBC seen as the more "sophisticated"). And I guess because of Netflix, the show has found a new audience in the States.
Every other person has used the correct t names for people's national origins. Why do you have to call us yanks? There isn't anybody here talking about Limies
@@hihosheffieldwednesday Nothing interesting. I was new to working with food in a professional setting, he knew that but still expected me to read his mind.
So the show didnt die? Because if it did you didnt specicy when yhat happened as you rounded the outer edges of vague cruticism Maybe shock titleing wasnt the move
If I may offer some feedback, in the cosy spirit of Bakeoff, I would have preferred this video without background music. Or perhaps just sprinkles of Bakeoffesque music. Lovely video otherwise. It's wild looking back at season 1. Even season 2 was vastly different, for the better.
13:30 Hearing an American complain about 'butchered pronunciations', as a man who was born, raised, and lives in Worcestershire, is frankly hilarious 😂 Glad they're buying the sauce, but just call it Lea and Perrins and save my sensitive ears 👂
First, the title definitely feels like click bait. Also, I disagree with your idea about the technical bakes being about bullying the contestants. I think it levels the playing field when they are doing something that hardly anyone knows. I agree that the national theme challenges were a mistake, but they stopped those...lesson learned. If you look at this season, there have been several times where individuals have finished early and then helped another baker to finish their bake or staging. Those moments are what make the show a favorite for me and many others. Moments of kindness and a sincere hope for everyone to succeed. I don't know if they always did the updates, but the reminder that many of these people became friends is another element that shows the viewer it isn't all about the competition.
The current season is excellent. Wonderful contestants. Feels like the beginning days of bake off. (Although Paul is gotten weirder and I still have little respect for him)
I'm a huge fan of the channel and while I've never seen the show, I did enjoy seeing your great explanation about the show's unique placement in TV (I've heard so many people rave about the show). That being said, I did feel like the video's affliation with your "The Day (title) Died" is not the right fit. Watching your Day (Title) was Born and Died, you clearly map out a show's history and what worked so well. However there is no clear indication of when the show "Died". In your video about when Community died, you laid out that you were conflicted being Season 4 (puppet show) was when the show died, but did get resurrected for the final two seasons when Dan Harmon returned. Perhaps retrospectives like this might fit Did (title) Die? As I think some shows can be open to debate whether they fit into This show died. Mad Men, Star Trek, RIck and Morty etc. Not saying these shows necessarily died, but seem to bring a lot of debate by some fans.
@@EntertainTheElk All good mate, like I said your videos are terrific. Brilliantly edited and researched and didn't want to comment like an entitled viewer. Just felt like it might have not been the right category. But still really enjoyed your explanation all the same.
Didn't even know Matt Lucas was a host in it. As a fan of Shooting Stars and The Mighty Boosh, you'd think the pairing of Matt and Noel would draw me in. But my reaction is the same as to any other part of the Great British Bake Off: 'meh'.
I stopped watching the show because it felt like the contestants were just young good-looking people and the judging started to get sloppy, it felt way less corporate in the earlier seasons
I get that you mean this to be a part of your running series, but you did not follow your own formula. It's a good video, but I'd suggest you re-title it.
That's not Noel, that's a mole, get it looked at! 😂😂😂 (I saw Noel as Old Gregg in high school, and it was looking him back up randomly during the pandemic that caused me to find a bunch of excellent British entertainment!)
The idea for the "nice" cooking show came from Masterchef Australia which itself did the pivot from an X Factor like show to the nice one within the first season...
He explains in the video but “Great British Bake-Off” in the UK, “Great British Baking Show” in the US and Canada because Pilsbury has a copyright on the term “bake-off” since they used to host a baking competition under that title.
I think that shows sometimes begin to reach broader audiences through just being around long enough to be discovered by more people, and by shifting cultural interests ... and then they start changing to show to appeal to people who haven't been interested in the core premise and they lose aspects that were appreciated by their core audience.
God I hate when they say things are "overspiced" as if that's a remotely objective criterion. Sometimes Paul & Prue even disagree about it, which you'd think would invalidate the criticism altogether rather than "cancel out"...
I always hate the “tHe wOrLd hAs ChAnGeD” argument like this used to be funny, but now people can’t take a joke. It’s a great thing that people are comfortable standing up and saying this isn’t okay anymore. It wasn’t actually funny. Also that woman peeling an avocado was painful. It’s going to live in my head rent free like that woman on the first episode of The Worst Cook in America who cut stuff by putting a chef knife on top of something and whacking the back of the blade with a meat tenderizer mallet. Just whack whack whack. It was the art teacher who dressed very creatively. She’s actually from the small town my mom and her family are from in NC. So many great chefs from that area including the irreplaceable Southern cook Mama Dip. Then a woman old enough to know how to use a knife properly.
I’m Latino and white so I myself didn’t really grow up with much of the culture and traditions maybe besides the food but watching the Mexican week episode made appreciate the little I did get from mostly my dad’s side of the family. I haven’t watched it in a while and now I kinda want to rewatch it but it is just so cringeworthy I don’t think I’ll finish it.
I don't watch this show (well I avoid it as much as possible in the UK) but someone making dhal in Japanese week is hilarious. Maybe it isn't for me to say, but all those theme week fails sound funny and the joke is on British ignorance, not Mexico, Japan or Germany.
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"Is Mexico a real place?"
Yes we do exist, thanks to the fact that didn't get imperialized.
I miss the historical segments. Though since them leaving inspired me to start my UA-cam channel, I guess I have to thank the producers for ditching them.
Same, I was like "What do you mean they should only focus on the tent?? Non-British viewers aren't going to know about half of these things they're making, so getting to see the history behind it was a welcome break in the pacing and a wonderful tidbit of information!"
Omg
TASTING HISTORY!!! i was not expecting to see you here hehe!
Ah sameeeee and now I watch tasting history hahah
Hey Max
❤❤❤
As someone who is Mexican Mexican week was such a huge miss because they chose such bad challenges and then didn't even properly know the ones they did. Tres Leches is supposed to be wet and most people don't consider it too dry if it doesn't have a little bit of milk pooling at the bottom. Claiming it needed to be not soaked as well as stacked was just such a horrible challenge. It was unfair to contestants because it made so sense and it was just such a horrible representation of the dish. Also tortillas require no baking, so tacos for a technical challenge just make no sense. Pan dulces like Conchas, breads like bolillos, cakes like chocoflan, all good standard Desserts that have interesting construction for people outside of the culture would have been good challenges. There's even "fancier" stuff like Mostachon which is similar to a daquois/pavlova could have been a good challenge. It felt so insulting because it looked so blatantly like no one did even a spec of research. We have so many delicious baked goods/dishes to choose from, it really wouldn't have been that difficult to find 3 online
I'm as English as they come, but even I know that Mexico and other Latin American countries have a plethora of renownedly celebrated pastries and desserts. I was shocked they aired these segments honestly.
The only way 😮
As an American, Mexican week was shocking. So many people had never had a taco before. I was like, how is that possible? Oh right. They’re not next door to Mexico.
yeah india is their mexico, they have indian food on every street corner. We're both lucky.
How they pronounced “taco” made me want to declare a second American Revolution.
haha
@@whimsicalhamster88 oh yeah they say TACKo.
Tacko on his backo.
@@whimsicalhamster88 as a brit, how should we pronounce it? 🤔
One thing i noticed with Noel & the other hosts since Mel&Sue is that there isn't thesame enthusiasm for the food. The new hosts aren't stealing scraps, licking the bowls, stuffing one of each pastry parcel in their pockets. The hosts eating, not as expert judges, but just as people, brought the audience into the tent. You remember that it's not just art, it's food.
Alison is always sneaking some tastes! Last episode I watched someone gave her a a ton of delicious but untempered chocolate. She grabbed it and was walking around eating it 😂😂😂😂
@MaeMills310 oh see that's nice. I had given up on the show. I'm glad they finally got another host that appreciates the food. Maybe I'll give the new season a try next time I have Netflix
that's part of why Sandi left, they're not really allowed to taste anything. she said it was torturous to just sit there and watch other people eat the delicious food and talk about how delicious it was and not be able to eat it. i don't think that's any of the presenters' faults.
@@eliasbreaux105 I've seen both contestants and the comedians eating stuff.
@ oh they definitely do! they're just not technically allowed. they get away with it because they're cheeky and great and it's kind of part of being a presenter now
The Mexican Week pisses me off, not because of how awful the pronunciation of "pico de gallo" was, but because of how rich and diverse Mexican pastries are, and it would've been a great way to expose more people to our pastries which are overshadowed by European pastries in particular.
I still haven’t gotten over their abysmal attempt at s’mores. They reprimanded the only contestant who managed to melt the chocolate and crisp the marshmallow. S’mores are supposed to be sloppy!!
Only time I was actually screaming at the screen 😅
I'm only a few minutes into this video, but I remember RUNNING to the Internet this season when Paul said he'd never tried/heard of gochujang. Talk about screaming at the screen.
Like, as a food guy, a food JUDGE, what rock has he been under? I'm white as a lily over here in the US South, with nary a Korean in sight, and still managed to hear about it years ago, pre-covid. It's now my go to and I love it more than siracha and tobasco. It's in basic grocery stores, not even specialty shops.
Thankfully, other people online noticed that too and validated my shock lol. Like, just as wild as the Mexican episode. What kind of bubble are they in over there?
Those smores haunt my nightmares !!!
@@Hippotigris99 Gochujang isn't exactly well known here, but it is widely available. Korean food has been gaining popularity here since around 2017.
In defence of Paul though, he's a trained pastry chef. There is a whole world and multiple lifetimes of knowledge to learn in patisserie, it is not surprising he isn't knowledgeable on savoury dishes. Indeed, at higher levels of training, it is more common for chefs to specialise in either savoury or patisserie than to do both.
Yeah, I was horrified at what they'd done to s'mores, turned them into some fine dining experience. (I think this was where I heard one of the contestants say, "I think 's'mores' just means melted marshmallow." Gah!
I would have accepted that it died when it moved channels and lost Mel & Sue but resurrected itself last season with Alison. Sandi and Noel never really gelled, and I fully agree that Matt and Noel were one note, but Alison and Noel have this "We're both 11 year olds at heart" dynamic that brings out the best in each other while still being different enough that things don't get boring. You can even feel Alison's lightheartedness spreading to Paul and Prue. Now they just need to make Nelly the new host of Bake-Off Juniors.
Oh my gosh making Nelly the new host of Bake Off Juniors is such a fantastic idea.
Alison Hammond is a national treasure
Alison is so genuine. The phrase "big hearted" is a cliche, but I can't think of a better description.
She took Georgie aside when she was suffering from the pressure of the competition and TV cameras. Without Alison, she might not have made it to the end of the contest, never mind win. She said to Steve, "Do you want me to walk back with you?" when he felt unwell. That wasn't for the cameras. She was almost out of shot and said it very quietly.
She's a credit to our region (she is from a town very close to mine)
@@kimberleywilliams7802Lovely lady, so genuine
totally agree! I was very "eh" on both Matt and Sandi, but Alison has the PERFECT chemistry with Noel, the bakers, and the whole atmosphere!
I couldn't find someone willing to make a vegan cake for my wedding in 2019. Ended up making the vegan lemon lavender cake from great British baking show myself. It was a huge hit and cemented lemon lavender as our "couple's flavor" like one would have a couple's song
It is so refreshing to watch a cooking show that is not mean spirited. It's like watching Julia Child, just good vibes.
Totally!
I miss Julia Child! 😢
I got really into Great Pottery Throwdown. Its from the same producers as Bake Off and is a similar concept but it has a lot of heart to it and i get really invested.
I'd forgotten about this show! I've recently gotten into the pottery side of yt, so will check out this series again. Thank you so much for mentioning it.
I feel like the Great British Sewing Bee is also similar. Loved Joe Lycett as a presenter
So the Mexican theme week was when the show died, and it REALLY died. And then they came back and corrected many of the mistakes they'd made in the previous 2-3 years. I, for one, am so glad! I love the sweetness of the show, especially now, and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Very well done!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the vid.
Noel Fielding is such a treasure on this show. And I understand it saved his life. Before he discovered the glory of baked treats, he'd been on David Bowie's Thin White Duke diet of milk, hot peppers, and cocaine for twenty years.
Noel is the best.
The thing is they went from "two comedians who have worked with each other their whole careers and have decades of professional chemistry" with "two random comedians from different generations and backgrounds randomly smushed together". It didn't really work.
stongly disagree, hes so annoying. I dont find him funny and forces a joke until the contestant laughs just to get him to go away
@@claclarolo1 He's certainly not for everyone. And I've never been the biggest fan, despite so many of my hipster friends being obsessed with Mighty Boosh. And yes, he absolutely does that. The guy really isn't that funny. But I think his appeal is less about being funny and more about being silly. That has its own charm.
Where did you find out about that? I never heard that Noel was that messed up, or for that long. Did he do an interview about it or something?
I genuinely don’t care if it’s a bit or not that jab at Mexico is INSULTING. Their food is a literal gift. Tres leches cake, the improvement on Flan, tacos, burritos. My family is having Mexican food for Christmas.
I am very jealous ❤
Props for the reminder. I keep forgetting to try tres leches cake. The name alone sounds delicious. 🥛🥛🥛🍰
My husband and I use to watch GBBO religiously like everyone, especially during the worst of the pandemic. But we fell off after series 12 as it felt like they were ramping up the drama and the hosts' bits were getting more annoying, and then hearing about the car crash that was Mexican week we didn't feel like we missed much. I've recently went back and watched series 14-15 by myself and I 100% agree that they've made some changes in the right direction. Alison is a breath of fresh air and I love her bubbliness, and it feels like they're pulled back on making the challenges more and more extreme. You still have the ridiculously hard technicals and they somehow always seem to do chocolate week on the hottest week of the year, but it's overall felt more cozy again and I'm happy for it
Need to come back and rewatch this as I don't want to wake my partner but this current series has been excellent, Alison has revived the hosting dynamic and the bakes have been stronger than ever
Wake your partner up and tell them that Elk is talking about Bake Off! :)
I agree that the challenges feel so hard and unfamiliar. For example, Doughnuts are familiar but are hard to make if you don't make a lot of doughnuts! I sometimes think they feel they can't repeat challenges from previous series, when I wish they would. I can't remember the individual bakes that well, I just remember the contestants, and the new contestants would bring their own twist to it anwyay so it'd be fresh.
In defence of some of the national themed weeks, it was always going to be 'national bakes with a british/individual baker's influences twist' because that is what every single bake is in the tent, regardless of origin, so someone choosing to bring in indian flavours on a japaense dish is just how every bake is in the tent. However, they clearly just needed to hire a consultant that would advise on dishes that were actually japanese in origin, like bao buns being chinese. Honestly they already bring in foreign dishes for challenges anyway, especially technical challenges, so I think the national weeks feel redundant anyway since we already get national dishes represented in the series.
I think weeks like vegan week work better as that's a scenario that is common in the baking world in Britain. Would love to see a full gluten free week or someting! That's a challenge to make food that's GF but close to the original bake.
I would love to see a week without the most common allergens. My grandson is allergic to eggs, soy, dairy, and nuts & legumes. Those are pretty common allergens. Often the substitutions for one item on that list, is another item on that list. Soy milk, almond milk, pea protein (legume), aqua faba (legume), and don't get me started on the egg substitutes that contain egg.
When my stepsons was little, he would cuddle with me on the couch and watch this show with me. Those are some really fond memories for me. It really helped us bond those first few years of being a newly blended family.
I was a caregiver for my Mom, and she had dementia. This show was fantastic, as it was calm, with happy people talking and very little drama. It was never about the food for us, it was another form of human contact for her during Covid. For that alone, I'll always love this show. I'm sure that's true for many who are housebound, or otherwise needing soft, friendly human voices.
Having watched every season since they started airing them on PBS way back in the day in the states, I will say that the pairing of Noel and Allison is the best we've seen from hosts on the show. I feel like they're two people who legitimately think the other is funny, and it really comes through in their interactions with each other and the contestants.
You're totally right. Seeing them crack each other up feels very genuine.
Yeah I think Alison is the best host on the show. She is just so funny but also has so much kindness in her heart. I just love her! But I also love how weird Noel is!
I agree. Allison brings great fresh energy to the show, while it's just really funny to see Noel just so past any pretense of professionalism. "Oh no, I overbaked my cake" - Noel: "Want me to go stab Paul Hollywood?"
@EntertainTheElk it is very endearing. If this means anything to you it's similar to RLM with Mike and Rich. On the surface Mike may appear mean to Rich. But, in reality, no one can make Mike laugh like Rich. Like if you watch enough, you realise, Mike has a specific laugh that he saves just for Rich. Low-key wholesome.
One thing that has always confused me- why go through the rigmarole of judging the technical blind? What difference does it make? It seems like such a gimmick for absolutely no reason. I know bakers have their own flaws and positive points, like being whacky with flavours, but not the extent I think that one round merits blind judging while the others don't...
Doing away with the country weeks was the best decision. My friends and I in San Antonio ranted for a While about all the things wrong with the Mexican week episode (you can't tier a tres leches cake unless it's too dry), but since they brought Alison on, it seems to be a lot like the older seasons in the best ways.
The showstoppers are less over-the-top in recent season -- which make me think they should rename it back to the final challenge. I remember seasons where people trying to walk their showstoppers to the table without it falling to bits was part of the overall judging.
Yeah, like the bread chandelier or something like that.
They should soft launch the international week again with an American week featuring Ina Garten as the guest judge. She’s the perfect vibe for the show. Then, do the same for more international theme weeks with guests who can share the culture and lend expertise like suggested.
Do you remember when they tried to do American pie? No one knew how they’re supposed to be and a lot of them tried to take the pies out of the pan whole! It would be less racist but no more accurate.
They need to have a season where they bring back all past winners.
They kind of do this in the holiday episodes. They bring back some of the past contestants. But yeah, having all the past winners would be really fun.
'Champion of champions' like in Taskmaster.
Great idea.
I also liked the suggestion in the video of having guest judges from other countries (or even specialties) to add variety and for education.
@@EntertainTheElk I LOVE the holiday episodes - they are so funny because the stress of actually winning the show isn't nearly as high - it's just a good time had by all.
I love Bake Off. Alison is great, or 'bostin' as we say on her home turf. I love hearing the local accent, we hear it so rarely on British TV. Noel is a surreal genius, Prue has a dry and wicked sense of humour, and as a woman in her 80's is a great example to us oldies. Prue knew exactly what she was doing when she said "tell us about your beaver". She knew it would crack Paul up and embarrass him 😇
Sorry I missed it...when did it die?
Having watched a lot of Bake Off, I don't think it died, it just got repetitive and samey.
I think it's a bit of a click-bait title, but not in an inexcusable way. It's just worth noting that the show runs up against certain limits.
Didn't die for me. Highlighted some low points, but I still think the show is alive and well.
@@EntertainTheElk Maybe state that a bit more clearly like you have in other videos where the subject matter hasn't died yet
Then don't do clickbaity title cards and episode titles. @@EntertainTheElk
@@BrynneMuir I feel the same way. I find the comedy/humor in the later seasons to be so cringe and unnecessary. They're basically unwatchable to me.
Until watching this video, I hadn't realized just how much the show has changed. I still love it though, although Sandy was my favorite presenter.
Yeah, I still love it too!
To be fair I can't imagine anything more japanese than a green tea flavoured french pastry 😂
I stopped watching after Mary left but I agree that the show just tries too hard to be funny. As a brit I liked that it was calm & everyone was kind, I didn't need presenters that tried too hard to be funny.
Calm and Kind. That's what I love about it.
If you stopped watching EIGHT seasons ago, then you don't have a foot to stand on to make judgements about the cast. You've literally missed 3/4 of the content of the show.
That would be like me going on about how much worse FIFA players and annoncers are now than when I watched a couple of world cups back in the 90s and haven't watched any since.
I’ve lived in Japan. That episode was about as good as I could hope from people who likely have never been. Painful, but understandable.
Yeah, it’s not intentional ignorance, most average British people are genuinely that clueless about other cultures. Here if you’re not wealthy or in an environment that encourages you to seek out food from other cultures, your culinary perspective revolves around whatever supermarkets and takeaways market as cultural food… which is usually something silly like katsu curry crisps or ‘Mexican’ wraps from Tesco
I get what you mean and it still sounds like poetry ❤. I need to learn that syntax and word choice🥰
I don’t know. Post internet, it’s possible to learn a lot more. They could have given them more help if they cared, or picked bakers who have been to Japan. They didn’t care to get it right though.
Thank you for this analysis. Watching the most recent season felt like Bake Off was going back to basics a bit and was glad for it ❤
Man, i love bake off. Glad to see a video of it pop in my feed. Seeing a snippet of season 14 got me all kinds of excited as I haven't watched it yet. Thanks!
Yay. Enjoy the new season.
Germany has it's own version of The Great British Bake Off that's been running for 11 seasons. There's also two spinn-offs, one featuring tv famous people and one with professional bakers.
The mood in all three shows is also more on the cosy side and every time they have a week themed on a country the bakers just have to bake recepies from that country.
How did those themed weeks in British Bake Off even happen? Don't the contestants have time to do some rersearch on the country beforehand?
Okay so what was the day the Great British bake off died then??? Like I get it's a series but if the whole point of the video is " season 1 was a little bit different and better in some ways and worse in others", what the kind of video is that? That's how every single show is. I'm just confused.
'WHAT THE KIND OF VIDEO IS THAT?'
Sorry mate but i think your Italian is poking out a bit
Just highlighting the changes and evolution of the show over the years.
What are you talking about? That is standard Grammer and sentence construction.
The problem is that your geographic bigotry is showing.
@@RobinTrabueHandy hint: if asserting that someone's *grammar* is correct, at least know how to spell the word.
I love that they their lesson from the backlash for their racism was to not even try. I wish instead of worrying about offending others.. they’d be pay attention to what exactly was offensive about that episode. I’d LOVE to see bakes and desserts from other countries. Is it that hard to do a sincere job at it and not caricature them though? Because with that response, it feels like maybe caricaturing other countries was the point, that there was no real curiosity towards other cultures. :/
Yep, nailed it; that's Britain. The British never change.
So to summarize, the negative changes are (1) the technical is harder, (2) the bakes in general are harder, and (3) they did a few poorly received theme weeks (and have now stopped). So really the only current criticism is that the bakes (including the technical) are harder?
I used to watch this show with my mom, and we used to talk about it when we lived separated by half the country. It's hard to watch now that she's gone.
i love this show, it's become a comfort watch for me. i'm actually re-watching old seasons on netflix right now, actually. i do wish i could see those early seasons. i started watching it when it would air on PBS with mary berry still on the show, but can't remember what season was my first - i know the tent was in it's current fixed space, though. but yeah, i do love noel and allison. always loved noel since finding the mighty boosh ages ago (ridiculous how many times i've rewatched that weirdness lol).
I miss Mary Berry.
You forgot the Squirrel With The Nuts!
I think this current season was the best season I’ve seen in a long time. Dylan and Georgie were the best bakers I think I’ve ever seen
So happy this has finally been released. From a production standpoint, I'd love to hear a version with Jex's vocals more upfront in the mix as they're buried here.
Excellent analysis! You put it into words very well
I liked the country episodes, but having a guest judge from the country is a really good idea!
Wooooooooo new elk video. Happy Friday, indeed. 😅😅
Hope you enjoy it!
thanks for doing a british show, my wee heart swells
:)
I can't tell you how many times I wish the bakers would just be given an extra half hour for their bakes in recent seasons. I'd watch something else if I wanted time pressures, thanks.
A lovely lady friend of mine introduced me to this show, it is pretty interesting and also great white noise to turn on if you need a nap.
The show is better now that Mel, Mary, Sue, Sandy and the bald guy have gone.. Noel is the only one that has grown on me. I just love Paul, Prue and Alison.
I remember when they asked the bakers to make baklavas in the signature challenge. My (Iraqi) husband and I were cringing soooo hard... the pronunciations, the butchering of what a baklava even is, the way Paul and Pru judged the bakes... painful, painful, painful!
I really enjoyed your thoughts on the show! Thank you for the good video
Thank you! :)
Thanks for the kind and uplifting video essay. Our family loves GBBO.
Yay! Glad you liked it.
OMG, Matt Lucas lost a lot of weight! That is amazing. I am so happy for him.
Jo Brand and Tom Allen on Extra Slice are excellent
This season is brutal. Where'd they find these folks.
I lot of my favorite personalities got kicked off in the early weeks.
They definitely course corrected this season. It was really good.
Still trying to figure out what part of making tacos has anything to do with baking.
Save the pedantry for QI. 😂😂😂😂😂
I was chatting to an American on a Discord server, and the topic of reality TV came up. He said that he and his wife were fans of GBBO, with me surprised to hear that they got the show over in The States. When I asked why he liked it, he said it was because it was a nice change of pace from those overly dramatic and competitive American reality shows. However, he was confused by the change in hosts and judges, not knowing about the behind-the-scenes.
For those of you who don't know, GBBO used to air on the BBC until their competitor (Channel 4) bought it to air as a rival to BBC's Strictly Come Dancing (Or Dancing With the Stars to all you yanks). Love Productions (GBBO's production company) found Channel 4 to be a more profitable station since the BBC has different rules for its commercial activities (In the UK, TV owners pay a 'TV Licence'; a tax that funds the BBC to avoid advertising and influence from political parties. Channel 4 is the opposite, being public owned but funded by advertisements).
With a change in station, hosts Sue & Mel left, with Mary Berry staying with the BBC out of "loyalty" (Though some speculate that it's because of a stereotype that Channel 4 is seen as the "hip and cool" station with the BBC seen as the more "sophisticated"). And I guess because of Netflix, the show has found a new audience in the States.
Thanks for the info!
Every other person has used the correct t names for people's national origins.
Why do you have to call us yanks? There isn't anybody here talking about Limies
Didn't think you'd discuss GBBO in this series! I'm very intrigued. :)
Hope you enjoyed it.
I was employed by Davie from Series 1. I was sacked after a weekend. Fun times.
Why were You Fired?
@@hihosheffieldwednesday Nothing interesting. I was new to working with food in a professional setting, he knew that but still expected me to read his mind.
Huge fan of the show back when i had cable. Really enjoy when you review something out of left field like this or Bluey
Thanks so much! Actually thought of Bluey when I decided to do this video. It's more fun to talk about stuff you genuinely care about.
Why did Mary at the end make my eyes rain?
So the show didnt die? Because if it did you didnt specicy when yhat happened as you rounded the outer edges of vague cruticism
Maybe shock titleing wasnt the move
Nope still alive.
Spell check can be your friend 🙂
@dontbefatuousjeffrey2494 ....that's your response, you might as well have said nothing, worthless
I only watched the Noel seasons and I loved em.
Noel is a treasure.
If I may offer some feedback, in the cosy spirit of Bakeoff, I would have preferred this video without background music. Or perhaps just sprinkles of Bakeoffesque music. Lovely video otherwise. It's wild looking back at season 1. Even season 2 was vastly different, for the better.
I don't know, I love myself some cozy chaos lol (excluding the episodes we pretend didn't happen).
I only just started watching it
This series' title is starting to become clickbait.
The Great British Bake Off just changed a bit
Just using the same naming convention that my channel is known for.
Any Mighty Boosh fans
I don't know. I can't go for that 😄
I was unaware that it died? I've been watching and loving every season
Agreed. I still enjoy watching
@@EntertainTheElk Then why did you title it like that?
Engagement! Great video well done!
Thank you!
WTF is Noel Fielding doing on a baking show? 😂😂😂 Wait!?! Lucas AND Noel? How have I not seen this?? Why isn't this in the US?????
I liked this past season, though it was the only one I've seen in years
13:30 Hearing an American complain about 'butchered pronunciations', as a man who was born, raised, and lives in Worcestershire, is frankly hilarious 😂
Glad they're buying the sauce, but just call it Lea and Perrins and save my sensitive ears 👂
First, the title definitely feels like click bait. Also, I disagree with your idea about the technical bakes being about bullying the contestants. I think it levels the playing field when they are doing something that hardly anyone knows. I agree that the national theme challenges were a mistake, but they stopped those...lesson learned. If you look at this season, there have been several times where individuals have finished early and then helped another baker to finish their bake or staging. Those moments are what make the show a favorite for me and many others. Moments of kindness and a sincere hope for everyone to succeed. I don't know if they always did the updates, but the reminder that many of these people became friends is another element that shows the viewer it isn't all about the competition.
Thanks for all your thoughts.
Dear Elkman,
If you're not watching The Canadian Baking Show, you're doing it wrong.
I watched the first two seasons with Dan Levy. Really enjoyed it!
Where to watch?
@@MaeMills310 outside of canada? not sure actually.
The current season is excellent. Wonderful contestants. Feels like the beginning days of bake off. (Although Paul is gotten weirder and I still have little respect for him)
Allison Hammond is simply the best.
She's fantastic.
@ Have you ever seen her interview with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling for Blade Runner 2049? I’ve never, NEVER seen Harrison Ford laugh like that!
I'm a huge fan of the channel and while I've never seen the show, I did enjoy seeing your great explanation about the show's unique placement in TV (I've heard so many people rave about the show).
That being said, I did feel like the video's affliation with your "The Day (title) Died" is not the right fit. Watching your Day (Title) was Born and Died, you clearly map out a show's history and what worked so well. However there is no clear indication of when the show "Died". In your video about when Community died, you laid out that you were conflicted being Season 4 (puppet show) was when the show died, but did get resurrected for the final two seasons when Dan Harmon returned.
Perhaps retrospectives like this might fit Did (title) Die? As I think some shows can be open to debate whether they fit into This show died. Mad Men, Star Trek, RIck and Morty etc. Not saying these shows necessarily died, but seem to bring a lot of debate by some fans.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I just need to be more explicit. I thought I hit on all the same beats, but I just didn't name them. My fault!
@@EntertainTheElk All good mate, like I said your videos are terrific. Brilliantly edited and researched and didn't want to comment like an entitled viewer. Just felt like it might have not been the right category. But still really enjoyed your explanation all the same.
LOVE that they added Alison Hammond, best casting decision to ever be made😍
Loved the video, and I love the show. ❤
I enjoyed the on-location pieces but I agree they disrupt the show's flow.
Yeah, they were interesting but just became tiresome.
Okay, so why did you title this video "The Day The Great British Bake Off Died"?
Probably to get more clicks.
Bro's got a brand IP to milk
Clickey-clikey-clicks!
"Tacko" is crazy
Didn't even know Matt Lucas was a host in it. As a fan of Shooting Stars and The Mighty Boosh, you'd think the pairing of Matt and Noel would draw me in. But my reaction is the same as to any other part of the Great British Bake Off: 'meh'.
“Pru does what she needs to do without getting in the way?” Sexist Much?
I stopped watching the show because it felt like the contestants were just young good-looking people and the judging started to get sloppy, it felt way less corporate in the earlier seasons
engagement
Salute!
I get that you mean this to be a part of your running series, but you did not follow your own formula. It's a good video, but I'd suggest you re-title it.
Playing with it.
I almost stopped watching after Mel and Sue left, but Noel grew on me.
That's not Noel, that's a mole, get it looked at!
😂😂😂 (I saw Noel as Old Gregg in high school, and it was looking him back up randomly during the pandemic that caused me to find a bunch of excellent British entertainment!)
The idea for the "nice" cooking show came from Masterchef Australia which itself did the pivot from an X Factor like show to the nice one within the first season...
Is the voice over AI? I can't get over it.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Is the title of this show the Great British Baking Show, or the Great British Bake-Off? Im confused
He explains in the video but “Great British Bake-Off” in the UK, “Great British Baking Show” in the US and Canada because Pilsbury has a copyright on the term “bake-off” since they used to host a baking competition under that title.
I think that shows sometimes begin to reach broader audiences through just being around long enough to be discovered by more people, and by shifting cultural interests ... and then they start changing to show to appeal to people who haven't been interested in the core premise and they lose aspects that were appreciated by their core audience.
Yep agreed.
God I hate when they say things are "overspiced" as if that's a remotely objective criterion. Sometimes Paul & Prue even disagree about it, which you'd think would invalidate the criticism altogether rather than "cancel out"...
I've never understood the appeal of this show, but you did a great job of explaining it. Now I understand why people like it and why I don't.
Totally. Not for everyone.
I always hate the “tHe wOrLd hAs ChAnGeD” argument like this used to be funny, but now people can’t take a joke. It’s a great thing that people are comfortable standing up and saying this isn’t okay anymore. It wasn’t actually funny.
Also that woman peeling an avocado was painful. It’s going to live in my head rent free like that woman on the first episode of The Worst Cook in America who cut stuff by putting a chef knife on top of something and whacking the back of the blade with a meat tenderizer mallet. Just whack whack whack. It was the art teacher who dressed very creatively. She’s actually from the small town my mom and her family are from in NC. So many great chefs from that area including the irreplaceable Southern cook Mama Dip. Then a woman old enough to know how to use a knife properly.
Disembodied Voice: "The Elk outkicked his coverage"
I’m Latino and white so I myself didn’t really grow up with much of the culture and traditions maybe besides the food but watching the Mexican week episode made appreciate the little I did get from mostly my dad’s side of the family. I haven’t watched it in a while and now I kinda want to rewatch it but it is just so cringeworthy I don’t think I’ll finish it.
So cooking shows can be flanderized too
Oh yes. If it can be flanderized, the elk will be there!
I don't watch this show (well I avoid it as much as possible in the UK) but someone making dhal in Japanese week is hilarious. Maybe it isn't for me to say, but all those theme week fails sound funny and the joke is on British ignorance, not Mexico, Japan or Germany.
Not dead. This video is WILD.
I don't think it's dead either!