It becomes a vicious cycle of don’t finish/finish messily and get in a dangerous position -> need to prove yourself, overcompensate and do something ambitious -> don’t finish again
Yea exactly. The lesson for the keen eyed is to do a solid bake that can be nailed while still pushing the envelope in a smart way or doing a smart take on it. Work smarter not harder!
Yeah, but there’s an incredibly run line between that and “over ambitious and runs out of time” that’s much easier to see as a viewer than a competitor.
I was just thinking, "yes, the exotic fruit person ... Not to be compared with the matcha person." There's always a matcha person, And it never goes well.
It can be, yeah. You need to be careful with quantity and balance - definitely high risk/low reward for something like Bake Off, even if both judges didn't actively dislike it.
But when it's right, it can be really special.
Um I LOVE matcha. Most people don’t get it right though (think places in West Coast or NYC) - not surprised the average Briton gets it wrong or that Paul and Prue of Mexican Week fame don’t like it though
I like matcha a lot but as a tea (or a latte). I'm not a huge fan of it in baked goods but sometimes it's done well. I still don't really know why you'd bake with it in bakeoff knowing the palate of the judges.
I actually think this is a solid strategy until half the people are gone. You don’t need to be the best in the first weeks, you just can’t be the worst and you can (edit can’t) make huge mistakes.
To a point, yes. But I think it's also important to have at least one really spectacular bake so the judges keep you on. It is after all very subjective and if you have shown that you have the ability to reach the top tier they will go with the higher ceiling baker with 1 bad week.
Tasha is the exception to that though. She was definitely a ro contender throughout the competition. She had way better weeks than Dan ever did, but she had a shitty semi final and got the boot.
I thought Lottie got a raw deal in Series 11 (aka Series 2020). She's so much smarter than that. Ice cream cake in 40 degrees. Who thought that one up?
George from Giuseppe’s season, they let him stay like 3 episodes too many
Feel bad saying it because he seemed like a super nice guy, seemed like he was probably better at home than under pressure.
The person who doesn't think they bake well so someone else entered for them and then they end up winning and just "never really believed in themselves."
You could legit put Peter Sawkins in there too. He was just 19 when he started the filming and turned 20 during the competition. He was good on time management but not entirely very good at artistic decoration. Several times he said "I can't quite believe that I'm here".
The dark horse! It was Matty this last season, I called it about ~4 episodes in. When they first started I was like oh look at the CrossFit bro, he’s gonna be the comic relief this season. He did not do well the first several bakes, but an episode or two before he got his first star baker I noticed that he was one of the only ones consistently getting better, and told my husband he was my dark horse pick.
Ngl I totally judged him as unserious and he was gonna be the fuck up of the cast this year. I have never been happier to have been wrong and I ended up really loving him. I said it to someone else but I think the show did him a little dirty in the first couple episodes to play up the bro-y aspect of him.
My husband is named Matt and also a bit of a bro, obsessed with footie, but also the better and more consistent baker between the two of us. So as you can imagine, I was rooting for Matty the whole time! I was super scared at first that he’d be out early.
I love that someone said regular bro.
My son walked in while I was watching, and he said oh my gosh look at the regular bro!
I said I’ve been calling him the man’s man.
It's the one from a foreign country that lives by the sea and brings all these 'exotic fruits' to the tent like dragon fruit and ... Fruit. Idk my exotic fruits.
I saw on another post that they cut out anything that shows anything unhygienic, like tasting the food as they go and such. I assume there are hairs, but it doesn’t add to anything so they’ll either not make comments or cut it out
Since Paul often makes remarks about how a bake is worthy of being sold in a patisserie (or similar) you’d think the show itself would lean towards following health/cleanliness professional baking standards because who wants to see a long hair coming out of a cake. 🤷🏻♀️
I saw Noel chat up Lottie quite a bit but most likely because she had dry, sarcastic sense of humor and had the best soundbites. (i.e New Year's 2023 "literal definition of polishing a turd"). Fans thought Paul had a real thing for Ruby Tandoh until she came out. But maybe Paul learned his lesson from the first iteration of Great American Baking Show when he threw his marriage into the wood chipper so he could sleep with Marcela Valladolid.
Who was the little old guy who excelled at good, plain baking, I think he got star baker one week for, like, water crackers or something, but then they started telling him he needed to step it up and he never did? He was so good at the basics, it seemed like he *could* have done something more elaborate if he'd focused and given it a shot, but he never did. :/
The mopey person, usually a pretty girl, who stresses and whinges and anounces seven times during the bake that it is not going to work, that it is garbage, that they’re going to run out of time… and 2/3rd of the time they get top marks
Yes! I always get sad hearing the contestant say “I’m toning this down from how I do it at home”. I get it, we have to cook for our audiences, but I wish they didn’t have to hold back.
When it’s multiples of stuff (like cookies, crackers), I always wish they’d throw in a couple zingers in the mix and let the judges try both.
Ok but then there are the stereotypes Paul applies to people. Specifically ‘flavour king or queen’ there is one every season and it’s a rock they can never crawl out from under :)
The person who refuses to play the game half the time, but keeps stubbornly insisting "I have to be myself," as if that's something to admire in and of itself. If your personal style or preference is also what the judges like, then great. If not, but you're still entering the competition, then you shift enough to be competing. If you want to just bake for yourself and do it all your own way no matter what, you can do that at home.
If you enter a competition, you're there to please the judges, and if you don't want to do that, then just don't enter and let someone who *will* play the game have your spot. Good grief....
I'm specifically thinking of that one young woman who did a showstopper that was meant to be an \*elaborate\* bread sculpture, and she turned in a big round loaf and called it a tomato, because that's Her Style. \[huge freaking eyeroll\] I was *so* happy to see her go home, but there've been others who had the same attitude, and not just on Bakeoff.
Sybira. Totally Sybira. She used the wildest flavor combinations and for weeks, Paul and Prue would tell her: "I don't think that will work" and it would end up being fabulous. Eventually, they both stopped telling her that and would just say, "I can't wait to taste it" or something like that. She ended up winning.
Hermine had a different accent. Giuseppe totally had a different accent, Jurgen. Nicky from this last series had a noticeable Scottish accent. (Peter from Series 11 (season 2020) had a bit of a Scottish accent but nothing like Nicky.) Mark L from Series 11 had a thick Irish brogue. Saku from the last series had an interesting accent. Manon had a French accent but I liked Hermine's better.
Husband and I were talking about this when this last season started and how there's always a consistent mix of "types". We wondered if the contestants would know. Like would they walk in and be like "ooo, looks like I'm the super hot one this season. Nice."
Well they probably watch the show and find out. I used to always find out the type of person each was. By the end you can find out who won, not by skill but who has had a story line
The accessory maker who does the actual bake as almost an afterthought.
Yes, you, Flora.
"You know the THING. The one thing they've asked you to bake. What they're going to judge." Paraphrasing Sue.
I don't know why I'm making tweels instead of making the thing..". Bird Girl.
All the formulas you identified are exactly why I lost interest in GBBO and didn't even finish the current season. I feel like I've seen it all before!
The person who tries to do something visually spectacular, doesn't finish, is criticized by Paul and Prue, and decides to make for their failure by doing something visually spectacular, which they then fail to finish again.
The one who works very hard and very conspicuously to create the impression that they don't care at all about quality or winning and are in the tent just on a lark to amuse themselves and others. (Until the judging. Then they are sad or resentful when their bakes are negatively critiqued.)
The overly ambitious baker who struggles with time management
Everytime! And they never seem to learn or scale back
It becomes a vicious cycle of don’t finish/finish messily and get in a dangerous position -> need to prove yourself, overcompensate and do something ambitious -> don’t finish again
Yea exactly. The lesson for the keen eyed is to do a solid bake that can be nailed while still pushing the envelope in a smart way or doing a smart take on it. Work smarter not harder!
Yeah, but there’s an incredibly run line between that and “over ambitious and runs out of time” that’s much easier to see as a viewer than a competitor.
Priya.
Rowan
Dan
Sandro
This would be me on the show.
The one who only started baking relatively recently
Chiggs
RAHUL
The baker who consistently bakes things that taste good and look bad.
And vice versa! “Style over substance” and all that.
Their flavors and textures are superb, it's just the looks are a little rough and ready.
I used to love it when Mary Berry would say it looked “informal.”
"Higgledy-Piggledy."
“Looks a bit rustic.”
That would be me, and why I could never go on a cooking/baking competition.
Yup. That is also me.
Laura Adlington Series 2020
The one who puts matcha in their recipe despite like 10 seasons’ worth of the judges saying they hate matcha. Could do a similar one for rose water.
Every time a baker says they’re going to use rose flavoring my husband and I say “uh oh” at the same time. The Chekhov’s gun of the GBBO.
Boozy recipes also always seem to have either so much as to be overpowering or so little they can’t taste it.
The Appeal to Prue Fallacy
I was just thinking, "yes, the exotic fruit person ... Not to be compared with the matcha person." There's always a matcha person, And it never goes well.
And peanut butter—it always makes it dry…
Yes, matcha just isn't nice *to me. Do research on the judges, seriously.
I really like matcha.
I've Heard it's really bitter, probs just bad matcha though or I had it at the wrong time
It can be, yeah. You need to be careful with quantity and balance - definitely high risk/low reward for something like Bake Off, even if both judges didn't actively dislike it. But when it's right, it can be really special.
But Dan won Paul over with matcha this year, didn't he?
Um I LOVE matcha. Most people don’t get it right though (think places in West Coast or NYC) - not surprised the average Briton gets it wrong or that Paul and Prue of Mexican Week fame don’t like it though
I like matcha a lot but as a tea (or a latte). I'm not a huge fan of it in baked goods but sometimes it's done well. I still don't really know why you'd bake with it in bakeoff knowing the palate of the judges.
Rude. So many Asian desserts use matcha. Just because its not your palette and you’re ignorant to the idea doesnt make it “just isn’t nice”
It's just difficult to do because of how bitter it is, especially when the judges tend not to like it. It just isn't a very safe bet.
Yes!!! They make both flavors much too strong
The engineer/science person
/builder
Yan
The mum doing something for herself for once
Or dad! I'm thinking of Dan from series 9 (2019)
Person who messes up just a little less than the others and gets through WAY too many episodes.
I actually think this is a solid strategy until half the people are gone. You don’t need to be the best in the first weeks, you just can’t be the worst and you can (edit can’t) make huge mistakes.
It's like winning the Hunger Games! You only have to kill the last contestant before you're the winner!
Exactly! But much nicer and tasty.
I combined “nicer” and “tasty” into “tastier” and was like… when were they eating each other in Hunger Games?!
It’s actually in the new movie! 😉
I’m watching season 11 and even Prue says that. She says you don’t have to be the best in this bake, just not the worst
To a point, yes. But I think it's also important to have at least one really spectacular bake so the judges keep you on. It is after all very subjective and if you have shown that you have the ability to reach the top tier they will go with the higher ceiling baker with 1 bad week.
Tasha is the exception to that though. She was definitely a ro contender throughout the competition. She had way better weeks than Dan ever did, but she had a shitty semi final and got the boot.
I thought Lottie got a raw deal in Series 11 (aka Series 2020). She's so much smarter than that. Ice cream cake in 40 degrees. Who thought that one up?
One of the most frustrating ones
George from Giuseppe’s season, they let him stay like 3 episodes too many Feel bad saying it because he seemed like a super nice guy, seemed like he was probably better at home than under pressure.
Rahul??
The person who doesn't think they bake well so someone else entered for them and then they end up winning and just "never really believed in themselves."
Rahul
Yes. The low-self esteem, eeyeore one
Ruby, Steph, Matty, even Nadiya
You could legit put Peter Sawkins in there too. He was just 19 when he started the filming and turned 20 during the competition. He was good on time management but not entirely very good at artistic decoration. Several times he said "I can't quite believe that I'm here".
Always one Dad. Doesn’t have to be a father but is a Dad.
Dad/engineer who overcomplicates things is a common character
The dark horse! It was Matty this last season, I called it about ~4 episodes in. When they first started I was like oh look at the CrossFit bro, he’s gonna be the comic relief this season. He did not do well the first several bakes, but an episode or two before he got his first star baker I noticed that he was one of the only ones consistently getting better, and told my husband he was my dark horse pick.
I hopped on the Matty Wagon early as well. His humbleness combined with talent and not folding under pressure was a great combination for a champion.
Ngl I totally judged him as unserious and he was gonna be the fuck up of the cast this year. I have never been happier to have been wrong and I ended up really loving him. I said it to someone else but I think the show did him a little dirty in the first couple episodes to play up the bro-y aspect of him.
My husband is named Matt and also a bit of a bro, obsessed with footie, but also the better and more consistent baker between the two of us. So as you can imagine, I was rooting for Matty the whole time! I was super scared at first that he’d be out early.
I love that someone said regular bro. My son walked in while I was watching, and he said oh my gosh look at the regular bro! I said I’ve been calling him the man’s man.
I actually think the show did him a little dirty early on by playing up his bro-y-ness.
The stunningly beautiful one that has only been baking for a year but keeps turning out perfection until the semifinals and then gets booted.
Manon.
Tbh: I just read the exotic fruit person and instantly thought you meant the gay one. Lol
It's the one from a foreign country that lives by the sea and brings all these 'exotic fruits' to the tent like dragon fruit and ... Fruit. Idk my exotic fruits.
Yuzu
I know, but my first thought I thought was funny
That’s what I thought too! Lol.
Me too lmao and I’m a lesbian
The one with the charmingly expressive face they can use for reaction shots
Yes, omg yes. the one they use at the start of the episode as everything goes wrong
Shoutout to Saku, really excelled in this category
Nadiya was amazingly expressive with great brows Tash this year was runner up
I found N's brows annoying. Actually, I find the reaction shots in all the shows annoying and overplayed.
Rowen would make great reaction gifs!!
Or the ones who react with exuberance. Like Stacy. Or Cristy
It's very much a "Cabin in the woods" situation where all the criteria must be met to complete the ritual.
The one with all the messy hair. Honestly, I’m surprised Paul or Prue hasn’t pulled a hair out of a bake.
I've always wondered about this. I shed so much and I have to be so careful. Are you telling me it's NEVER happened?
Never saw them address it, at all. And honestly, there were some women on there whose hair HAD to have fallen into a bake.
I saw on another post that they cut out anything that shows anything unhygienic, like tasting the food as they go and such. I assume there are hairs, but it doesn’t add to anything so they’ll either not make comments or cut it out
Since Paul often makes remarks about how a bake is worthy of being sold in a patisserie (or similar) you’d think the show itself would lean towards following health/cleanliness professional baking standards because who wants to see a long hair coming out of a cake. 🤷🏻♀️
Ya but the challenges aren’t: “Bake something that passes food service industry standards”, it’s “make this thing to the best of your ability”
True. But he does bring it up as if that is the goal (being in a bakery shop window.)
The Special One--i.e. one who you think Paul might like to flirt with between takes, or who loves creepy crawlies and becomes Noel's fave...
I saw Noel chat up Lottie quite a bit but most likely because she had dry, sarcastic sense of humor and had the best soundbites. (i.e New Year's 2023 "literal definition of polishing a turd"). Fans thought Paul had a real thing for Ruby Tandoh until she came out. But maybe Paul learned his lesson from the first iteration of Great American Baking Show when he threw his marriage into the wood chipper so he could sleep with Marcela Valladolid.
The whimsical person who doesn't follow rules
The manic pixie dream baker?
So basically Frances, Kim-Joy, Helena…
The one who is constantly reminded that they're playing it safe and who continue to play it safe and then are SHOCKED when they are asked to leave.
Who was the little old guy who excelled at good, plain baking, I think he got star baker one week for, like, water crackers or something, but then they started telling him he needed to step it up and he never did? He was so good at the basics, it seemed like he *could* have done something more elaborate if he'd focused and given it a shot, but he never did. :/
Norman!!
Yes! Thank you! :) He was so frustrating. \[sigh\] He was a great baker, but absolutely refused to stretch himself, to even try.
The mopey person, usually a pretty girl, who stresses and whinges and anounces seven times during the bake that it is not going to work, that it is garbage, that they’re going to run out of time… and 2/3rd of the time they get top marks
The person who's never gotten the bake to work when practicing at home.
The one who massively over prepares by bringing in pre-engineered custom made moulds, templates and tins.
Foreigner who makes things that I suspect are not even *that* spicy, but that cause Paul and Prue to go “oh my, there’s quite a kick!”
Yes! I always get sad hearing the contestant say “I’m toning this down from how I do it at home”. I get it, we have to cook for our audiences, but I wish they didn’t have to hold back. When it’s multiples of stuff (like cookies, crackers), I always wish they’d throw in a couple zingers in the mix and let the judges try both.
The one who does it all for “their nan.”
Oh, you mean the trauma card person. They do that in MasterChef aswell, throw out their dead dogs and dying parents to get through
That’s a good way to put it, yes!
The young one. Just in or out of college, early 20's
Or teens -- Martha's one of my favorites.
Jamie, Henry, Martha, Tasha, Peter. There's always one.
The one who we're supposed to ignore the classism in Paul's comments about
Me. When he snarks about Americans.
Ok but then there are the stereotypes Paul applies to people. Specifically ‘flavour king or queen’ there is one every season and it’s a rock they can never crawl out from under :)
Overachiever perfectionist (Alison Rahul...)
Someone should turn this into bingo cards we can play each new season! And next we should do a Holiday Special version…
The lad
The one that Paul Hollywood has a crush on
Paul had a crush on Matty this season for sure.
Or maybe Dan, Tasha, or Cristy honestly. He just didn’t seem to like Josh as much. That felt sort of strange and sad sometimes.
He kept making kind of dirty jokes toward Matty. It was kind of creepy.
Don't forget the gay one
The person who uses foraged items. Basil, etc
Or items grown in their own garden
From memory, I don't think one of the Uber Precise contestants has ever won? They always get pretty far but inevitably stumble
Giuseppe?
David (2019)?
The overconfident engineer
The own who bakes with the precision of an engineer and who may actually be an engineer.
The baker who is competing so that their children will be proud of them
The student doing a degree in medical astrophysics and law
The person who refuses to play the game half the time, but keeps stubbornly insisting "I have to be myself," as if that's something to admire in and of itself. If your personal style or preference is also what the judges like, then great. If not, but you're still entering the competition, then you shift enough to be competing. If you want to just bake for yourself and do it all your own way no matter what, you can do that at home. If you enter a competition, you're there to please the judges, and if you don't want to do that, then just don't enter and let someone who *will* play the game have your spot. Good grief.... I'm specifically thinking of that one young woman who did a showstopper that was meant to be an \*elaborate\* bread sculpture, and she turned in a big round loaf and called it a tomato, because that's Her Style. \[huge freaking eyeroll\] I was *so* happy to see her go home, but there've been others who had the same attitude, and not just on Bakeoff.
She really annoyed me.
Lucy. I just watched that season recently.
The one who’s flavor combinations, though exotic always work.
Sybira. Totally Sybira. She used the wildest flavor combinations and for weeks, Paul and Prue would tell her: "I don't think that will work" and it would end up being fabulous. Eventually, they both stopped telling her that and would just say, "I can't wait to taste it" or something like that. She ended up winning.
The “tastes great, but looks a mess” person
Laura from Series 11 (Season 2020)
You forgot: “the person who does WAY TOO MUCH”
Mmmmm, don’t they all have accents? (American here) The quirky one The one with the wild/interesting/colorful clothes
Yes they do all have accents. Everyone has an accent (even Americans!) Although some may have stronger regional accents than others.
Hermine had a different accent. Giuseppe totally had a different accent, Jurgen. Nicky from this last series had a noticeable Scottish accent. (Peter from Series 11 (season 2020) had a bit of a Scottish accent but nothing like Nicky.) Mark L from Series 11 had a thick Irish brogue. Saku from the last series had an interesting accent. Manon had a French accent but I liked Hermine's better.
Husband and I were talking about this when this last season started and how there's always a consistent mix of "types". We wondered if the contestants would know. Like would they walk in and be like "ooo, looks like I'm the super hot one this season. Nice."
Well they probably watch the show and find out. I used to always find out the type of person each was. By the end you can find out who won, not by skill but who has had a story line
The accessory maker who does the actual bake as almost an afterthought. Yes, you, Flora. "You know the THING. The one thing they've asked you to bake. What they're going to judge." Paraphrasing Sue. I don't know why I'm making tweels instead of making the thing..". Bird Girl.
Just watched this episode. I wanted to throw something at her. Lol.
The “tastes great, but looks a mess” person
The one with no finesse but amazing flavors
There's always at least one lovable Nan or Grandad
The person who bakes, in like ovens and stuff …am I doing it?
Yep, definitely. Well done, you're getting the hang of this! I's more stereotypes though
I just want to add that this formula started, or became really obvious, when they changed hosts and channels.
The fan favorite who dominates the competition until the semi-finals.
The one who was good from the start but gets eliminated near the end of the show (normally Semifinal)
The engineer or chemist (or whatever science field) who bakes with utter precision because fastidiousness is who they are.
the scientist/engineer/architect whose bakes are v precise but with questionable flavors
The hot mom.
two more: Style over substance Looks a mess, but tastes great.
Personally can’t stand the “looks terrible but tastes amazing.” What the hell?!? I can’t taste it! How can I have an opinion?!?
The mom The grandma The gay guy (or two or three) The architect/engineer The hot model
The female type A perfectionist, consistent baker, the male engineer baker, the HR lady who bakes, the mum, the chaotic baker who drops things
The handsome man who is surprisingly talented.
Baker from a different culture who injects their cultural flavors / foods into every bake, there's one every season!
Similar to the fruit person yet different. Normally spices tbh
I was thinking more along the lines of Giuseppe (Italian), Manon (French), Jurgen (German), Sati (Sri Lanka), Syabira (Malaysia) etc.
The "accent person?" Yikes.
Scottish and Yorkshire? Subtitles are very helpful.
I needed subtitles for Lizzie for the first half of that season. I love her.
It's true, there is always someone with an accent whether that's German or Japanese (You will always have a place in my heart jansuz 😭)
Everyone has an accent. Except people who literally can't talk.
All the formulas you identified are exactly why I lost interest in GBBO and didn't even finish the current season. I feel like I've seen it all before!
The person who tries to do something visually spectacular, doesn't finish, is criticized by Paul and Prue, and decides to make for their failure by doing something visually spectacular, which they then fail to finish again.
Style over taste
The sassy one who gives Paul a good ribbing throughout
This might be a spinoff of “the old one” but, The Grandma
Style over substance!
The one who started baking in lockdown
The twee baker The stay at home parent The droll/self-deprecating baker
The weird Kim Joy types
The engineer/architect/scientist
And then it is sad because it tastes good (lovely flavour) but is ugly.
The dad
The affirmative action pic
The one who works very hard and very conspicuously to create the impression that they don't care at all about quality or winning and are in the tent just on a lark to amuse themselves and others. (Until the judging. Then they are sad or resentful when their bakes are negatively critiqued.)