Anonymous wrote:I pretty much quit watching after Rahul Mandal won. It was so obvious that that season was rigged; there were so many times he should have been out.

He was such an Eeyore. Always mopey and down. As a south asian, I want to see my fellow south asian contestants do well, but he got on my nerves.

The Brits were super upset at the result based on the comments on the GBBO IG post. Threatening to not watch the final or the show anymore. Have to say I agreed with the result though and am very excited for the final!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the odds that Chigs remains versus Crystelle this week? (Don't look it up online.)

Chigs, on the whole, is slightly better, methinks. Crystelle is surely a fine baker but I can see that Chigs has a better eye for professionalism while Crystelle is too fixated on the little girl's tea party look for her bakes. But it will also come down to who has a good day versus bad day so it could go either way.

Can't wait for tomorrow! Even if the conclusion won't be a surprise: Jurgen and Giuseppe safely for the finals and one of the two other gets the heave ho.

Not so fast.

I'm that poster. I'm shocked. But not necessarily in an unhappy way.

Going back over the whole season, the baker who left was definitely one of the strongest if not the strongest. But as DH said, the judges clearly never forgot the baby cake, and I wouldn't be surprised if that doomed him for they didn't try to save him they way they did for Rahul.

I am actually looking forward to the final even more than before. No one is guaranteed! Chigs and Crystelle are baking at a much better level than they showed in the first half of the season so one of these two may pull an upset!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the odds that Chigs remains versus Crystelle this week? (Don't look it up online.)

Chigs, on the whole, is slightly better, methinks. Crystelle is surely a fine baker but I can see that Chigs has a better eye for professionalism while Crystelle is too fixated on the little girl's tea party look for her bakes. But it will also come down to who has a good day versus bad day so it could go either way.

Can't wait for tomorrow! Even if the conclusion won't be a surprise: Jurgen and Giuseppe safely for the finals and one of the two other gets the heave ho.

Not so fast.

I would have lost money on this one.

Anonymous wrote:Woah, curveball in today’s episode! That was a tough decision and I actually don’t disagree with the judges. Bet it’s going to anger a lot of people, though.

Yeah I read a spoiler and I am sad I did. My family and I watch each week so I wish I hadn't spoiled it for myself. I am keeping my mouth shut!

Anonymous wrote:Woah, curveball in today’s episode! That was a tough decision and I actually don’t disagree with the judges. Bet it’s going to anger a lot of people, though.

Yes, I heard, but I have not watched yet. I follow Chetna on Twitter hence the spoiler. Will have to avoid looking at Twitter from next Wednesday on.

Woah, curveball in today’s episode! That was a tough decision and I actually don’t disagree with the judges. Bet it’s going to anger a lot of people, though.

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be Crystelle because she is more chatty, has a bigger personality and the three of them would make a better and more diverse finale. It is always about ratings.

also gender balance - you might be right

I also agree with above poster that the show selection of bakers are planned in advance to have a few star baker standouts with a scattering of amateur bakers to keep the show interesting. It is also preplanned on what the contestants wear - usually bright Noel colors, all of them seem to coordinate. This season, the selection was very obvious and predictable, but still entertaining.

I think it will be Crystelle because she is more chatty, has a bigger personality and the three of them would make a better and more diverse finale. It is always about ratings.

Anonymous wrote:What are the odds that Chigs remains versus Crystelle this week? (Don't look it up online.)

I've never been wowed by Crystelle. That one episode when they had to do the crystal clear sugar dome -Lizzie totally saved her ass and got no credit for that.

Anonymous wrote:What are the odds that Chigs remains versus Crystelle this week? (Don't look it up online.)

Chigs, on the whole, is slightly better, methinks. Crystelle is surely a fine baker but I can see that Chigs has a better eye for professionalism while Crystelle is too fixated on the little girl's tea party look for her bakes. But it will also come down to who has a good day versus bad day so it could go either way.

Can't wait for tomorrow! Even if the conclusion won't be a surprise: Jurgen and Giuseppe safely for the finals and one of the two other gets the heave ho.

What are the odds that Chigs remains versus Crystelle this week? (Don't look it up online.)

Anonymous wrote:I pretty much quit watching after Rahul Mandal won. It was so obvious that that season was rigged; there were so many times he should have been out.

I do remember that season. That he survived a bad episode while Manon was sent home was surprising to many people, especially as the rules officially were that you were judged by the episode's bake and not previous episodes, although in cases of effective ties the judges could look to past bakes as a tie-breaker. It was controversial. And it is fair to wonder if the judges broke their rule for a reason.

The downside to viewing a baking show is that we can't taste the bakes and can only go by what the judges say, which is also heavily edited. A good example is last week's bake when one might think based solely on the comments Giuseppe was the weakest, not Lizzie. But I rewatched the episode with the subtitles and if you looked carefully at the comments, it's better to say Paul and Prue were judging the two differently, they judged Giuseppe as a first rate baker so his cake wasn't up to his usual standards, while their comments on Lizzie's cake was kind rather than genuinely praiseworthy. The editing wanted the viewers to think Giuseppe had done a bad cake, but that wasn't the case at all. It's probably why Paul immediately said in the discussion afterwards that Giuseppe was safe.

Speaking of casting, the producers do clearly like to have at least one baker who hasn't been baking for a long time (Rahul, Chigs) and obviously picked them over highly talented bakers with years or decades of experience.