This is probably the best reality cooking competition I’ve seen.
I really enjoy the format that has the competitors all baking three items based on the episode’s theme and then judging them on all three. This gets rid of the situation that most shows have where an excellent cook can get sent home because they make an epic mistake on one dish, even though their work is normally stellar.
Jeff Foxworthy is a surprisingly good host for this. I like the fact that he makes no pretense of being a cooking expert. I think it’s nice to have a “civilian” able to weigh in with the everyman’s opinion of whether or not it tastes good, and leave the nitpicking over technicality to the experts. He does a good job of moving the narration along without making it all about himself.
I think what I like best is the respect that they show to the contestants. They aren’t berated when something doesn’t work out well for them.
Part of what makes competition shows enjoyable is judging the end product, whatever it may be, for yourself. I like cooking competition shows, but the problem is I can’t taste the dishes; we have to just take the judges’ word on what is or is not good.
Haven’t seen any of the American one but The Great British Bakeoff (which it’s based on) is indeed great - just an honest (and challenging) competition among a bunch of very decent seeming people, without all the typical hyped up (if not outright scripted) intercontestant “drama”.
Yes, exactly. I like that this is a group of talented, likeable people doing what they do well, with a minimum of drama. Even though there was one guy in the group who has seemed like an arrogant jerk for most of the competition, he sort of redeemed himself last night by finally delivering some really excellent work and being helpful to a competitor.
I would love to see the Great British Bakeoff, but, from what I’ve heard, it’s not available to be viewed online. That answers the question as to why the American version is filmed in a tent rather than inside a building. Apparently the British version moves to different locations all the time, hence the tent.
I suspect his reaction shots are very carefully edited in to make him seem more of a jerk than he actually is. For example, when someone else gets star baker or praised for their baking and it cuts to a shot of him looking pissed off. I bet those ‘reaction shots’ aren’t reactions to what we’ve just seen at all.
You’re not the only one! Since I was dying to hear some chatter about the show, I checked into the forums on Television without Pity. Several of the people there had started trying to find out the theme of the show beforehand so that they could have suitable snacks available while viewing — they pie show left people craving pie, the desserts show left people craving custards, etc.
Yes, I’m watching one now. It’s a special celebrity episode they did as a fundraiser for Comic Relief. The format appears to be the same, and I’m enjoying it.
I’ve been catching up on the American show, and like it a lot - unfortunately, from what I understand it hasn’t done too well ratings wise, putting it up head-to-head with Masterchef seems to have been a big mistake??
The Great British Baking Show pops up on PBS around here, usually on the weekends. They’ve retitled it from “British Bakeoff” due to a Pillsbury trademark in the U.S. on the word “Bake-Off”, or so I hear. Anyway, if you’re in the U.S., search for the alternate title.
It took a few seasons for the BBC to get the formula right but when they did it was a huge success, a national phenomenon even - pretty much like Top Gear, but with soggy bottoms.
