293 "Botanical Week" GBBO Collection 11 E6

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to our bonus edition of Strange Indeed dedicated to the Great British Baking Show. This week we're covering Collection 11, aka Season 14, Botanical Week, which I think is the first botanical week we've had. Do you remember this from a previous season?

[00:00:26] I think there was another one, but I'd have to go back and look for sure. But first I would like to welcome back to our coverage of the Great British Baking Show. Welcome Jason. Hello. Hey, good to have you brother. I'm glad to be on.

[00:00:46] I always talk up this show about how great it is. I recommend it. People, they'd be surprised. But then I just wasn't really watching it this season. I knew you guys were covering it and Rima said I could come on and I'm like, well, I

[00:01:05] better get caught up. And as soon as I started watching it, I remembered, oh wow, yeah, this show makes me feel good. I'd kind of forgotten the feeling of it, you know, it's so good.

[00:01:12] So I'm really glad that you made an opening for me to come on just so I would get my button gear and watch it because I just zipped right through the five episodes. Now I'm fully set up. So three, that was a three with the worst.

[00:01:25] You got upset. I haven't, I'm not caught up. Was it because of who got kicked out? Yeah, I thought it was a poor choice. It was a poor choice. Who was it? Keith Amos. It was Abby. Oh, Abby. I had forgotten she even got kicked out.

[00:01:44] But I like her though. It's not that I don't like her. I do. She reminds me of a friend of mine actually. She seemed super nice. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that she would have done wonders on this. She had a bad week, huh? That's it.

[00:02:00] It sucks when you did. I mean, she may have had a bad week anyway. Like I said, it would be hard to work with people. Yeah, we, and it's a, it's poor Greg really struggled that week. I know you definitely had some feelings and totally valid too.

[00:02:16] She, I don't think was the worst. I think she definitely had struggles and challenges, but I think compared to other bakers and our opinions, you know, they, they, you know, probably stayed when maybe they shouldn't have.

[00:02:31] I wonder because it's so subjective and also a lot goes on behind the scenes. And I, it was something triggered in my mind when Noel at one point was like, you know, who you guys thinking of cutting? And then he said something like, what?

[00:02:47] Yeah, man, everybody that's left. I just don't want any of them to go. And I'm like, well, what about the other ones that sort of tassel? He says you didn't care about them, but it just made me think. And I don't, I don't believe that.

[00:02:58] But as time goes along, they get more attached because they spend more time with them. Yes. But also I wonder if part of the decision is who plays better on screen, who's more entertaining, who they like better.

[00:03:08] You know, I'm sure that must factor in at least a little bit. I think you're absolutely right. I think there's, and, and to be fair, to be fair, we, uh, you know, we didn't necessarily

[00:03:19] see something that happened or didn't happen or whatever with Abby and, you know, maybe we didn't see all of the stuff. So I can't necessarily judge. I can only judge on what I saw and what I saw was that was a crock of shit.

[00:03:33] Anyway, branch over and we can move on to botanical. Yeah. Just based on our opinions from just watching the show and what they decided to show us. Yeah. We all know that it's, you know, edited quite a lot and obviously we're not tasting the

[00:03:51] things and I'm obviously not professional either. So, but yeah, certainly some controversies that have came and went this season. So, yeah, I think Abby also would have excelled this week as well as we got botanical week.

[00:04:09] I don't think they have done botanicals by the way, in my memory. And I, one reason why I think that a, I don't remember it, but that means almost nothing these days because I don't remember anything.

[00:04:20] But B is, um, I think Paul at one point during this episode was like, yeah, it's, it's gone as if it was, it sounded like as if it was the first time they'd tried it, you know? Like, yeah, it was good. Yeah. This is it.

[00:04:36] We floated this and it went over, it's going decent. Yeah, they did season seven. Oh, they did do it. Okay. Yeah. Theory out the window. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought they had at least just once, but, uh, they, it isn't something that they do very often anyway.

[00:04:52] And, you know, I know last week when we were like, oh, it's going to be botanical week. What does that mean? It sounds disgusting. Like what? I felt like this whole episode, like, okay, I'm not for, I'm already not into like the

[00:05:06] citrusy tart things as much as the chocolatey coffee. And then now it's flour and I'm like, eh, it smells nice, but it's not so nice to taste. So, um, they had to kind of, it had to kind of be almost like the least objectionable

[00:05:19] one was my favorite, you know, I would try everything, but it wasn't like, oh yeah, I gotta have that. I hear you. I completely hear you on this entire episode. I was like, you know, I don't really like eating flowers. Um, like, uh, like, oh, it's hibiscus flavored.

[00:05:36] It's rose flavored. It's rose. Yeah. What was the, what was the time? And well, okay. Lemon time. Like there was a little bit of a tangent, but one of the most refreshing beers I ever had was called it's cucumber time.

[00:05:54] And it was time and cucumber in a wheat beer. And it was amazing. It was phenomenal. And it was like, oh my God, this is like, I just want to continue drinking it. So just like a hot day mowing the lawn, having some cucumber time.

[00:06:10] I looked up a time just because I don't really know the spices that well. And it says the taste is peppery and sweet sometimes with a clove like sensation, which sounds really good.

[00:06:21] And then I looked up some of the other common ones, uh, elder flowers, I think is probably what you were thinking of. Right? Maybe not, but that it says a uniquely fresh fruity green and slightly floral with a subtle pear, lychee and tropical nuances, which sounds awesome.

[00:06:37] Hibiscus is cranberry like and sweet with earthy notes. That sounds pretty good. Rhubarb. I had a lot when I was in England because they eat it a lot there. It's tart, crunchy like celery when raw, but softer when cooked.

[00:06:50] I think it tastes a bit like strawberry actually like a tart strawberry. So once I started reading about the flavors, I was a little more interested. They sounded pretty good, you know? Well, when, when Paul was like, uh, talking to Dan about his meadow pond or meadow do

[00:07:07] or whatever it was, butter or something, you know, son, something like that. Uh, he was like, oh yeah, you get that taste like freshly cut grass. I'm like, why would I want to eat grass? I don't understand. Out here grazing with the showstoppers.

[00:07:25] But it was just go outside. Mine's right out there. Um, all right. So, so what did we have? So signature was signature 12. Some buns. Spiced buns. Those looked amazing. No, right. I mean, I feel like y'all can't like, oh no, those, none of those looked very good.

[00:07:50] You know? So I forget, I do tend to forget that cinnamon is a botanical, like it's a spice. So that is kind of botanical. So like cardamom and I like a bunch of those were like the buns were probably my favorite of, of what we, what we got.

[00:08:06] Well, the, the lemon time, the, the, the, uh, the technical was, I was like, uh, yeah, I eat the crap out of that. But, um, yeah, this is the, uh, the, the, the, oh yes. And then, uh, yeah.

[00:08:20] So the, the signatures were, this was, uh, the, the sweet sticky buns were, yeah, these are, these look good. I will. So, okay. I don't not to complain. Um, but I, I feel like I, whenever, like whenever Paul's like, oh, that's got a good color.

[00:08:41] That's, and I'm like, really? Cause that looks super fucking dark to me. Like, like the same. Yeah. I was like this. Oh yeah. Like this color. I'm like, I would totally under break the ever living shit out of this stuff.

[00:08:57] Um, just because I, like, I don't really give a shit about the color. I just want it to be good. Um, I'm like, I'm like Saku, except she did some crazy jelly work this week. Yeah. I would, yeah.

[00:09:11] If I was going to prioritize like tastes, texture and aesthetics, it would be in that order. Probably taste highest than texture than aesthetics. I actually have to go texture first than taste because, because it doesn't matter what it tastes like.

[00:09:29] Uh, if, if I'm not putting the fucking jelly in my mouth, that's not happening. So, well, I'm not saying this texture is disgusting. It's going to be okay. No, I mean like the, the jelly, the jelly topping things that they were like cutting into and eating.

[00:09:44] I'm like, Nope, that's not happening. I'm not eating jello. It's just, well, no, maybe it'd actually be really good. And it's not what I, maybe it's not what I'm thinking. Greg is not a fan of like jelly or like a jello. What we would consider a jello.

[00:09:58] I'd like to see him as a judge, just like gagging. Really, really pretty. Although that wobble is kind of making me ill. Hold on one second. So for, for the signature bakes, did you have any favorites that really stood out to you or that Jason, Jason, go ahead.

[00:10:20] Yeah. Jason, do you want to, yeah, I mean, as I was looking through the one that I almost picked, that was the safe pick for me was Maddie's spiced rum, drunk spice buns with cinnamon, nutmeg, nutmeg, dried fruit, ginger.

[00:10:39] They were hot cross buns, except he said they can just be regular buns if that's better or something like that. Yeah. But anyways, they have pecan and oh no, that's not, that's a different one. Anyway. No, what am I saying? That's not the one I'm reading.

[00:11:00] I'm assuming you're talking about Maddie. He did have, but what I'm saying and what I'm trying to say is forget everything I just said. The maple, pecan and cinnamon spice. That's the one that I was thinking. Maple drizzle glaze. Yes, that's. And they came out great too.

[00:11:18] That I know I would like that, but I, when Dan's came along dreaming of Greece with figs, citrus fruit, saffron, cinnamon and star anise star anise, which can be like black licorice which some people just hate. I think that could be very bad or very interesting and good.

[00:11:32] And that intrigued me the most. And then when they judged it, they loved it. So that's the one that I was most curious to try because I've never had anything quite like that before. Is that the one they loved?

[00:11:44] Or was it, was that the one that was too floral? Yeah, they did like it. Oh no, it was a showstopper that was too floral. It was like, that's almost too floral. Yeah. It's almost sharp. Yeah, it was a showstopper. Yeah.

[00:12:02] Yeah, I agree with you, Jason, the Christie's maple pecan deliciousness. I would jump all over that. Maple drizzle. Yeah. I was really impressed with how, like what Josh did was where I thought that the one,

[00:12:25] the one that they were, weren't able to make it similar or across the board, like where you could like make designs on them. And if they're roughly the same shape and you put a type of icing on them in the same

[00:12:39] designs, you could make them appear more alike. Even if they weren't actually the same exact same shape and they weren't uniform across all six or 12 or however many they had. But I thought the, the, the lemon blueberry, um, lemon blueberry, uh, not just icing, but

[00:12:55] the, the dough like that was like, and then the way that Paul described it, I was like, Ooh, yeah. Like this, I mean, Josh and Christie both had pretty good weeks. They all look pretty good too. There was none that I was like, no, I wouldn't want that.

[00:13:07] What about you? I really like Dan's. I, cause I, I thought his were very interesting. I just loved the fig leaves. I'm a fan of that. And I'm like, that's unique. I don't think I've seen that before.

[00:13:22] The flavor sounded really interesting and I thought they were just beautiful. Something about the, that fig on top was just beautiful to me aesthetically. So I was definitely interested in that, but I really am fascinated by Tasha's.

[00:13:28] She had that beautiful and unusual color, uh, like icing drizzle on the top, kind of like that red color. And they were, they were really, really pretty. And I was like, I want to make that. I want to make that.

[00:13:38] And then I was like, I want to make that. And then I was like, I want to make that. And then I was like, I want to make that. And then I was like, I want to make that.

[00:13:46] And when he was done, they were like, hey, I was like, I love this color. And they were, um, said tastes like Christmas. So I feel like that's a pretty high compliment that, you know, they were kind of just festive. Um, yeah.

[00:13:54] The mold one she had going on. It was like, yeah. Yeah, it was a little unfortunate going in, but I think they turned out, that was my standout moment. Can I just say it now where Paul said quite a dangerous thing to do. And she goes, thank you.

[00:14:04] And he goes, do you find that the dough can be quite tight? And he was like, yeah, that's, that's definitely one of the things they're not. But I think he just said that it's tight.

[00:14:10] Thank you. And he goes, do you find that the dough can be quite tight? And she goes, no comment. They all like Paul, she's playing at your own game. It's like poker. He goes, I'm meant to say

[00:14:22] no comment. Not you. Which is so funny because they were all laughing at it. And I just love, I probably say this all the time when I talk about the show, but how Paul, he was a bit serious at

[00:14:34] first, if I remember and took it very seriously. But now he still does, but he allows himself to enjoy it and have fun and be loose. And that just was a joyous moment. I loved it so much.

[00:14:46] I did too. And laughed because I was like, I don't, is she allowed to just say no comment? Because you know, they're asking you to explain, but yeah, he got a kick out of it.

[00:14:57] It was really great. It was a really great moment. I love that one too. So, yeah, a lot of good ones. I think Saccous was also something I would really love and I

[00:15:10] thought they were beautiful. I want to now, and I feel like it's for me personally, a great time to make some of these hot spicy or spiced buns the fall season. Just that sounds yummy to me.

[00:15:26] Like comfort food. But I thought they were, I know that they, according to the judges, were not maybe all exact and consistent. That's what they asked for, like 12 consistently baked buns and consistent colors and potency of flavors and things like that. But I love

[00:15:43] how she had them nodded. And now I'm like, I want to learn how to do that and experiment. And I thought that they sounded amazing, even if they didn't pop as much as what she intended for them to.

[00:15:58] I think, I mean, that's super impressive to make any knots, especially out of dough, to be and then to cook them and have them even be reasonably close to the same size and or shape. Like I think that's actually really, really impressive.

[00:16:15] Yeah, I agree. I don't know how you would get, even if you're measuring them all out and getting that exact measurement of dough, what if your oven's a little off on one side?

[00:16:27] I mean, sometimes I have to go turn things around in my oven a little bit to make sure that things are evenly baked and get that nice even color on top. So I'm like, I don't know, what if their oven's a little defective?

[00:16:41] Yeah, who cares? It doesn't matter. Yeah, I mean, I don't care, but clearly. We're getting to that point now. I mean, this was week six and there's 10 weeks total, so we're really getting down to the wire

[00:16:55] and getting close to the finals. This is where you've gotten down to the most skilled bakers, at least according to the judges. And like Paul said, now everyone's so good, you have to like really pick apart every little thing. Like everything has to be perfect, your flavor.

[00:17:16] The technical, the lemon and thyme drizzle cake was, to me, it seemed like something that is a little harder to mess up than some of those technicals maybe, right? Like it's not too tough to make a cake, I guess. So I mean, compared to some of the stuff

[00:17:35] where they don't even, it's just a blob. If you watch the preview for next week, it just looks like they're all melting and gooey and they don't know what they're doing. That's what I'm saying. So then

[00:17:46] when it is more like that, where it's a little easier to make, then they have to really choose the most refined one or whatever, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Well, one of the things with the technicals, I mean, I guess we can move on to the technical.

[00:18:03] Yeah, let's talk about the technical. One of the things about this particular technical is that they had several different aspects of how you were going to do it because as you said, the instructions were a total of maybe 40 words. It was so small.

[00:18:24] Yeah. And so it's like, hey, make the icing, crystallize the thyme and lemon peel. And how they present it goes back to what is it that they... Do they actually know this? Are they familiar with this? Have they made this before? Is there technical prowess and experience?

[00:18:51] Is it... Can they think to themselves, hey, this is what makes it better presented. This is what not necessarily makes it more flavorful, but this is what the bake is supposed to look like.

[00:19:07] And I think as you said, this had maybe like five components and you could make it, but did you put in enough time? Were you punched in the face with time? And so I think as you say, they're like, okay, well, that's just not enough time. Not enough

[00:19:30] time. Not enough time. Oh, this one has a lot. I can see it, but I can smell it, but I can't taste it. And then, oh, well, this glaze is just kind of all over the place. I really like how this one

[00:19:45] looks like it's all the way down, but it's very precise. And so I think that's where they offer opportunities with these where the bake is just an aspect of it and the rest of it are places that you can make... We'll just say... Flourishes and stuff.

[00:20:06] Yeah, exactly. Make differences between differentiation. That's what I was talking about. I mean, a lot of... Some of the technicals, I keep thinking of that one that was like a a marshmallow with chocolate covered and a walnut on top, which I then went on Amazon

[00:20:19] and figured out how to order some of those. And I think they wanted all those to look the same. You know what I mean? They wanted, even though... But if you had never seen one,

[00:20:30] you wouldn't know how to make it. So I do wonder when they're doing these technicals, I wonder if they get ahead of time some kind of a, well, you should learn the basics about this,

[00:20:42] like they give them study material maybe or something. Because what if you... I mean, I have seen sometimes where they're like, I have no clue what to do and they're watching somebody else and just copying them, you know? But that happens less often than you might think.

[00:20:58] It seems like they know. And I don't know, maybe if you're a baker, you just kind of know a lot of the basics, but I wouldn't know what the hell to do. I would just totally fail. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what to do.

[00:21:13] I think, I mean, your background is in computers, right, Jason? I guess, yeah. Podcasting. Not just podcasting, but even before that, right? Apple and all that. So if you were to do something similar, right? Hey, we're going to have a computer competition or a computer

[00:21:33] code writing competition. Well, I don't know how to write fucking C++, but it's essential or it was essential at one point or another. So there are however many languages or whatever. So that would be the technical challenge, right? But if I just threw out some computer-derived

[00:21:53] language, you would probably have at least some concept of what I was talking about, even if you hadn't necessarily practiced it before. I wouldn't, but yeah, if I was a programmer, I would. Yeah.

[00:22:04] Well, yeah. Okay. But yeah, this, I mean, like you said, I agree. This one I would have eaten the shit out of. These cakes in general, I didn't really give a shit what they look like because I do really enjoy both the lemon cakes and then the thyme.

[00:22:26] As soon as I hear lemon, I'm a little bit checked out because I don't go for lemon, but then as it went along, I'm like, no, this actually looks really good. Like, yeah, I want to try this.

[00:22:37] And then, yeah. And they were worried about, the judges were worried about the amount of flavor, but also the balance of the flavors. That's what they kept talking about. So that was kind of

[00:22:46] interesting. And I thought it was interesting, I mean, sort of how the glaze looked different on all theirs, not just where they decided to put it, but the opaqueness or not of it.

[00:22:58] Yeah. Because when I think drizzle, I would think like drizzle, like maybe you'd go in like a lattice work drizzle over the top or, but the fact that they were in like the runnels of the,

[00:23:12] in the grooves of the, of the cakes. So that was like, oh, okay. I can see where you would think that would be, but only if you had some type of experience with that. I sure as hell wouldn't.

[00:23:22] Rima, how'd you, how'd you, how do you feel about the lemon drizzle, lemon thyme drizzle? Well, they looked delicious. I am a lemon fan, so I'd be all over that. I, I, I remember hearing,

[00:23:41] they're like, oh, we tasked you to make a lemon and thyme drizzle cake. And I'm like, lemon and thyme. Okay. Do I have thoughts or feelings about that? I don't, I like thyme,

[00:23:50] but usually on my roasted chicken, not so much. And maybe a lemon cake. So I'm like, well, I'm sure if it's done well and like you said, Jason balanced, you know, they balance, you know,

[00:24:06] it's not too, too much time versus the lemon. Then I think I would definitely try it and probably enjoy it. And I did love watching, you know, the, like you mentioned the bakers deciding how to

[00:24:21] ice it and the different options there. Some just kind of took, I don't know if it was like a spoon or something and just kind of drizzled it out of the bowl. And then some like tried to pipe it.

[00:24:32] I was, I felt like I could relate to poor Matty when he's trying to figure out how to like crystallize his lemon and thyme. Cause like, if you've never done that and there's like zero instructions in the technical, so it's just like, oh, crystallize the lemon and thyme.

[00:24:48] I'm sorry. I'm going home. Bye everybody. Bye. It was nice knowing you. I'm out. Yeah, I would, I would be absolutely terrified and the poor guy, I was like, oh man, I was like, that would be, that would be me. Yeah. I'd be,

[00:25:02] I'd be crying in a corner. I'd be like poor Christy, you know, stressing out over her, her white chocolate mold. I'd be like, I just need a minute. I'd be watching. I'd be watching

[00:25:12] somebody. Yeah. Yeah. I'd be like, well, what's, you know, like doing the side? I like, what are they doing over there? Like copying off someone's paper, you know, like exactly over there. And, and they do that sometimes. They're like, I've never, I mean, you would think that sometimes,

[00:25:28] yes, if you're a baker and you're on this show, then you've at least either seen it in a, you're like a storefront or Oh, home yet. My mom made one once or my grandma made one once, or

[00:25:38] I know what they are, but I've never made one. You know, sometimes you get that, but if you've just have no clue, you've never had one or really seen one or even done anything like that, I can, I can definitely relate to the stress for sure. And especially

[00:25:52] again, with like no instruction, like I could feel like I could probably make just about anything. If you give me a recipe to follow, it's like the stream I had the other night where I was

[00:26:01] in a jazz band and the conductor was getting ready for us to go. And I had my trombone. And then I remembered that I don't know how to play the trombone. And I was like, Oh fuck,

[00:26:11] I guess I'll just fake it. Couldn't even do it in your dream. Like in your dream, you can play. I know if I would've known I was having a dream, then I would just dreamt that I could play it.

[00:26:25] Yeah. Honesty comes out in dreams. Um, the, uh, the kind of like you were talking about Jason, the, uh, the, the bakes I was, I was like, are you fucking kidding me? You're going to harass

[00:26:44] these, these four bakers about getting it out of the 10 and not maybe not greasing the very top of the 10 so that it, when it comes out, Oh, you had some trouble getting this out of the 10.

[00:26:57] Didn't you? And then it's like, I don't know. Have you seen the last hour and a half of what's going on in this tent? Like I it's in front of you. So you tell me, I don't know.

[00:27:13] Dana will underplay a lot, which I love. She, she pretends everything is okay. And that's exactly what she meant to do in a way that's fun, you know? And, and, uh, it's cute. And I'm

[00:27:27] sad she's gone because I thought she was really cool. Yeah. She, I mean, she was a lot of fun. And, uh, and I, I think that she was the one this week that, um, I think she was the one this week

[00:27:45] that just, I, I'm not going to say that she didn't try. I feel like she felt fell victim to her, her hubris. Um, I think that, uh, like, like in the show stopper, you know, she was talking about,

[00:28:02] you know, that she, she obviously worked really, really hard on that case. That was awesome too. It looked phenomenal. And then she got hit with the style over substance. Yeah. And, uh, and then in the, in the signature she was, uh, what did she do for the buns?

[00:28:23] I can't remember. So many of them had like cardamom in it. She probably had cardamom. She, well, she fell short a little bit with, um, cause she used a plain dough where most of the bakers decided to infuse their dough with, you know, some spices or

[00:28:41] some flavors or, or add something to it to really pack in that botanical punch. But she decided to use a plain dough and then she had a cardamom pistachio and orange flavors, but she yeah.

[00:28:55] Yeah. Sprinkled on top. So she had, she had said she was going to pull back a little bit because she had been, you know, I guess thinking that it was too much before. So now she's like, I'm going

[00:29:07] to back off a little bit. And she had been kind of chided a little bit about her use of cardamom. And I think she got a little spooked. And so she backed off her flavors and then it came back and

[00:29:17] they said it wasn't punchy enough. And it's what happened, I think a little bit during the technical too. I don't think she used enough time, uh, even though prue, uh, the words of wisdom as

[00:29:30] they always call them before that, when they were talking about the technical, it was be bold. And she was still a little too worried. Yeah, it was unfortunate. Do you guys notice, I don't know

[00:29:40] if you've talked about that. She has an interesting speech habit. She, when she talks, she accentuates sometimes the last in a sentence, the last consonant. So she'll say cheese or baked or

[00:29:58] she'll say mirror glaze like that. I don't know. Do you hear that? You can't not hear it. I'm saying now I'm going to have to rewatch. Yeah. I don't think I picked up on that. I,

[00:30:13] I thought she was delightful though. I was, was sad to see her go. Cause I do think she was fun. I liked her. She was always cheerful. She was always, you know, seemed to be smiling. I thought

[00:30:24] she had a beautiful smile. So she was always smiling and cheerful. And like you said, she always kind of sometimes underplayed like, yeah, that's what I meant to do. Of course.

[00:30:31] She had a real connection with Joel, Joel. No, no. I'm a lot got last of us on the brain. No. And you could sit cause they could joke around together. Cause she had such a sharp

[00:30:45] kind of dry sense of humor. And I think he was pretty broken up that she, she got the ax. Yeah. Maybe that was why he's like, I'm not announcing it this week. Feels like he gets stuck with it a lot. All right. So well, before we move on,

[00:31:08] as far as the technical Tasha was at the bottom followed by Dana and Saku, but then Dan was third, Josh was second. And then Christie came out first just forever to remind everyone where, where we were with the technical.

[00:31:24] Christie, like she's so she wears her heart on her sleeve and she really, if she's getting any discomfort or disapproval, she gets so upset about it. And if she's getting approval, she's so elated, like to the point where she's almost dizzy, it almost makes me tired just watching

[00:31:45] your leg. Oh my God. I did notice. And, and I, I don't, I just, I'm just trying to be sensitive to it, but like, it felt like even when, when, when it seems like a baker has confidence in

[00:32:11] themselves, um, they will, uh, the, the judges and specifically Paul, uh, they're not afraid to be hard on them. They are not afraid. He's not afraid to like, Hey, like this wasn't what

[00:32:27] we're looking for. This wasn't whatever, but those, those bakers that end up being a little bit emotional. I'm not saying that he's softer on them. Judgment wise. I'm saying that he doesn't

[00:32:38] necessarily deliver the same bad news or the bad news in the same way. So like, like when Chris, when Chris, like when he was talking to data, he's just like, this is not right. Um, but then

[00:32:51] when he's talking to Christie who is visibly upset and she's like trying to explain, he's just like, stop that. This, this was good. This was good. This was good. It wasn't what you like. If it had

[00:33:03] been data, I just feel like they play to almost too like a sympathy card. Um, and, uh, well, he doesn't want to send her off crying. I kind of don't blame him. I mean, like, again, I get it.

[00:33:20] It's not what this show is. Yeah. I mean, I agree if he, if it does change the judgment, that's one thing, but in how he deals with them, how he delivers that, like how he approaches

[00:33:31] I noticed it specifically with, with Tasha and with, uh, and Dana and Christie, those, the three of them this week, the difference in deliveries. Now I'm not, not saying that Tasha did anything wrong because she had two amazing bakes. Um, and, uh, but even when they delivered

[00:33:53] how bad the, the, the technical was, it was just like, it didn't seem nearly as kind of brutal as, as some of the other times that I've seen him deliver stuff. Just something I observed this

[00:34:06] particular week. Yeah. It's surprising to me sometimes I think he's going to be harder and he's not. And other times he'll just really dig into what happened there. And I don't necessarily,

[00:34:18] I mean, the way you're saying is if maybe he thinks they are, are going to get the feelings hurt, he'll go easier, but it's not always like that. Sometimes it just, I don't understand. Maybe he's in a bad mood or something. I don't know.

[00:34:31] Right. Maybe it's just really fucking hot in the tent that day. Cranky his own get out. Has been hot a lot lately in, in the tent for sure. And apparently was then too, cause that came up when talking about Christie's shows, they told her and her

[00:34:49] and said white chocolate and then she fucked up the white chocolate. Yeah, that was unfortunate. So let's talk about the showstopper. So they were asked to make a floral dessert with a baked element. Uh, so they had four and a half hours to create this floral

[00:35:09] dessert. Uh, and again, had to have a significant baking element. So they couldn't just make like, you know, some kind of like, well, what I would consider like a pudding or something like that.

[00:35:18] They had to have something baked, um, to go along with it. And they, it was fairly open. They weren't restricted, uh, too much. So it was cool to kind of see some of the flavors. I've, I've not

[00:35:32] had a lot of exposure, at least knowingly anyway, if I've had something, I didn't know about it. I feel like I would, you know, maybe know something was different because I don't think I've had anything floral flavored like hibiscus, uh, or elderberry or anything like that or elderflower,

[00:35:48] not elderberry, but elderflower before. So, uh, I was definitely very interested in seeing all the, uh, different combinations that the bakers were coming up with. When I read the flavors that I read to you earlier, what they tasted like it, it made me,

[00:36:06] cause I, I was, I've had rose. That's like probably the only one and I don't like it. It tastes like perfume to me. Yeah. But maybe it was too strong, but I've had it a few times.

[00:36:20] Yeah. I should have been just laid into whoever made that. Who made this powering and is not the hero in this bake. What are you doing? But, uh, elderflowers, fresh fruity green, slightly floral with subtle pear,

[00:36:37] lychee and tropical. Like that sounds delightful, you know? So that made me want to try more of these, but my favorite, I think, um, again, I, even though I just said that this isn't my favorite,

[00:36:50] like I want chocolate, but, um, Tasha's a 10 layer palette, Breton biscuit, a Bavois, which is like a gelatin and whipped cream, two sponges, three different jellies. I like the jellies and gelatin. So I, I, I'm not averse to that texture, a Ruby chocolate mousse topped with jelly art.

[00:37:11] Like that one sounded and looked well, actually I didn't think it looked as good as they seem to looked a little rustic to me, but anyway, the taste sounded like the one I'd want to try the

[00:37:23] most. And then when they tried it, they really liked it. Oh, I'll tell you when they cut into it and you saw the layer of like raspberry jelly again, British jelly, UK jelly, as opposed to

[00:37:37] jelly that I'm familiar with. I was just like, I mean, like it looks really good. He's like, Paul's like digging into that lower layer of, of blip. And I was just like, Oh God,

[00:37:57] again, I judged all of these on what they look like and how well they presented them. And, um, and, and the, the, the artistic nature of the jelly, um, because I just can't be subjective

[00:38:14] when it comes to all of these were just like the ones that I thought were, were more would be more to my liking was like Dana's. I think it was Dana's who had more cake than she did moose or

[00:38:28] Bavois or, or whatever. And yeah, the very, the, the, the very thick cake or sponge as opposed to, Oh, you've almost got too much cake. I'm like, no, that seems like the right amount of cake to me.

[00:38:41] Um, and just like, I just, it was just like layer after layer after layer of textures. I'm just like, no, you guys can go ahead and, um, but again, so, so my, my, my standouts for me were,

[00:38:57] it was, was, I mean, Josh's, his jelly was so amazing and his, the, the, the technical prowess of being able to inject whatever, however the hell you, I mean, what we were watching him do it.

[00:39:14] And I was just like, damn, like the, the, the fact that you were able to figure that out and it's still wobbly, which is, I guess the way it's supposed to be. And, uh, yeah, it was absolutely

[00:39:28] beautiful. Um, they did disgusting and gross. Um, but, uh, but the, but I really liked his, um, what are they? The w I don't, okay. I know that Dan had the jacquard, uh, cakes, but then

[00:39:45] he had like the wafers, like the almost look, it was like popsicle sticks around the sides. I can't remember. Yeah. He had lady, I think those are lady fingers, lady fingers. They're quite lady fingers. I used to make a kid, a death by chocolate cake that had rum

[00:40:00] soaked lady fingers all around. And then it was, um, like 12 eggs and three sticks of butter and chocolate and you mix it all up. It's really good. And then we'll create like, that sounds really good. That's yeah. Um, but yeah, so I was, I was really impressed. Although

[00:40:18] I did like when, when Paul was talking about, uh, Dan's, um, what the pond, the pond green, whatever, again, the flavors probably I wouldn't be too hot on, but the fact that the, the moose

[00:40:36] layers were so thin and the, between the layers of jacquard, I was just like, okay, like this, I can get, get, get down with. It was where they had those really, really thick layers of moose

[00:40:48] that are just like, Nope, no thank you. Um, and then it's, yeah, well, sorry. Just imagining the visual again. Not just not for you. Not my, not my, not my jam. Yeah. I don't think that was

[00:41:01] what the, they were going for that reaction. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely not. Well, and I love, I think aesthetically they're so beautiful. Like Josh's jelly floral decoration. Um, seconds was absolutely beautiful. Tasha's I think they're all beautiful and I would definitely,

[00:41:24] you know, just really take a slice and just eat that. But I feel like if I had a slice of the jelly on top, I would not eat that with, I just, to me having that with cake or the other desserts

[00:41:39] or whatever layers that they have in there, whatever it is. I don't care if it's cake or this moose or whatever it is. I just, I don't want jelly with that. So while I think it's

[00:41:48] beautiful and it probably on its own tastes good. I might take a bite of it with just alone, but not with the rest of the cake. So I, it's not for me, but I thought they were absolutely

[00:42:02] beautiful though. And clearly something I would never be able to achieve. And I'm super curious, what did they enjoy? I'm going to have to look that up because it's like, okay, jelly mold. What are you injecting in there? You know? And then they have like the special tool

[00:42:16] that makes like the pedals. I mean, wow. I mean, I can't even imagine just the skill that it takes. So did you ever see the toy or the, with Robin Williams toys, weird movie toys,

[00:42:29] LL Cool J was this like Sergeant and he was eating his and he's like, I'm a military man. I can't have my peas intersecting with a mass potatoes. That's what you just reminded me of. I would

[00:42:42] slurp all that up. I love it. I wonder if that's a UK thing. Like I don't, I've never seen any kind of a jelly cake thing before, except on bake-off. So I probably don't eat in fancy enough places or

[00:42:54] else maybe it's like not a US thing, but I would try. I want to try it. Yeah. I mean, I would try it, but again, alone, I think it's in maybe it's, you know, I do have like some

[00:43:06] texture issues and it might be fabulous. Heck, I don't know. I guess I'd have to try it to really judge it because yeah, I don't, I don't know that that's very common here again. Like I'm like,

[00:43:15] I probably have not been to enough like really fancy places to have seen something so beautiful. Yeah. I mean, I've, you know, we've all gone to a nice restaurant now and then, and they part the dessert tray out and I've never seen anything like this. So

[00:43:29] I'm thinking maybe it's a, it's a European thing, but I could be wrong. Anytime I started seeing them break out the gelatin sticks or I'm just like, I'm like, like, it's like, I mean like, Oh, you don't want it to be rubbery. Well, yeah,

[00:43:47] you're eating basically rubber. I mean, it's basically like animal bones, isn't it? Yeah. It's I know. I mean, yeah. Like we're all saying, or Bremen and I are saying, we don't know what it would be like. We'd have to see, but you can tell when you know,

[00:44:02] you don't like a texture, you kind of know. So for you, Greg, you just know, I probably not going to want this. The next Zed meetup. I'm making Greg a It's going to be a hazing session. Yeah. I'll tell you what, if you,

[00:44:17] if you can make, if not in can, but if you attempt, I'll just say, if you attempt to make some sort of jelly thing like these, where you're injecting a bunch of shit into it,

[00:44:29] don't inject shit. But if you're injecting, you know, whatever, I will gladly cut a slice and eat it. Okay. That's like a sacrifice after everything you said tonight. That's impressive. A slice. I didn't say anything. You didn't say how big it's big.

[00:44:51] I have the sun record just saying. Oh, so I'll just talk about disappointment. I absolutely agree with with Paul and Prue. Maddie's was just like, you gave them like a brick that was had some rose, like rose,

[00:45:12] I said, yeah, frosting roses. And I was like, really? This is what you thought was going to be like British bake stunning. Yeah, this is this is a showstopper. It was pretty, but I, I was also a

[00:45:31] little underwhelmed. I was like, you know, you, you, this is a showstopper. We're getting down to like the last half of the weeks. You've really need to pull out all the punches and impress the

[00:45:44] judges. And it was beautiful, but underwhelming. I think for sure he might be gone next week. That would be my prediction. You never know what's going to happen, but unless he takes what they're

[00:45:55] saying and it's like, oh, well, it's fucking dessert week. And I'm going to knock this shit out. Could, yeah, could happen. Wasn't, wasn't Maddie one of them that I don't remember. He

[00:46:07] was one of the ones that was word for word, but he's, he mentioned like, it would be kind of dumb to, you know, not take what they say as feedback and not learn from that. Basically what he was

[00:46:17] saying. I think Maddie said that sometime during this episode. Um, and I can't remember exactly what he was referring to and which bake it was, but I was just like, yeah, he's listening, you know? And

[00:46:29] he has a lot to learn. He's definitely one of the younger bakers, but um, but yeah. Seems like a really nice guy. Yeah, maybe he'll take this. Yeah. He's super sweet. Super sweet. It was, it was cute that

[00:46:39] he's like, I didn't know what botanicals was so I could ask Laura, which was his fiance and Googled it, which just so appropriate for his age. You look on Tik TOK and uh, what's the botanicals? How do I cook with botanicals?

[00:46:55] Yeah, it was cute. But yeah, hopefully he took that to heart. Hopefully he's like, okay, I, I know I was kind of scaling the bottom here, uh, this week and this was underwhelming. I really hope he takes that into account next week.

[00:47:12] Yeah, I think you're right, Jason. I think he was, he was, uh, if, if other people hadn't had bad weeks, he might have, you know, he just because of the underwhelming this, uh, underwhelming, whatever of a, of, of his, his showstopper, like, like Rowan's last week was

[00:47:32] just bad. And Paul specifically said Rowan was gone because that showstopper was so bad. And if you don't do, if you don't try to impress, although again, Dana tried to impress and then

[00:47:45] just wasn't able to do it with flavors. Um, I think that it can, it can, it can spell your doom. It's not getting any easier. They, they really are just going to critique every element

[00:48:01] of the very, every, like, like you were saying during the technical, just like a little piece on the side that maybe stuck to the tin a little bit, you know, that tour. I mean,

[00:48:11] and then Christie's, I was kind of shocked at Christie's. Now I think it was beautiful in its simplicity, but I felt it a little simple for a showstopper. I agree with you. And again, this kind of goes back to where I was like what I was talking about

[00:48:27] earlier, like it, I'm very impressed with these little flowers that you sat on top. I was like, you were, maybe he was talking about the texture of the actual, of the white chocolate ganache, but I was like, it looked like he was pointing to flowers and it's like,

[00:48:44] they're literally just things that she put on top. What are you talking about? You're impressed with that. But, um, and then Prue was like, well, yes, you know, you, you, you adapted and overcame

[00:48:57] you messed up the first time you got the second one, but, but, and, and because of that, it was frozen and rough and ready. And, uh, too thick. Although I was like, white chocolate,

[00:49:10] you know, I'm sorry, I'm sick and whatever. I don't give a shit. I'll eat the hell out of that. But Dana suffered from like, she was the one that, that really suffered from very specifically what

[00:49:21] they talked about in, uh, cooling their, their sponges down or their, their cakes down and leaving them in the freezer for too long and drying them out. Um, which is, you know, unfortunate, but let me, I think it's a pretty, pretty reasonable, uh, having an understanding of,

[00:49:39] of what the temperature change will do to your, to your bake. Right. And when you're, when you have those different textures, textures, you love so much, Greg, those mooses and jellies in the cakes, they have to set,

[00:49:56] you can't, you know, they have to be able to set, but if you have them, uh, layered between the sponges. Well, you know, those have to go into, and, um, yeah, that does affect, affect them a little bit differently while you need these things to cool and set.

[00:50:10] You're also sucking out the moisture of your sponges. So that was, that was unfortunate. Yeah. I thought she, I just, I loved her like sugar box. That was just thought that was just beautiful. It's a shame that, you know, she got critiqued for the style over substance.

[00:50:29] I think it was Paul. He was seeming kind of dismissive of that when they went, they were talking about all the, um, bakers backstage. Oh yeah. The box thing she did and everybody else was like, that was beautiful. And he's like, okay, yeah, yeah.

[00:50:42] That's pretty good. Yeah. I mean, and again, kind of what we were talking about last week, where that might indicate of how bland or not what they asked for it was. Um, because then you go the opposite direction and then you end up with the whole flat floral,

[00:51:00] the perfumy that you were talking about, Jason, like Dan's stuff was just like too florally. It was, it's like a perfume. It's, it's just too sharp, which made me think of him grabbing his cheeks as he tasted whoever's last week where she's like, so sour. It's right. I

[00:51:18] think it might've been Dana's, um, is right hits you right there. Um, like, yeah, I, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just stuck on the, on the, the flowers plus moose. I'm just like, there's nothing there for me to texture. There's nothing there for me to let go.

[00:51:42] Yeah, this will accept, you know, to be fair to those buns, those buns were look, look pretty solid. Yeah, for sure. Um, I, I thought it was interesting. This was a callback for anyone. If

[00:51:58] you've watched any of the earlier seasons of the baking show, when they talked about how Christy had overcome, right? Because yeah, her first mold just fell apart, cracked. It was a mess. And she

[00:52:12] had to rally there at the very end and get something put together. And it came in, I think what she was telling the bakers, like, uh, when they were all doing like their little group hug,

[00:52:21] when they had to finish, she's like, I literally just had that just two minutes, you know, before we were having to stop everything. Uh, so I was really excited for her, but it was interesting

[00:52:32] that after she had presented it to Paul and Prue, uh, and, and you know, she was walking away from him and he's like, Hey, I've seen things thrown in the, in the rubbish before. And I just kind

[00:52:43] of laughed because I was like, Oh, I remember that one time, the big Alaska. Yeah. One time that happened and someone did not present. I feel like it was like a taller male because I was just like,

[00:52:58] I get why you're doing that, but to have nothing to present is just hard. Every time they need to just take whatever they've got and put it out there and it's clear

[00:53:08] and don't spend a lot of time. Like she was about to do just explaining it, just put it out there and hope for the best. Yeah. Which, you know, I'm not going to go in and dissect that episode. Cause

[00:53:20] that's not what we're talking about, but you know, I feel like they're like, well, I don't know, maybe you could have thrown it in the freezer for the last 15 minutes there and maybe got it somewhat solidified. People put out raw dough sometimes. That's so true. It's like sometimes

[00:53:35] or raw meat. I remember there was a season that we covered and there was a bake and, and the meat was still, it was like one of the meat pies or something. And someone still had

[00:53:45] like some raw meat. I'm like, Oh, they're trying to kill me. Maybe you don't want to poison them. But then you just be like, Dan, I'd be like, Oh, is that not tartar enough? I meant to, yeah, it's supposed to be tartar.

[00:54:02] Yeah. So I was proud of her for that. And I definitely felt her pressure and felt so bad for her. I hate seeing anyone cry in the tent. I'm like, Oh, it's okay. Come on. I thought Allison

[00:54:14] was so sweet. I really like how she goes in and I think that's really intent with her and Noel. I mean, they're definitely, you know, kind of bring the humor, but I love how they kind of

[00:54:23] go in and try to, when the bakers are just like really feeling the stress or really having a bad moment or something that kind of go over and try to like loosen them up a little bit,

[00:54:33] get them to breathe a little. And sometimes they need to read the room. It feels like though. It's maybe, I was like trying to joke around and her cake is breaking apart and it's like, shut up, dude. I'm having a crisis.

[00:54:51] What do you think of Allison this, this season? Jason as a new addition. She's good. I think she's great. I loved when she said to Maddie, is it true what they say about blackberries, the blacker, the berry, the sweeter,

[00:55:04] and he starts blushing and she goes, is it true? And he goes, you tell me. And she goes, it's true. That was hilarious. Yeah. I think she's like, I heard you guys talking about Matt, how everything

[00:55:21] was a joke and my, I think when he hit, they were really good, but there were way too many misses. Even though he was a nice guy with her. Yeah. It's just more about her vibe, which is really fun.

[00:55:32] But, um, it would be cool to get some jokes in there. Although I thought this was a particularly good episode for her actually. So I like her. No one measures up to Noel to me so far, but I guess

[00:55:44] that would be hard to do. Well, I mean, I'll tell you what, no chucking a lemon across the tent and so hard. Like how you think I get that sauce pan and just breaks. Whatever. It's okay. Nothing broke. I'm always like, I have abandonment issues, so I'm just

[00:56:04] afraid he's going to leave at every season. He's back. I'm like, okay, we get another season of Joel. Yeah. No, no, no. You're still, you're still, you're still stuck on Boston.

[00:56:17] Yeah. She, yeah, that was a hilarious Saku's face. Like, oh my gosh. And you could see Josh in, in the background, like he was walking to his refrigerator. You couldn't see it wasn't

[00:56:31] focused on his face, but I swear the look on his face is like, what the hell's going on? That probably wasn't smart to do if somebody startled somebody and they dropped their jelly or whatever. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine if somebody like they're getting something out

[00:56:46] of the fridge and their jelly, like just slides right off of their plate or whatever. Speaking of you talk about nerves of steel, Dan has had to make remake like four cakes

[00:57:01] like, oh, it just slid off. Oh shit. Well, I like making two, two cakes. That's uh, that's why I got ahead of making a challenge. Right. I was like that guy, that guy is just,

[00:57:13] he is resilient as all get out and he's got the technical prowess to back it up. Yeah. He's like, oh, I'll just make another. And I'm like, oh my gosh, just, he just says it was so much confidence. I just, I would just melt. I just have him

[00:57:25] melt down. I can take the pressure. That's clearly why I'm not on anything like that. But yeah, he's, he's dropped a couple. Yeah. I wouldn't be able to joke around because with the time so tight and they're over there trying to talk to me, I would

[00:57:39] just be like, can you go away? I mean, I, you couldn't say that of course, but I can just imagine just being like, I need to, I need to do all the things that I, that I'm supposed to do

[00:57:48] right now. Yeah. Well, like 90 minutes, 90 minutes for that drizzle cake. All the technical. Yeah. Hour and a half. It's all they got. Like it's crazy. Absolutely. And it has to cool enough too. Yeah. Because you don't want the drizzle to be

[00:58:02] like, you don't want the cake to be too hot when you put the drizzle on. So that's cool time too. Yeah. I'm, I'm the same. There's no way I'm, I'm like super competitive. Like even if I'm not good

[00:58:13] at something, like I, I want, I want to win and like, don't mess with me. I'm, you know, like, no, I take it very, very seriously. So I don't think I'd be in a joke either. So I don't think,

[00:58:27] I don't think that would be good for me either. It would be pretty intense. I did think that the, the oh, you're dressed as a lemon. Let's be fair. You're also dressed as time. That was, that was, it makes me wonder like, was that dress intentional, but like,

[00:58:46] like to make that joke or I think it was on the spot. It was, it was really, really well done. Yeah. It was like all the buns jokes, same kind of canned and like, uh, but, but that one in

[00:58:58] particular was one where I went like one, I got a good belly laugh out of it. And, uh, and it was, it was surprising. It was unexpected. And so it really kind of, it really hit,

[00:59:09] seemed to take them by surprise to even know who was telling it. So that's why it was not scripted. But, uh, yeah, when Paul says to Maddie, what is this? And he goes hot cross bun and Paul's like,

[00:59:22] I'll judge if it's hot cross bun. Well, if it's better, it's just a spice bun. That's the right answer. Yeah. That's hilarious. Yeah. They kind of, I felt like they were actually pretty restrained on the buns joke for this show. I'm surprised they didn't do more.

[00:59:40] Did somebody have nuts? I think it was Christie, right? She was talking about the chopped nuts. Um, it was not like Josh's nuts last week or two weeks ago, but, um, I feel like it was,

[00:59:51] what it was, there was one, one joke and I was just like, uh, is that supposed to be a joke? I don't know. Maybe they, maybe they subtle, not usually, but sometimes. Oh, sorry. I got one more standout moment. It was so impactful to me.

[01:00:10] Uh, when Tasha was signing all of her descriptions of her showstoppers, cause she didn't have the confidence in being able to say the pronunciations because she hadn't necessarily heard them. I like, and then there were moments of just silence and background noise in the show, which I've never

[01:00:29] seen before. Well, I've never seen it on bake off. Well, I mean, I've never seen it on bake off, but like that it was the, on the walking dead, they, when, uh, Connie and her, an angel were

[01:00:44] Kelly. Thank you. Uh, when Connie and Kelly were having conversations and it was like, just silent and all quiet subtitles based on their sign language. Like that was the first time I ever saw like, uh, something that was so impactful and so quiet for an extended period of

[01:01:00] time. And, and this was, this was very similar to that. Um, where she's just like in the middle of, she's explaining something in sign and it's just silent in the background, uh, for, you know,

[01:01:14] a solid 15, 20 seconds. I was pretty impressed that she kept signing for a little while after that. I think she was just in that mode, you know? That was pretty interesting. But I always

[01:01:25] love watching sign language is so cool to look at. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that was, I thought it was, it was very impactful. So that was a standout moment for me. And I think, I mean, she's an

[01:01:41] advocate for the deaf and I think she works with deaf kids or something like that. I don't know, but, um, I wouldn't be surprised if also part of the reason she did that was just to give an

[01:01:53] example of her doing sign language rather than speaking or something. Right. Um, how about, so we're, we're down to six, we're only down to six and Saku has made it and I'm super stoked

[01:02:10] that hopefully she's able to get the time off to, uh, to stay in the tent next week. Um, you're going to get me fired. Oh, Charlotte's going to be so mad. I was, I was chuckling at

[01:02:24] that. She's a true, it was cute. Yeah. She's, she's really funny. So we got Saku, Dan, uh, Maddie, uh, Josh, Christie and Tasha and Tasha. And I mean, so three of them are going to be in the

[01:02:39] final and, uh, the, I mean, I would say that on the younger side, you've got Tasha, Maddie, and Josh. And then on the left, we'll just say less young side, uh, Saku, Christie and, and, uh,

[01:02:55] and Dan. And I think that any of them, I think I like based looking at, that's what I'm saying. So Matt and I was like, based on what you were saying earlier, like, I, I, I see where you're coming

[01:03:08] from looking at the competition, just from the, the aspect of, of, of who's done well in not just in recent weeks, but overall it's like Maddie and Saku are the two that haven't either gotten like

[01:03:22] a handshake or star Baker. Um, and it's kind of like, uh, is it their time or will they pull it out? And, but any, any of the six going home is kind of like, Ooh, really? Wow.

[01:03:35] Mm hmm. Yeah. I, I don't dare make any predictions on the, on the agenda here. Yeah. It's question mark. It's not an explanation point. Um, yeah, I mean, this show really surprises you a lot of times

[01:03:59] there. There've been a few seasons where I felt like I was probably going to be this person. Like Rahul is the one that always stands out for me, but, um, cause he was a genius, but, uh, I

[01:04:08] would if I, so I don't know, I'm always wrong too, but I feel like Tasha is going to be in the final three. I'm pretty, I feel pretty strong about that. Um, and I think Christie, as long as she doesn't

[01:04:19] fall apart, um, other than that, I hope that it's Dan and Josh and I think Saku and Matt, or it can be both of them, uh, probably Dan over Josh. I think it's going to be Tasha,

[01:04:32] Christie, and Dan. I'm thinking switch out Josh and Christie, uh, Dan Tasha and Dan Josh, Josh, Dan and, and, uh, and Tasha. I could see. Yeah. Um, not that Christie, not to take anything away

[01:04:47] from, from Christie or Saku or, or Maddie. And again, like I said, maybe they'll pull it out. Um, but just based purely on what we've seen, uh, I, I would, those would be the three coming here and go, yeah, totally get it.

[01:05:07] I feel like Josh probably will. And Tasha will probably both end up in the final. Cause I feel like Josh has been, I'm surprised that it took this long for him to get star Baker.

[01:05:19] You know, I feel like he's been a little underrated and he's at least a couple of other weeks deserved to win star Baker. Uh, and was quite surprised when they would announce and

[01:05:29] he wasn't, I'm like, oh my gosh, well, based on what judges were saying and what we saw and heard, uh, I thought that for sure he had it in the can. So, and I think he keeps improving too.

[01:05:40] So I think he's going to make it. I think Tasha is going to from there. I don't, I don't know. Uh, I worry about Maddie. Dan has been good, but he's, he's, I feel like he hasn't been as

[01:05:55] consistently good. And I think I've said that for this season, usually almost always not every season maybe, but almost always every season there are, there's at least one consistent Baker, if not two, you know, they're, they're always really good. Really. They may not always win star

[01:06:15] Baker, but they're always at the top and they're always, you might have an off week or something, but otherwise, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, everybody always has a challenging kind of, you know, week with an element that they may not be familiar with or a style that

[01:06:28] they're not familiar with, but usually fairly consistent. And I feel like this season, I haven't seen anyone be consistent every week. It's it's, you know, there's a few that have a couple of highs and then some lows. And that's why I feel very uncomfortable talking about who

[01:06:45] might get there. So this, this almost like you were saying, like it feels like in the last four episodes, Josh has only been at the top. He's been in contention for star Baker every week.

[01:07:01] I don't think that I've, I think I've heard once that, Oh, Dan might be in trouble because he had a bad signature and then the, and then the technical saved him, not saved, but like the

[01:07:16] technical, he would end up first or second. And and then he, you know, he ends up middle of the pack for the showstopper but he does enough to save himself. And I wouldn't even, I wouldn't

[01:07:32] even think about it that way until you do get to the point where, and I always go back to, you know, you talk about rule. Was that rule or a hool? Jason? Yep. The one who, he was so funny because

[01:07:46] he was such a sad sack and so like, he looked like he was depressed and worried all the time. And then he put out these genius bakes every week that were just like mind-blowingly good. It was

[01:08:02] so weird to me. That was Juergen. Uh, Juergen was the, was the one who was top of the top of the list for the first, like six weeks, seven weeks. And then I think it was like week seven or eight

[01:08:16] that choked. Yeah. He didn't even show. I think he just didn't in the, in that very picky, you know, Nick nitpicky aspects. He just didn't, he got outperformed and it's like, you're like, holy

[01:08:28] crap. Like he, he wasn't safe. Like he, this really is a week to week competition, not a, what have you done? You know, overall it's what have you done lately? What have you done for me lately? Um, any other, any other notes or, uh, let's see Dana.

[01:08:52] Dana had said, uh, she wanted either a handshake to win the technical or be the star Baker. One of those. And I, my thought was, Oh, they wouldn't show her saying that unless one of those was

[01:09:05] going to happen, but I should have known that they showed it because it meant she was going home. That was the other possibility. She became the moral center of the show and, uh, yeah, that's right. And we should have seen it coming. Uh, yeah.

[01:09:19] I, Tasha said, it's been a long time since I made a lemon cake. I haven't made one in yachts. That's a Britishism. I looked it up. It means a very long time. Of course, like usually a number

[01:09:28] of years yachts. I never heard that before. Um, I hadn't heard that. I was thinking about it. And I wonder if the general baking game of Brits has improved because of this show. I bet it has

[01:09:39] because it's so popular that I bet it's gotten so many people into baking and they've just learned a lot of new things. So I, I'm sure. Yeah, I guess that's all I had. I would agree with that. I know

[01:09:54] I've, I've been inspired. I feel like I never, I'm not usually wanting to bake very often until I'm yeah. I just go to bakeries when I watch the show. I, Oh. And the only other thing, I mean,

[01:10:05] Tasha is my favorite. I think she's really talented and the whole aspect of her being deaf or partially deaf and signing is interesting, but that I don't think that's it. I just think

[01:10:17] she's got this really unique way about her. I first, I thought maybe she was kind of anxious or something, but I don't know. I can't really place it, but she's just, she does have a sense of vulnerability and openness. And that makes, I,

[01:10:35] I do think that makes her as a person appealing. Yeah, that's what, yeah, I think I feel the same. Yeah. I think she's sweet. I have like a, feel like a big sister towards her. I just want to

[01:10:50] like protect her and don't pick on her. Don't say anything mean to her. But she's got a strong, a strength too, like an inner strength or something. Yeah. I agree. Greg, do you have any other notes or anything else you want to say about this?

[01:11:09] No, I would, I would love to be proved wrong and to see Saku in those final three. Although it obviously means that somebody else, one of those three would have to go, but I, uh,

[01:11:21] I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks. I also like forgot that I used to say this about this show, like, yeah, we don't know any of these people now, but we're going to fall for all of

[01:11:33] them or most of them by the time this is over, or even just a couple of weeks in and coming into it, watching the first episode, I just had this feeling like, I don't care about any of these guys.

[01:11:42] It didn't take long before I'm like, Oh, these are the best group they've ever had. They're all so cool. It's something about the, they're just, I don't know how they get just the best people. They're always so kind and thoughtful and seeing their camaraderie when they're all

[01:12:04] cheering each other on, you know, um, like this week, Josh gets star Baker. Oh, that's so great. We're so proud of you. Like even when someone, you know, even Dana who I had just found out she was

[01:12:16] going home was hugging him and saying so well deserved. You did so great. And, you know, I just, I love that because I just feel like there's not enough kindness in the world. So this

[01:12:28] show just, just makes me so happy. And they do such a great job with the contestants that they get. I think it's in part just because that's the tone of the show. So people coming into it know,

[01:12:40] Oh, this is where we chill out. We have fun. We show off, we help and support each other. So maybe they'll play more towards those tendencies and their personalities to some extent anyway. But also maybe if you're dedicated and talented enough to do something as joyful as

[01:12:54] learning how to bake, you're already kind of a cool person maybe, or like what tendency towards that I would think, you know, I don't know. I'm just speculating, but there could be some

[01:13:05] asshole bakers out there who knows. I think that you, like, if you have to have the patience to be able to make bread, then you have enough patients to deal with people. Yeah. Well,

[01:13:20] I'm definitely inspired to do some baking. I want to make Paul's technical challenge that they had with the chocolate cake, with the raspberries on top. That's on my list. Definitely want to

[01:13:32] make some of these buns. So I have to be looking at those next. You're talking about the one they show at the beginning every time, the missing raspberry. If you made that in a Zedhead gathering,

[01:13:43] that would be so cool. Oh, yes. All right. Taking notes. So Jello for Greg. Raspberry chocolate cake for Jason. Wait a minute. I feel like I'm getting the short of the stick. You could have some of mine. No, it's a huge cake. It's for everyone I'm teasing. Chocolate

[01:14:05] torte. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah. All right. If we don't have any other notes or any other comments about this week's episode, we did get a voicemail for this week's episode. And totally my fault. I

[01:14:19] apologize to all of our listeners out there. I failed to put up a feedback post. So I'm going to do that. And if you have some comments about this episode, we will read them on the next

[01:14:33] episode. I'm sorry. I almost messaged you on Tuesday to be like, hey, you should put the post up. You know, life has been just very busy this week. Personally, that I've not had like my time

[01:14:46] is not my own at all this week. And so I totally just spaced out. So apologies, but don't let it prevent you from leaving feedback. We'll just include it in next week's. So with that being

[01:15:01] said, I will get to this week's. Voicemail from our friend Steve. Hello, strange indeed. This is Steve and this is for the Great British Baking Show, Episode six, Botanical Week. You're not

[01:15:17] supposed to eat the plate. Oh, Paul got a little bit more specific in his description. He said sweet, spicy, sticky buns. So we'll see what he's really expecting. Oh, OK. I get it. Spiced,

[01:15:30] not spicy. So that's why they all got it. And I didn't because I'm not a baker. But of course, they are proving things again. So we'll see how that goes. Oh, they have to be identical. So we'll

[01:15:41] see what Paul says. Oh, Toss is so cute. Christmas in a bun. OK, for the technical, what's a drizzle cake? Alison and Noel have so much fun together. Even Paul improved getting into the whole time

[01:15:53] thing. We've only given them an hour and a half. Hey, Toss just said the word yonks. That must be I guess a Britishism or a Scottishism or whatever for a long time, a lot of years.

[01:16:04] And Noel just called juggling keeping, keeping uppers, keepy, keepy uppers. Oh, and Christy wins the technical. Good for her. Oh, that's a vague technical. A floral dessert. Whoa, Tosha. That's quite ambitious. Ten layers. Eek. Oh, Christy's very worried. Oh, she's so upset. It's getting

[01:16:24] me choked up. Oh, Tosha's. Wow. They saw the break and they said, well, but that's OK. It always breaks like that. That's not good when the first thing they say is it's not really a showstopper. I felt

[01:16:34] Christy was about to explain the errors she made and Paul stopped her. No, it's not a funny state. Paul wants to send three people out and go straight to the semifinal. Good for Josh. Oh, I didn't

[01:16:46] expect Dana, but I guess, yeah, it makes sense. But really, I mean, all three of them, any of those three, Dana, Saku or Maddie could have gone and oh, let's see how they do next week. Hmm. Thanks, Steve. Steve. Again, if you have some thoughts about botanical week,

[01:17:04] let us know. We'll read them out loud for dessert week because that's what we're going to be covering next week is episode seven. Dessert week. More jelly. Greg might have to take a break. If they had like eggplant week, I'd be gagging too.

[01:17:27] I mean, like there's so like obviously desserts is but I feel like next week we're going to get like puddings and like British puddings. So not like gross puddings, but good puddings. And I'm

[01:17:42] looking forward to the gooey centers of those desserts. Yeah. Desserts are very broad. It could be anything from cakes and pastries to pies to or to other desserts. So who knows? I know

[01:18:03] in past seasons it's been very broad, but we might see a jelly or two. You might. I saw the recipe I got on the website because I wanted to see what recipes that they had released

[01:18:15] for this week to get some inspiration. And they had the recipe for Prue's little what were those little personal cheesecakes with the little blackcurrant jelly on top that you're like, everything looked good except for that. I immediately thought of you.

[01:18:34] Again, maybe if you have like a slice of that, not a slice of like the current blackcurrant jelly, but like a slice of the cake and then like that little bit just adds some flavor and it just,

[01:18:46] it's like a thread of it. Maybe that's okay. So actually Saku's cheesecake mousse very much reminded me of the apple cake that we had in Boston. And like that mousse was,

[01:19:07] that was firm enough. That was well set. And I could get down with that, but I love cheesecake. Got you. Cheesecake. I do love cheesecake. Sorry. Maybe they'll have a cheesecake week and I'll be like, hell yes. That's what I'm talking about.

[01:19:23] Yeah. Be all over that. So just as a reminder, Peake and I are covering the fall of the House of Usher also here on Strange Indeed. I'm really digging that show. If you haven't listened or

[01:19:38] watched the show, highly encourage it. We are huge Mike Flanagan fans and love everything that he puts out. So we're really loving this project as well. So hope you check out that show and hope you

[01:19:52] check out our coverage of that show. We're having a blast. Jason, what about you? What have you got going on? I'm opening a jelly cake shop. It's JasonJellycake.com. Just kidding. Greg could subscribe.

[01:20:08] It's a subscription model. No, well, Lucy and I are going back to the beginning of The Walking Dead and doing a full, well, we hope a full rewatch. So if you never watched that show

[01:20:21] and you want to watch it with the podcast, actually this would be a horrible time because it's full spoilers. So it's really for people who've seen the show and talking about what it's

[01:20:32] like to go back and revisit it, knowing how the rest of the show went. And we've done, we recorded the first two episodes. We put one out, but we're going to be weekly at least for

[01:20:39] the first season and go episode by episode. And it was really, really fun to go back and watch it again after not having seen it for like 10 years. Super cool. That's podcastica.com.

[01:20:49] That's where all of our stuff is. And I'm finishing up White Lotus. We covered seasons one and two, and then we just have to sit here and wait until season three comes out. Can't wait for season three. I know. Really love that show. It's so good.

[01:21:07] And Greg, I know that you wrapped your Wheel of Time coverage a little while back. Do you have anything upcoming that you want to share? I'm really looking forward to covering Dessert Week next week. And that's pretty much it.

[01:21:20] This has been a very busy, as you mentioned, a very busy time in life. And I'll be honest, nothing's really grabbed me to make me go, oh, hey, this I want to cover that someone else

[01:21:34] that either isn't already covering or, but I am. Okay. This last episode of Loki, I personally wasn't a huge fan of, but. That's the idea I'm getting that people aren't liking this last one. I haven't been watching it.

[01:21:51] I mean, this last episode was, I was like, meh, but I really am hoping that they stick the landing on this, this season because I have really enjoyed it. But yeah, it's, I did listen to

[01:22:07] both TVPI, Derek and John over, over at TV Podcast Industries and the Lokiverse podcast on Podcastica. It's interesting seeing the different ways that people interpret various aspects of the show. Well, thank you, Jason, for joining us this week.

[01:22:27] Thanks for having me. It was good. You know, I like flowers, so I'm glad you, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, it was a pleasure. I very much enjoyed it. It was a great time. Thank you. Yep. On your marks, get set, make!