The Great British Bake Off: Biscuit Week

October 2, 2024 8:38 AM - Season 15, Episode 2

Bakers compete by making Viennese sandwiches, minty desserts, and puppet theatres.
posted by ellieBOA (5 comments total)

So the “next time on” from last week turned out not to be about heat issues. I didn’t hear or see much chatter about the temperature in the tent this week. No real details about Jeff’s rapid departure or Illiyin fainting so I suppose it’s still possible that was the problem but there’s no need to go digging into personal health. I hope Illiyin is okay and wish Jeff the best. That said, my wife and I were getting increasingly frantic when we got to ten minutes from the end and still no one had collapsed! The red herring with Dylan falling off of his stool got us good. He’s got great energy.

Unsurprised that Hazel was eliminated this week with two major mistakes on the same bake. Double the butter on the first attempt and missing the sugar on the second. Big oof. Pretty sure she ignored advice from Paul and Prue twice as well, although it’s not like she could really switch from shortbread to gingerbread for her showstopper on such short notice, and I’ve gotta say, her showstopper seemed fairly structurally sound so that didn’t seem to be an issue for her.

Good turnaround for Christiaan this week on flavors after Paul wasn’t impressed last week. I think Paul was genuinely surprised to enjoy some of his combinations this time .

Got worried about Dylan on the technical but he did come 4th last week so hopefully he’ll be alright on those moving forward.

Congrats to Sumayah on Star Baker! I’m not sure anyone was as surprised as she was, she had a great week, if uneventful.

Nelly is an absolute delight and I hope she goes far. The sheer indignity on her face when Noel suggested she was from Lithuania (I think? Can’t recall) was incredible.

Also: MaxFun has a podcast covering this season like fantasy football, TV Chef Fantasy League.
posted by potent_cyprus at 10:11 AM on October 2

They were dropping like flies this week. I was so sorry about Jeff--New Yorkers represent!--and I hope he feels better. Illiyin fainting was pretty scary. Maybe it was just stress. I hope she's better next week. At least Dylan didn't hurt himself falling off of his stool.

Nelly is my favorite. She may not be the best baker but she is hilarious. Chasing Noel around the tent was great. And she was so sweet talking about what her showstopper meant. They gave her a lot of air time to talk about it, which was really lovely.

Showstopper handshakes are rare. Christiaan's story and puppet theater were lovely. I'm happy his flavors were good this week.
posted by ceejaytee at 10:21 AM on October 2 [2 favorites]

So bad if the heat led to two contestants falling ill! I disagree with most of the showstoppers being puppet shows, there was only one that seemed to fit the brief.
posted by ellieBOA at 10:34 AM on October 2

It seemed to me like people were getting physical reactions to stress - the challenges they are given are barely possible in the time allotted, let alone in front of cameras surrounded by a bunch of other people who are also freaking out. I get that they want the show to get more exciting every year, but there are limits to what humans can do.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:48 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]

This year's standard is *really* high, and I loved seeing people's design skills on display for the puppet theatres. Most of which were just dioramas, but who's counting?

I liked Mike's biscotti marionettes and Christiaan's jointed stick puppets. I thought Dylan was doomed until I saw his painting, which was jaw-droppingly amazing. Glad he's around for another week.

And I'm glad Nelly got to talk about miscarriage on national TV, on a baking show. That feels like progress. I liked her sunset forest and silhouetted figures.

Sumayah is clearly both a great baker and artist (and a child prodigy!! 18!??!?!) and seems to be a strong contender for the win.

I hope Illiyin recovers and does well next week.

Gill may be this season's dark horse. I sense a potential finalist.

I like biscuit week; biscuits are my favourite things to bake. But I dread the bread. Bread week can be so awful! I hope all our faves survive.
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:15 PM on October 2