The Great British Bake Off: Autumn Week
November 2, 2024 7:28 AM - Season 15, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Who's got their eyes on the pies in Autumn Week, and who'll be leaf-ing the tent?

The Great British Baking Show Recap: Pie in the Sky [Vulture / Archive]
Thanks for the Tears, Paul and Prue (goodbye to this week’s eliminated contestant) [Vulture / Archive]
The Great British Baking Show Boss Is ‘Very Interested’ in an All-Star Season [Vulture / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Forgot to post! Gutted Nelly has gone, she was my absolute favourite. Glad she got to go in a flower crown!
posted by ellieBOA at 7:29 AM on November 2 [10 favorites]


It is true, I have a piece of Nelly in my heart. That crown was fabulous, and her showstopper wasn't terrible, just the worst of a very good bunch. Not a bad way to go out.

Christiaan must be wondering what it takes to get star baker at this point. I know his pumpkin pie didn't quite set in the signature, but those stained glass windows in his roots of Samhain cake were so cool.

What are you going to do against a handshake cake though? I also loved Sumayah's Bunnicula pie in the signature.

Everyone did really well overall this episode, dropped cakes and forgotten baking soda aside. Dylan's equanimity about his dropped cake made me forgive him a bit for his boring anti-autumn contrarianism and strange choice to do a plain white peacock cake for his harvest theme showstopper.
posted by the primroses were over at 10:27 AM on November 2 [5 favorites]


I thought Dylan's white Diwali cake was meant to allude to Indian white marble sculpture. I think it could have looked really good if he'd had the time to decorate it properly, but sadly he spent that time baking a substitute cake.

His rough-puff mishap in the signature reminded me of Tanya from last season, who doomed herself by trying a needlessly overambitious pastry technique. Rough-puff is not piecrust, and never the twain shall meet.

But he survived. I love Nelly and I'll miss her presence. Her apple-poppy seed pie looked delicious.

Sumayah had an amazing week! What a baker.

And the one Northerner bottled their parkin, while Illiyin won by just extrapolating (rather brilliantly) from Jamaican ginger cake.

... I'm in North Yorkshire this weekend, and now I have a MISSION to find parkin.
posted by Pallas Athena at 1:03 PM on November 2 [8 favorites]


Nooooo, Nelly!!!
posted by maryellenreads at 4:01 PM on November 2 [2 favorites]


Ugh. So, so sad about Nelly, but what a wonderful attitude she has. She's the contestant I'd most like to spend the afternoon with, that's for sure.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:12 PM on November 2 [9 favorites]


Nelly needs to have a TV show of her own. Any TV show. I'd watch the hell out of that!
posted by QuakerMel at 4:28 AM on November 3 [4 favorites]


It is an absolute relief to have a contestant say "I am here to show my kids how to have fun in any situation" rather than the tedious "I'm here to show my kids that if you try hard enough, you can do anything", which is both untrue and rather cruel.
posted by restless_nomad at 4:31 AM on November 3 [22 favorites]


With Nelly making her incredibly graceful exit, there's no one left that I like much more than all the others. It would be nice to see Christiaan get Star Baker, at least he won Noel's gothic heart forever.

I'm a Netflix viewer in the U.S., and I've never heard of parkin. I was googling where I could get it because I love ginger, and it sounds delicious.
posted by gladly at 11:31 AM on November 3 [2 favorites]


Bah, I had held out hope Nelly might last a few more rounds. She is so delightful and I hope some tv exec in Britain realizes what a treasure she is and finds her a role.

I confess all the uptalkers this year are grating on my delicate sensibilities, but Sumaya seems poised to take the crown this year and I just can’t handle the way she talks. Yes, I feel bad for my reactions, don’t yell at me, I know it’s unreasonable. But she does mitigate it by giving Noel so much shit, so there’s that.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 1:12 PM on November 3 [6 favorites]


Kitten, if it helps, you're not alone in being unreasonably annoyed by the uptalking. Loving Sumaya's baking, love watching her giving Noel some shit, just wish she would do it less up-talkingly.
Right now I'm betting Christiaan, Georgie, and Sumaya for the final, although Dylan could replace any one of them, especially if Christiaan doesn't manage to grab a Star Baker in the next week or two. It really is "always the bridesmaid never the bride" with him.
posted by Karmeliet at 1:38 PM on November 3


Kitten, I'm glad you said that because I've been feeling badly about being annoyed by her uptalking. I love her bakes and her artistic sensibility, but yeah the uptalking gets to me.

I'm going to miss Nelly so so much. I don't think I've immediately loved a contestant as much as Nelly in a very long while if ever. Her spirit is just so joyful, and I hope to see her in something else whether it's a show or her own youtube channel or whatever. She is currently on insta if anyone wants to continue to follow her adventures there.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:24 PM on November 3 [2 favorites]


It's not even uptalking, exactly, it's a wavering lack of emphasis that I find absolutely fascinating. Never heard anything like it.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:09 AM on November 4 [3 favorites]


I saw someone on Reddit refer to Sumaya's uptalk as a British Vocal Fry, a Vocal Chip, if you will. I haven't stopped giggling about it since.
posted by teleri025 at 1:13 PM on November 6 [3 favorites]


Removing this thread from my recent activity. Requesting that we keep the bitching about Sumayah's voice confined to this thread, so people can enjoy their venting and I can read future episode discussions without it. Thanks for considering this request.
posted by the primroses were over at 2:44 PM on November 6 [2 favorites]


I finally got around to watching this episode. Nelly is the People's Champion and I am going to miss her. She never drew back from talking about difficult subjects and even putting them into her bakes. She has such a wonderful energy and I love what she said about teaching her kids to have fun. I'll miss her chasing Noel around the tent with a wooden spoon though.

It's so easy to have just one bad bake and that's all it really takes to knock you out of the competition. If Dylan's cake had tasted like it looked, he would have been the one going home. I have a lot of faith in Dylan as a baker though and I hope he gets to the final.
posted by ceejaytee at 12:11 PM on November 7 [3 favorites]


I find it kind of odd that they had an episode a few years back where they made 'American Thanksgiving favorites', which is kind of similar in concept, and they all made 'American-ish' food for their first bake, pumpkin pies with traditional US pumpkin pie spices and whatnot. In that episode they spoke of how odd and oversweetened they were, but here they are making pumpkin pies and other foods that would totally qualify as 'American Thanksgiving favorites'.


A cultural shift or did they overplay the differences in that past episode?
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:23 AM on November 8


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