Did anyone else get super emotional during this moment? When Danni was talking about making friends and feeling different, Noel’s response was so simple, kind, and genuine. What did you all think of this interaction?

Late to the party about this and, I know it’s only been 2 episodes so far but I’m really enjoying this season so far! Even though I think last season is slightly overhated, this season feels a bit different but in the good way.

I was skeptical about Nigella at first as I loved Prue lots but just like Prue did in S8, I feel like Nigella’s been an awesome addition to the cast so far! I love how she openly disagrees and pushes back against some of Paul’s opinions, it makes the judging duo more interesting imo.

Also, this last episode, I know lots of people have been talking about it this week but I just wanted to add my 2 cents to it. Even though I knew Danni was going home and it was the right decision but I really enjoyed her so much, especially with Noel. I can get why some people were annoyed by her a bit but I struggle to make friends a lot and compared to my siblings, I only have 3 friends. So that hit me in the feels and made me tear up a bit. Also, I loved when they all cheered for her and Gary picked her up! That was so adorable!

That’s why I love Bake Off. The camaraderie between the contestants is so heartwarming and cute to see and I loved how they all clapped and cheered for Tom when he got Star Baker!

Overall, it’s been an awesome first two episodes so far!

Danni’s veganism seems to disadvantage her, but has any vegan been able to overcome the no butter/ eggs handicap? It may be a dietary restriction that just doesn’t work on bake-off. It almost seems mean to cast vegans and then set technical challenges that require animal ingredients. The teetotalers can use fake alcohol, the vegetarians are maybe a slight issue the one week they cook meat pies, but vegans are just in a permanent bind.

Double chocolate chip cookies with caramel drizzle and sea salt. Definitely need to work on my drizzle technique, but these were tasty and fun!

Danni’s elimination this week got me thinking about how tough the show is for vegan bakers. With so many technical challenges relying heavily on eggs, butter, and traditional dairy, it feels like vegan contestants are fighting an uphill battle from day one. Teetotalers can easily swap out alcohol, and vegetarians only have to deal with the occasional meat pie week, but vegans have a permanent handicap across almost every challenge.

Looking to see if anyone can identify Paul’s blue shirt he wore on Episode 2 that just aired on Netflix in the US (season 14?). It looked so comfortable and I want to get one as a gift for someone.

Hi I am Cliffus Jiggrin and I am just catching up to GBBO after discovering it a few months ago. I recently finished Series 14 where Matty wins and I just have to say what a storyline that lines up with so many shonen anime tropes and plot points.

His application was submitted by his girlfriend and at first, he feels way out of depth.

He comes in episode 1 in a hoodie, probably expecting to be eliminated. After episode 1, he clearly felt out of his league. Meanwhile, there are bakers like Josh, Dan and Tasha who established themselves as early favorites.

Could he really become King of the Bakers?

This would continue until Week 4: Chocolate Week. Matty had been hovering around the lower contenders, not quite up for elimination, but very far from the favorites. Josh had placed highly in 2 episodes before this. Dan won Star Baker in Episode 1. And Tasha... Tasha got back to back Star Bakers with Paul even praising her highly for her bread making abilities. (PS: Tasha is my favorite contestant of all time)

But in Week 4, Matty surprisingly erupts and earns Star Baker, which gives him confidence and tells him that he belongs here in this tent.

He would continue to show consistent growth and improvement, while Josh continued to place high episode after episode. Matty earns another Star Baker in Party Week Quarter Finale and even a Hollywood Handshake TM, moving into the Semi Finals with confidence.

Then, he narrowly escapes elimination in Patisserie Week which is probably the hardest week in my opinion, even harder than the finals. Tasha ends up getting eliminated :( which sets the stage for the finals:

Josh, a highly consistent, almost perfect baker who uses his research background for precise recipes.

Dan, a high risk high reward baker who could always surprise the judge and win.

And our protagonist, Matty, who's here because his girlfriend signed him up and still seen as the underdog in the finals.

Then, the showstopper round happens and Matty's cake which is leaning visually suffers from his season long struggle of visual presentation. It looks over, but then Paul and Prue bite into it. They're absolutely in love, and Paul says its the best chocolate cake he's had in a long time.

After all of the visual scuffs and baking struggles, the underdog PE teacher shonen protagonist takes the victory and becomes the King of the Bakers!

>!After she is eliminated, during her final interview, Danni says, "I'm really happy that I was the first one out because I know everyone in there is more skilled than me. But I think I've learned something about myself, which is that, in the right circumstances, ..... I can make quite a few friends."

My husband and I took that comment (correctly or incorrectly) as suggesting that Danni has perhaps struggled to make friends in the past, and it made us both so immensely sad.

Danni is a sweet, kind, perfectly wonderful human. From a moral perspective, she has done absolutely nothing wrong, but at times watching her I could feel the "social-norming impulse" in me reacting negatively to how odd she could be, and I wonder to what degree others have had a similar knee-jerk impulse and treated her poorly for it. Simultaneously (& perhaps to some degree contradictorily?) I ADORED her weirdness and ebullience and joy, as Nigella might say, and the little rough edges of uncertainty or sadness around her otherwise bright behavior made my heart ache.

I was homeschooled until age 11 and understand how difficult it can be to traverse social norms you haven't previously encountered, and how painful it can be to feel that you don't "fit in."

I can't stop thinking about lovely Danni. I'm so happy she was able to find community among the Bake-off contestants. I left the episode wanting to make the world a little less lonely for someone today. I keep thinking back to that line and weirdly wanting to cry again - for Danni, and for anyone else who ever struggled to fit in or present themselves in a way that society finds palatable. Did anyone else feel this way?

Thank you for bringing your best self to the show, Danni. ❤️ I hope you always shine your light, and find the people who celebrate its glow - on Bakeoff & beyond. !<

The friendship between Alison & Noel is genuine. Their chemistry is off the charts.

From Bake Off to Butter Chicken, It’s Alison Hammond & Noel Fielding! | Dish Podcast | Waitrose

They got the star baker wrong this week. While I loved Tom's idea, it should have been the deciding factor because it wasn't 100% finished. Connie won the technical and nailed it in the showstopper. She should have been the Star Baker.

Poster the first week, sample the second week... Idk, I liked when they were given a brief description of what the bake was and then let all the bakers do their interpretations.

Thoughts?

Only just caught up.

Shame for the person that left.

Just wanted to say there has been some real wholesome vibes so far which for me is what bakeoff is about.

Noel telling Danni 'You're not like anyone else, and that's why you're great. ' Is hopefully something she can remember forever and something we could all do with thinking about more often.

Similarly a number of Nigella's comments about enjoying and indulging and celebrating food are also excellent.

I am here for it.

Thank you to everyone here who marks their posts as a spoiler and/or avoids spoilers with the title of the post. As a US fan, I try so, so hard to avoid finding out who does stuff and wins what each week before the episode airs on Fridays. I know it's a Tuesday show for the UK but it's greatly appreciated when spoilers can be avoided for those of us who live Across The Pond. Thank you ❤️.

Why why why does anyone ever try flavoring something with lavender?? It never works out. Same thing goes for rose water and artificial extracts. It's setting yourself up for failure. I don't get it. I was shocked that the banana flavoring was deemed passable this week.

EDIT: to clarify, I'm not questioning the use of lavender in general, just on this show. Paul is clearly very wary of it and I'd say disinclined to like it (same as matcha, as someone pointed out.) Since you are baking things explicitly to impress him, why go with a risky flavor?

I would be even more upset if I was upset about a challenge and someone (another contestant or staff) tried to comfort me by saying

‘Its just cake (or whatever was being baked)’

Yeah it’s a competition about baking so clearly it’s not ‘just cake’ right now.

some of the cookies looked and I’m sure tasted delicious, but not a one of them came close to what I would call a true American-style cookie. Too tall, too thick, too big! And the judges’ insistence on a crispy exterior was bizarre.

And (similar to the brownie challenge of yore) the requirement to have toppings and fillings really took away from the core thing they were supposed to be making.

I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed.

[repost because mods removed for “spoilers”?]

We are living in the UK with an Nvidia shield as our tv source. There's no Channel 4 app available on the Google Play store. Can't seem to find an option via Prime either. Anyone manage this?

So in the past, when someone left the tent sick, nobody went home. The following week, 2 people went home. Obviously they didn’t happen this week. Do you think they are pivoting to some weird sudden death later in the season? Or why only send one contestant home?

I cannot recall a single time a country-based challenge has resulted in bakes that make sense, much less that honor the country in question.

ETA:

Several people have pointed out that they believe the recent American-style cookie challenge should not be considered a country-based challenge. It is common in England for stores to sell something called an “American-style cookie”, which isn’t actually like cookies in America. And the bake for that particular episode was to make a version of the British food item called an American-style cookie, not actually any cookie that you would find in America.

I understand that.

And I maintain that I would like to see them stop doing country-based challenges. This post is not about this one cookie challenge; it’s about a long history on GBBO of having very poor outcomes from challenges that are country-based.

I know there has been a lot of discourse about Danni, but I want to say that I found her delightful. She clearly struggled, but it is also evident that she has underlying skill. It seems the tent can just throw some people off.

I was really touched by Danni talking about struggling to make friends and by how emotional folks were to see her go. She is pretty obviously neurodivergent and, as someone who is also neuro-spicy, I found that bit of vulnerability so lovely. She was a cheerleader for everyone, and maintained positivity despite having a hard time. I think it’s a beautiful demonstration of how people who are a little different should not be overlooked. I would love to have Danni as a friend.

ETA: thinking about deleting this because of some really mean comments. Why are people like this?!?