Great British Bake Off 2021

[Mi-Amigo]

The popular TV show "Great British Bake Off" returns to Ch 4 next Tuesday - 21 September - with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and presented by Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding.

The contestants have been announced 

Left-right:

Crystelle. Lizzie, Freya. George, Chigs, Giuseppe, Amanda, Tom, Jairzeno. Rochica, Jürgen and Maggie

Crystelle, 26, client relationship manager from London inspired by Portugese-Goan-Kenyan heritage.

Lizzie, 28, car production operative from Liverpool, described as "frantic and messy on the outside but is usually calm and collected within" 

Freya, 19, psychology student from North Yorkshire, youngest baker in tent this year, vegan, says she likes to be "unexpected" with her baking.

George, 34, shared lives co-ordinator from London, from Greek-Cypriot family, says his strength is "creative flair"

Chigs, 40, sales manager from Leicestershire, used online tutorials during lockdown to learn complex bakes and chocolate work.

Giuseppe, 45, chief engineer from Bristol, Italian-born inherited baking from his father, a professional chef. 

Amanda, 56, Metropolitan Police detective in London, baking heavily influenced by her Greek-Cypriot heritage.

Tom, 28, developer for family software company in Kent, says baking was "a welcome escape" during lockdown.

Jairzeno, 51, head of finance in London, moved from Trinidad 15 years ago, obsesses over flavour cominations, particularly using Caribbean spices. 

Rochica, 27, junior HR business partner from Birmingham, turned to baking when unable to dance due to injury, says her weakness is "getting flustered and everything going wrong".

Jurgen, German-born, moved to UK 18 years ago, lives in Sussex, IT professional, started baking when couldn`t buy German bread. 

Maggie, 70, retired nurse and midwife from Dorset, oldest contestant - loves canoeing, sailing, going out in her campervan.

A real mix of ages and characters this time.

I love GBBO. 

Anyone else going to be watching?

As with previous series, why not give your feedback on the show, the contestants, and the baking rounds after the show?

Looking forward to GBBO 2021 and your comments from next week. 

[Cleoriff]

Thanks for the reminder @Mi-Amigo. I have set it to record. I love GBBO and never miss a show.

Looking forward to it. (I notice there's a 70 year old retired nurse? I hope she can bake cakes 😂)

[sheepdog]

I don't tend to watch it as its scheduled but if its on when I'm in the main room, I'll watch. Do tend to watch it on repeat when its on the Food Network binge day though as its still good stuff. 

[Cleoriff]

Just to say I have had to move things about and wont be watching this until 11pm. 😂

Problem is it starts at 8pm and goes on until past 9pm.

At 9pm I have Manhunt The Night Stalker and Silent Witness recording/watching.

Suddenly it's Autumn and all the good programmes are on TV.

So I'll be commenting tomorrow.

TV...from nothing to everything...🤣

[Mi-Amigo]

Like @Cleoriff , I too found there was a "clash" for my attention with telly last night, so switch from GBBO to Man Hunt at 9pm - i.e. before the Show Stopper results and the announcement of Star Baker and who was leaving the tent in GBBO and will play "catch up" and post my comments on GBBO on here later.

[Cleoriff]

When I watched at 11pm, I thought it was a good show @Mi-Amigo  A real mix of characters. The youngest ever, Freya age 19 who is at University and vegan,  then the oldest age 70, Maggie who is a retired midwife. Both good bakers as it turns out.

I can't remember all the names as there are so many so this is a bit of a skim description.

SIGNATURE dish which was to make 12 mini rolls (decorated)

Some excellent, some an absolute disaster

Not giving anything away if I say Jurgen and Guiseppe were so organised, with a great presentation

Freya and Maggie also did very well. Quite a few were disastrous.

Then we came to the TECHNICAL CHALLENGE.

This was to make malt loaf. Bearing in mind this is a loaf which has been out for as long as I can remember. Many of the contestants had never heard of it or ever tasted it!

No surprise that Maggie won this one. Amazing though that the 2nd place went to the youngest Freya.

THE SHOWSTOPPER final section was the most challenging for a 1st week. Contestants had to make an

Anti-Gravity Illusion Cake.

 This sorted out the good from the bad.

Crystelle did a massive bouquet of flowers, hand tied and it was all cake

Jurgen made a Book with an anglepoise lamp...superb as again, it was all cake.

Guiseppe made a hovering cloud over a 'grass' base. Brilliant really.

The rest of them had a disaster. Their efforts falling before they were seen by the judges.

Some didn't meet the brief at all

So star baker for week one was

More info

Jurgen

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And as I have no idea of how to get rid of this damn spoiler tag (which I wont use again)
The one who was eliminated was Tom. 😂

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[Mi-Amigo]

Thank you @Cleoriff for the feedback on last night`s GBBO.

I`ve had a chance to watch the bit I missed and can now share my views.

A varied mix of people - ages and background - this time. Remains to be seen whether there is any bonding as we have seen in previous GBBO and how well they get with each other.

As to the competition

Signature - in my opinion, Guiseppe walked it. It looked great and judging from Paul and Prue`s reaction tasted good.

Technical - agree with the judges, well deserved 1st place for Maggie and 2nd place for Freya.

Show-stopper - some absolute disasters. In my opinion, although the person who was awarded star baker [see Cleoriff`s spoiler] did a really good job, I thought Maggie just edged it and given she was 1st in the Technical should have got Star Baker.

I didn`t agree with who left. OK so his Show Stopper was the biggest disaster but wasn`t the worse in Signature or Technical. I think Amanda who was bottom in the Technical should have been the one to leave.

Overall a good show and good start to the series.

Be interesting to see how much each improves next time.

[Cleoriff]

Social media agree with you about Tom @Mi-Amigo 

There were two other men who were disastrous all the way through (I thought Maggie was average)

George and the guy from Trinidad, Jairzeno were worse than Tom.

I don't rate Lizzie  much either. I know the show is heavily edited BUT it seemed to me that her and Noel Fielding (who I hate with a passion) spent far too much time chatting and laughing. She should concentrate on her bakes as the signature dish of hers was an absolute disaster.

[lewys-gp]

I'd like to add that I think Giuseppe may go all the way. He seemed to be on the ball with everything, even though he fell short a bit for the showstopper. I like Maggie too but was disappointed when she compared mint ice cream (my favourite) to toothpaste 😂.

Definitely agree it's a good mix of people. Looking forward to next week. May even attempt a bake myself...

[Cleoriff]

I agree @lewys-gp, both Giuseppi and Jurgen seem to be so well organised. Jurgen bought a tool kit in to help construct his showstopper. 😂

Also mint choc is my favourite  icecream!