Personally, I could only think of one programme on last week’s television that I was extremely excited to watch, and that was the final of BBC2’s ‘The Great British Bakeoff.’ Undoubtedly, this has been the most popular series of Bakeoff to date, and after many weeks of Paul’s sniping and Mary talking about ‘soggy bottoms’, the pair were finally ready to crown the 2013 champion.
I think it’s fair to say that the 2013 Baker’s Dozen had its fair share of characters (who could forget Glenn or Howard?!), and the final three of Frances, Kimberley and Ruby were definitely amongst the most memorable. Before the final, I was pretty certain that this year’s most talked about contestant, Ruby, was sure to get the trophy…how wrong I was.
(Frances, Kimberley, Ruby)
So, as my housemates and I sat down to watch the show with a slice of my homemade toffee bread- a Bakeoff tradition- it became clear that any bets as to who would win the series were off: there was no clear winner in any of the challenges. Personally, I was quite surprised by the final bakes because in previous years there has genuinely been nothing in it when choosing the winner, but this year Frances’ cake was the only true show stopper, and definitely made her the right choice for Bakeoff Queen 2013.
I think Frances was a worthy winner in terms of her creativeness: her bakes throughout the series were incredibly inventive and clever, and she consistently strived to challenge the stinging critique from Paul and Mary that her bakes were ‘style over substance.’
Furthermore, if I am completely honest I found her competition pretty annoying… Ruby became subject to a lot of online bullying throughout the series, with viewers accusing her of flirting with judge Paul Hollywood, but also largely due to her tendency to consistently criticise her bakes only to be praised lovingly by the judges two minutes later. Personally, I sometimes found myself rooting for Ruby, especially because she’s only still at Uni, but generally her inability to smile or think positively made me actively dislike her. Kimberley was the exact opposite of Ruby, constantly smiling, but her over-assuredness after each bake- ‘Yeah, I’m really confident with that’- also proved irritating. So all in all, in my opinion, the right person won the competition, but now I’m going to reminisce across the whole of the series with my ‘Top Five GBBO Highlights of 2013.’
Top Five GBBO Highlights of 2013.
1. GLENN. My favourite of all this year’s Bakeoff contestants who was cruelly voted off early in the series. Famed for his legendary bakes that were seemingly always ‘too big’, he had a big smile to match and was a very loveable contestant.
2. Mary Berry’s jazzy outfits. The only way to describe the coolest 71 year old around is jazzy. She frequently sets the trends by wearing such bright and vibrant jackets, with one she wore last year from Zara selling out just hours after an episode had aired. Definitely a new fashion icon.
3. Howard’s custard getting stolen. Poor old Howard didn’t have the best of luck during his time in the show, his custard was stolen accidentally by a fellow contestant, and then Sue squashed some of his cakes with her elbow by accident! Needless to say hapless Howard didn’t get very far in the competition.
4. Ruby smashing her mixing bowl. Ruby managed to get so stressed one week that she actually smashed her mixing bowl. I understand getting stressed Ruby but there was no need to take it out on your equipment!
5. The phrases. It wouldn’t be GBBO without the frequent use of ‘soggy bottom’ and other phrases that whilst used innocently, have made viewers giggle consistently throughout the series, with many playing drinking games alongside the show. Please Bakeoff, keep more funny phrases coming!
So with that, we say goodbye to Great British Bakeoff until next series… I’m off to practice my pretzels!
SPOTTED this week:
So this week I thought I’d include a little ‘SPOTTED’ section, because whilst shopping at an Asda in London, my dad met three of the X Factor contestants: Nicholas Mcdonald, Sam Callahan and Luke Friend! I was firstly surprised he’d seen them in Asda- although to be fair he’s a serial celeb spotter, having once bumped into Kimberley Walsh of Girls Aloud in Tesco- but mostly shocked he recognised them at all, having previously stated he never watches ‘any of that rubbish.’
Anyway, Dad rang me and asked whether he should get a picture with them, and then proceeded to put me on the phone to my favourite, little Nicholas, who was adorable and probably unaware that the self-described ‘massive fan’ he was speaking to was almost four years older than him… oh well.
And here’s the picture to prove it! Left to Right: Nicholas, Dad (!) , Luke, Sam
Ella Duffy
Image sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/The_Great_British_Bake_Off_title.jpg
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02709/final_2709024b.jpg
http://i6.cdnds.net/13/43/450×450/gbbo_midsummer_night_dream.png
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/09/04/article-0-1B9B362B000005DC-224_634x342.jpg
Own photo