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Great British Bake Off

128 watchers

MH Oct 2021 2:11pm, 13 Oct 2021 893 posts	Quote Pin MH Maggie definitely over-egged the 'traditional' schtick. And yes, TV shows will never simply select the best - it's Television!
Rrunner Oct 2021 2:41pm, 13 Oct 2021 791 posts	Quote Pin Rrunner Agree some of the best "bakers" on the show have been the poorer ones in terms of talent, but it makes for better TV.
Carpathius Oct 2021 4:20pm, 13 Oct 2021 21,170 posts	Quote Pin Carpathius That's fine, and expected, but surely there must have been better posh-older-lady contestants amongst the auditioned. This year it's mostly people from southern England with a couple of Northeners and a couple of continentals thrown in for the accents.
Meeps Oct 2021 5:36pm, 13 Oct 2021 9,464 posts	Quote Pin Meeps I'd quite like to see some of the auditions.
Johnny Blaze Oct 2021 5:37pm, 13 Oct 2021 25,663 posts	Quote Pin Johnny Blaze My first thought is that the people who get picked are "somewhat" picked according to a casting requirement rather than just being the best bakers. If it was just the best bakers on the show, then a show with 90% female professionals from the South East (say) would be a bit tedious. Plus it is C4 and the diversity requirement also drives selection. As it is, the show is predominantly middle class professionals, as is the Pottery Throw down etc, because working class people would, I propose, have much less time and money available to spend several months baking cakes in a tent in the Home Counties.
mrs shanksi Oct 2021 7:36pm, 13 Oct 2021 12,938 posts	Quote Pin mrs shanksi Just caught up. It's great that Chigs got star baker, I loved his cake design. Also liked the pineapple cake. Very happy that Maggie has gone.
Heinzster Oct 2021 8:07am, 15 Oct 2021 1,897 posts	Quote Pin Heinzster The forced diversity gets on my nerves a bit. When I am on an interview panel I look for the candidate who performs best (admittedly some perform better or worse at interview than in real life, would love a more realistic test) and their personal characteristics of gender/age/ethnicity/allergy to kangaroos and all the other things we now are instructed to ignore don't get a look in. It is treating everyone equally. But that admittedly doesn't make good TV. Interestingly there were a number of people on Great British Menu this year who had allergies (fish/shellfish for sure). I don't ever recall an GBBO contestant who had to avoid nuts - I wonder are they screened out?
Sushi. Oct 2021 9:09am, 15 Oct 2021 32,413 posts	Quote Pin Sushi. I know what you mean Heinzster but in the real world you can prove you picked the best person for the job. In TV world there would be a lot of criticism and complaints if they didn't have a diverse group of contestants. Plus the whole good TV thing.
Wine Legs Oct 2021 9:12am, 15 Oct 2021 5,791 posts	Quote Pin Wine Legs Heinzster, there's a lot of what you say that leads to people employing 'people like them' as they believe they're best for the job though... hence the number of white males on boards and in senior management... however, this is a massive digression!
Northern Exile Oct 2021 9:37am, 15 Oct 2021 8,037 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile Mmm, at risk of more digression I would like to think that on the interview boards I've sat on the best person for the job was chosen, irrespective of forced diversity. I can't think of a single occasion where I chose someone like me, that would be fatal