Isis

I'm still feeling sad about this series because it's actually been the funniest one in ages and has been good 'fun' generally. But I am still annoyed by the judging decisions. What I found particularly annoying in the last episode was Paul Hollywood talking about who might be leaving - in this kind of vague hand-wavy way, as if somebody else was going to be making that decision and he wasn't involved in it. Weird.

The US one is a bit like Big Brother (back in the first couple of seasons - where it was mildly interesting to watch) where people form little factions and gang up on each other, but with lots of Gordon Ramsey shouting and sneering at people. There's really not that much attention given to the cooking. Sad. The UK one actually came to my workplace but I think I was on leave or something or maybe just avoided it out of anti-socialness.

We have tried both the Australian and the US Masterchef and they are both massively inferior to the original. The Australian because it drags on FOREVER and became tedious. The US one seems almost uninterested in cooking and more interested in the personal lives of the contestants and, even worse, creating fake drama between contestants. It's pathetic. We gave them up after a season. The best thing about the original is watching the chefs learn and improve, it's ALL about their relationship with food. You don't even hear anything about their personal lives unless they get to the final! /hihack (actually watching Celebrity Masterchef right now)

It's been a week and I'm still not over the bullshit decision of offing two contestants who didn't deserve to go last week. I read the Guardian piece this morning. (Amazing is an exaggeration!). The only not obvious point it made was 'it's not Masterchef'. These aren't professional bakers. They are amateurs. It's sad because I feel like this season works much better than last season. It's funnier and less awkward. But they've ruined it with last week's decision.

I usually find that type of thing unfunny or overdone but it was genuinely funny on this occasion. I guess that Prue and Mary are quite different characters. I think that Paul acts as if he had more respect towards Mary than he does Prue, but perhaps that is because he thought Mary needed looking after or something. But we could just lose Paul and I would be fine with that. Keep Noel. I'm ambivalent about Sandy because Sandy and Noel have no chemistry either (and he is mroe entertaining in this show than she is).

Is Noel going to be a bit more like himself this season? I found him a bit of a weird, pale, washed out doppelganger version last time round. Also, Paul Hollywood is such a knob. I wish they would replace him with someone less odious.

I had it on my to-read list for years, I'd had so many recs for it from this board and elsewhere. I was really looking forward to it, expecting lyrical language and great storytelling. I'd been checking the price for the Kindle version and choosing not to buy it whilst it was still priced at almost £10. But when it dropped under £5 I thought this must be a sign that I should go for it. The overly long descriptions of characters were making it hard to retain interest in what was happening. I get that some novels aren't concerned with plot - but I hadn't really pegged this as one of those. It just dragged and I didn't care about the characters. A sad waste of time and money.

I tried to read Tigana last month. I couldn't get past the first 20 pages. It's painful.

Born in the NW of England (to parents from London) I've been in the SE of England most of my life. Have lived in London for the past eight years.

Well, I don't know about you but I think it's mean to give two finalists the same level of praise and then one wins and the other loses with no further explanations.

Thing is, Sandi comes across the same as she has in almost everything else I've seen her in. The fact that Noel is this hushed, muted version of himself is just weird to behold. It feels wrong and artificial and it bothers me all the time he's on screen.

Unsurprisingly, it's a pale imitation of the original. It is just...lacking in personality. Noel Fielding seems to be holding back, he's just...a diluted version of himself. The show doesn't seem to have to charm or heart it used to have.

Finally, something good to watch on Christmas Day!

Yes, but it's not really a baking show though. We watched the Class of 2015 special last night. It has some hilarious moments. It's pretty nostalgic to revisit what happened last year but also to know that it's over now.

I'm not really sure about the use of spoilers in here as it doesn't say either way in the title... I guess in the UK we're all up to date but people are not 'spoiling' people in other countries who are watching earlier series? Is there an official ruling?

Well, the winner was who I expected it to be. I think the technical challenge was a classic! Nowhere to hide with a Victoria sponge. Sad that it's over forever.

I've been a fan of Candice all along tbh. But I have to say that I was bemused by that episode where she made that ?gingerbread house (it was a pub scene) and everyone said it was AMAZING but I thought it looked terrible... it was like the Emperor's New Clothes.

I hate all that padding out crap. Although the BBC do that too. It's just like taking a good idea and diluting it... Just have to keep watching the endless re runs on all the homey satellite channels.

This finale is going to be so sad though.

To be honest, I have no idea who any of the three judges on the Aus version are! I haven't seen Nigella on that show yet except on an advert. I guess they'll roll her out for some special challenge.

Damn all these endless variations and editions of the same show... But John Torode is a chef and restaurateur though. So, even he has had a relevant career and professional experience which Nigella has not/does not.

He's just a presenter, who likes food and fights. They have Marcus Wareing as the chef who judges the dishes. ETA: I have nothing against Nigella btw. She's a great cook. But she has never been head chef at a Michelin starred restaurant, so you cannot compare her to the likes of Michel Roux Jnr or Marcus Wareing.

Actually, we had been wondering if the contestants on the US and Aus Masterchef shows get any training once they get on the show, because there seems to be a base level of ability (which I don't think we get in the UK version). In fact the UK version is 50x better than either the US or Australian versions anyway (as it's all about cooking, not human interest bullshit). It's pretty LOL-tastic that there is an ad for the Australian show with Nigella telling us it's the best cookery contest in the world. Wevs, Nigella! You know you wouldn't be invited to be a judge on the UK show as you're not an actual chef. Anyway, threadjack over... Val's lame excuses make me cringe. I find it distasteful when people cannot hold their hands up to their own failings. So I loved that bit where she said some self-depracating comment and Paul immediately said, 'yep, I'd agree with you there'.