Series 1
August 2010
GBB Winner: Edd Kimber
Tye's Top: Edd & David
Although the format was basically in place, it took a few episodes for the judges, hosts and rhythm to really start to mesh. Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry were there, along with hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. In addition, the first series had a voiceover by Stephen Noonan providing info at different points in the show.
The show overcomplicated things in it's first year by moving the tent to different locations around the UK for each episode. They tried to be clever, by going to Bakewell for puddings, and then a place called Sandwich for bread week. The change wasn't needed, and after this series concluded, the tent stayed in place.
In the first few episodes, they got rid of 2 baker's each week, then moved to eliminated just 1 about half way through. They also were still working out the kinks for the middle challenge, the technical, and didn't initially list all of the baker's from worst to best. The worst part of the first few seasons to me, were the unnecessary filler 'stories' hosted by Mel and Sue. Although I love Mel and Sue, I didn't enjoy their excursions outside of the tent to educate viewers about the history of the bakes. They were informative, but got to be too much after awhile.
None of the contestants bugged me this season, and Edd, David and Jonathan were all cute and enjoyable to watch. Poor Jonathan was stuck with a voice reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon animal, but he seemed like a nice guy. This was probably one of my least favorite seasons of the show, and one of the last I watched during my pandemic binge.
Series 2
August 2011
GBB Winner: Joanne Wheatley
Tye's Top: Rob Billington
Ian Vallance
Series 1 was a hit, and very few changes were made in Series 2. The judges and hosts remained the same and the challenges and format were now organized and set. They did move from 10 to 12 bakers in season 2 and just 1 baker left each week.
As far as the bakers went, I liked Joanne, although her self-doubt could be annoying. I think my favorite was Mary Ann whose personality I really enjoyed. Ben was a little annoying, but given my level of annoyance with certain future bakers, this was a pretty good season overall.
As for hotties to watch, there were several in Series 2. Ian was incredibly handsome and Jason and Keith were cute. My favorite from the season though had to be Rob (Robert) Billington. Rob wasn't the most organized baker, which annoyed the hell out of Paul, but I sort of enjoyed that.
Rob was a little flakey, but the photographer had the sort of artsy vibe that so many guys I crushed over in high school and university had. Rob got the boot on week 5, but given the show had only 8 episodes this Series, he was there for most of the run.
I also enjoyed watching Rob bend over his oven and we got a few glances at his undies. I'm sure we there were plenty of butt cracks, but the show always seemed to edit, cut or blur them out.
No comments:
Post a Comment