Week 4 - Everything was wrong? - WE ❤️🇬🇧 GBBO

Week 4 - Everything was wrong?

10/18/2020

We're always talking about consistency. It's one of the biggest factors in our rankings because a single failed bake can send a contestant home. Often the baker that leaves isn't the worst baker, she's just the baker who had the worst week.

Were we wrong about Sura? Everything we'd seen in the weeks prior made us believe Sura was one of the most consistent bakers. We've seen small issues with timing and decoration. We flagged clumsiness as a risk in our week 1 rankings and her dropping half her signature did get her into trouble, but ultimately, her fate was decided by a single white chocolate catastrophe.

We stand by our prior rankings. Sura is a talented and inventive baker. Everyone has that one thing they struggle with. Anyone can get unlucky. You're still finalist material in our book, Sura. ❤️ S&A

Ranking the remaining bakers was especially tough this week. The judges hated everyone's brownies and the bakers struggled to wrangle their white chocolate in the heat. We've added the 🤤award to track 'Pruegasms', with Hermine as the first recipient.

Here's who we think is most likely to survive to the finals from here.

#1 Peter

( +1 ) ⭐️ 🥈
In a week where consistency is the hot topic, "Mr. Consistent" nearly got his second star baker. In a field of fancy brownies that mostly failed to impress the judges, Peter's fig & cinnamon concoction earned an emphatic 'okay' rating. We'll take it. He was 4th in the technical and landed a terrific and clever showstopper. We really like that despite his signature not panning out, Peter still went for and landed a creative coconut, mango and white chocolate cake. Another strong showing in the bag and last week's struggles look like the one-off we thought they were. Expect to see Peter in the final.

#2 HERMINE

( +1 ) 🤝 🤤
It's common to lose bakers that emphasize style over substance. If anything, Hermine has a bit of the opposite issue. Her lemon-infused Genoise sponge showstopper triggered the first "Pruegasm" of the season. We've seen Hermine deliver bakes with strong aesthetics in the earlier weeks. She's in our finalists bracket because we're confident she'll bring it together down the stretch.

#3 MARK

( +3 ) ⭐️ 🥈 🥉 🥉
K-Mark has never had a week where he's moved down in the rankings. If he started a little slow in week one, he's made steady progress in every week since, capping his upward march with a bold marula-liquor flavored showstopper and his first star baker. He's finished in the top three in technicals three weeks running. He's unceasingly positive and likable, and we like him for the finals.

#4 Marc

( - ) ⭐️ 🥈
Marc nails his showstoppers. Even when he falters in his other bakes, he brings it when it counts and that's kept him high in our rankings. His white chocolate and raspberry celebration cake hit three for three- professional presentation, great flavor, strong. We imagine that if Mark can translate his consistently solid showstopper performances to his other bakes, he remains a strong contender for the final.

#5 Linda

( +3 ) 🥇 🥇
Linda continues to surprise us, and for that, she continues to climb in our rankings. This week, she handily took the technical challenge with her "model babka", that frankly could have given Paul's own bake a run for the money. The judges found her Treats of Christmas signature unusual and nice, which is more than they could say for nearly any other signature this week. And while her English Rose showstopper fell short visually, it succeeded in flavor and bake. It's not a stretch to imagine Linda winning star baker this week, had the weather cooperated and allowed her to deliver the chocolate collars from her vision. We're looking forward to seeing what Linda brings to the tent next week. At this rate, she may yet find herself among the finalists.

#6 LOTTIE

( -1 ) 🤝
This wasn't Lottie's week, and unfortunately it's the second in a row that haven't gone as planned for her. Though the judges enjoyed the sparkle of her sapphire anniversary cake, the bake was "bone dry", and her signature had all the visual appeal of a self-professed car crash. We worry that Lottie's issues with consistency may be hard to overcome as the field narrows, but she's shown us that she can marry great flavors and good bakes in the past, and her showstopper this week suggest that she can make lovely looking products as well. We hope that Lottie takes this week in stride and that her performances in the weeks to come reflect the early baker that we believe can succeed in this competition!

#7 LAURA

( +2 ) 🥈
Seeing Laura's focus, perseverance and determination to improve pay off is exactly what makes GBBO the show we all love. Although Paul didn't rave about the bouffant-esque white chocolate top of her showstopper, both judges were effusive about her black currant and white chocolate flavor combination. Laura was also one of the only bakers to successfully highlight white chocolate without creating an overly sweet mess. As Paul notes, Laura's obviously putting great thought into her bakes week on week. So far, Laura's never been at risk of going home. We're starting to see a path for Laura to make a late run this season.

#8 DAVE

( -2 ) ⭐️ 🥇
We don't know what to do with Dave. He hasn't had two great weeks in a row. It's hard to place a star baker so low in our rankings, but his repeated failure to execute in technical challenges gives us pause. We know that Dave can bring a strong bake - this week, his Honeycomb Explosion succeeded in every measure save Pru and Paul's seemingly umeetable expectations regarding proper brownie bake, and his Strawberry Splash showstopper only fell short of Paul's oddly particular expectations on the color of the cakes. Dave may have another great week. He's probably not the weakest baker remaining, but his propensity to fail the technical is going to catch up with him before we're down to the finals.

Sura (FInished)

( -8 ) 🥇
Sura had a terrible week. It's hard to know exactly what happened with the bake dropped in the oven- we saw a tray slip, nothing that would have made the bake unsalvageable. As the episode was cut, we couldn't evaluate the tough decision Sura made to serve half a signature. Unfortunately even the half she did present (still in its tray) failed to impress with bake or flavor either. She finished near the bottom of the technical, and she served a hastily decorated, raw cake as a showstopper.

Despite the strong season she's had so far, the only way Sura could have stayed this week was if someone else had failed worse. Like we said in the intro, anyone can get unlucky. You're still a finalist in our book, Sura. ❤️ S&A