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Last night's GIBO: Tears, meditation and a plating disaster

What did you think of the first episode of the Great Irish Bake Off?

LAST NIGHT THE first episode of TV3′s Great Irish Bake Off aired, and it has to be said it looked great.

Here are the noteworthy elements of last night’s episode.

1.  It’s looks just like the British one!

look

The look, sound and feel of the show was entirely familiar to fans of its British counterpart, and Paul and Biddy did a great job of forming a brand new older lady younger man judging duo.

2.  The judges

The show began by introducing us to our judges, food writer, cook and actress Biddy White Lennon who was hard at work stirring a bucket of egg yolks with a giant wooden spoon (?).

biddy

And Paul Kelly, executive pastry chef at The Merrion Hotel.

paul Look at him there with his upside down ice cream.

3.  Cupcakes vs. Buns

hurling

For the first challenge, the contestants were asked to bake cupcakes, which according to host Anna Nolan, have been around for generations. However, many would argue that they are an offense to the traditional Irish bun.

When did buns become cupcakes?  Are buns gone now?  When will someone answer the real questions?

4.  Biddy’s giggles

laugh

She is constantly either laughing, or on the verge of laughter.  It’s wonderful.

5.  Anna’s words of comfort

comfort

During the tasks, Anna wandered around asking people about what they were doing and comforting them when they messed up.

Burned your cupcakes?  No problem!  Anna likes burned.  Sure, she burned some shallots (or shar-lots) last night!

6.  The contestants

bridg Bridget meditates and often brought cakes to college parties.

Steve from County Sligo has seven children. SEVEN.  It will probably take a lot to get him in a flap.

The same should probably be said for Bridget who likes meditation, and has a reasoned approach.

It’s really cake at the end of the day, you can’t get too worried about it.

Bridget spent her college years bringing cakes to parties when everyone else was bringing beer, ‘I was trying to make them a bit more cool’.  Yes.  Cool.  That’s it.

Will from Limerick’s dad is a Dutch confectioner, which means that Will occasionally does a Dutch accent.  It’s highly amusing.

Stephen is a charming young rugby player – who would have predicted that?!?

Maryanne is the star baker of week one and clearly a strong contender.  ONE TO WATCH, PEOPLE.

5.  This mess

mess 2

What was going on here, at all?  Toby is not a tidy baker.

6. Steve’s balloon animal failure

baloon

Towards the end of the first task, Steve got out a pump and began to blow up balloons.  He then attempted to fashion them into… something.

What?  We don’t know. We may never know.  This is a truth we must face.

7.  The crunch

genoa sponge What it's meant to look like.

For the first technical challenge, Paul has chosen a Genoise sponge with chantilly cream white chocolate crunch and wild wexford strawberries for them to bake.

The White Chocolate Crunch is what makes this cake special, apparently.  It’s white chocolate mixed with Special K!  Special K!  How un-glam.

Biddy is mad for the crunch, she won’t stop going on about it while she tastes the cakes.

8.  Poor Laura

mess That's meant to be a cake. Whoops.

Things do not go well for 17-year-old Laura.  She burned her hand, there was a hole in one of her cake layers and then as she tried to move her cake onto a plate the whole thing fell apart.  The poor thing.

It’s a real shame that there are only two tasks per week because if there had been a third Laura might have been able to turn it around, but alas, this was to be her first and last week on the bake off.

According to TV3, the show will include a Technical Challenge each week, with the other one alternating between Signature Bake and Showstopper.

9.  The crying

crying

Maryanne was crying over Laura’s departure.  Crying!

They’d only known each other a day, for pity’s sake!

What did you think of last night’s show? Tell us in the comments.

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