Monday 6 October 2014

Tears Before Bake-Off time

My two boys love The Great British Bake-Off. And I'm wondering. Am I alone?

Nine-year-old Littleboy1 in particular seems to be fascinated by this show, which in itself is strange as, of the two, he is the more traditionally "boyish".  (His brother, meanwhile, has been known to say he wants to be a girl, and prefers drawing pictures to football.)

Although I'm not a big fan of baking, we happened to watch it a couple of times in the summer, and now, despite the fact that it's on at bedtime, he wants me to record it so we can watch it together the next day. He then sits down and solemnly watches people baking cakes for an hour. It's quite funny to watch him; he doesn't get any of the Mel and Sue smutty references on the show, but laughs like a drain when they try to sneak some of the food. So I suppose I have to hand it to them for appealing to audiences of all ages....

Last week he burst into tears when Chetna, (his favourite), was voted off the show. I think he finds the whole voting-off procedure quite traumatic -- we don't watch The X Factor or anything like that with the kids, and it's the first time they've experienced that particular aspect of reality TV.

But he's clearly fascinated by the show and it has caught his imagination. Having last week said his ambition in life was to become a Bake Off judge, he's now decided he wants to be a baker when he grows up, and open a patisserie. Never mind that his mother is one of the world's worst bakers and the extent of our (joint) baking repertoire runs to crumble, a blackberry cake a few weeks ago and several batches of chocolate brownies. But his eyes lit up when I suggested making a cake next weekend to take to a Harvest Supper.

I have an inkling that there might be other small boys out there who are addicted to this show (his-10 year-old cousin apparently watches it in cookery class at school). Although I have no idea if he ever discusses his Bake Off passion with any of his mates. Anyhow, we will solemnly be sitting down to watch the final on Wednesday night. I might even bake something in celebration.

5 comments:

DD's Diary said...

You are not alone - I was very surprised to find my 7 year old stepson glued to a repeat of the Bake Off this weekend. He'd already seen the episode (the one where they attempt to put pastry on pears and it all slides off) but he wanted to see it again. And after that, he wanted to watch Jo Brand's Extra Slice. I must say I was delighted. I love GBBO and it's a great improvement on watching the appalling Asterix movie, his previous fave!

Expat mum said...

We don't get that but my 11 year old is addicted to Master Chef and Junior Master Chef. This past weekend he and my husband made a whole batch of pasta meals (home made pasta don't you know) and he was almost expert at rolling out flat pasta sheets purely because he'd seem it on MC.

MsCaroline said...

Well, we watch all the cooking shows we can get over here on Hulu (Master Chef, Iron Chef, Cake Boss.) #2 is a huge fan of Cake Boss, and #1 actually likes it almost as much. I think it's a great combination of tasty edible goodness plus really cool art. I've never seen the GBBO, but I read a lot of blogs written by people who do, so I'm familiar with the premise. I think it's wonderful that he likes a show everyone can enjoy - so much better than being forced to sit through Ninja Turtles or somesuch, right?

About Last Weekend said...

That's the great thing about all these shows - at least boys start to thing about those other activities as more accessible - yay all good. I am so not a baker. I am toast with marmalade is all I can manage currently

Iota said...

Are you alone? There were over 13 million viewers, so... probably not!