i didn't get to see the challenge when it aired, so i taped it on my dvr and watched it this afternoon. it was kinda cool to hear them talking about different products and actually knowing what they are talking about! (or actually having used it before!!)

i think bronwen is adorable! i want to put her in my pocket!!!

[quote="bethola"]Cocakedecorator:

THANKS FOR THE LINK! I got to state my opinion about the FOOD TV shows AND the negative female judge from the Award Cake Challenge!

Beth in KY[/quote

All the judges were from Food Network. Susan Stockton, Vice President, Culinary Productions for Food Network.

Ps there is another show on before the awards show on Sunday. It says that it is new. I looked on the Food TV site and they do have two shows listed for the awards cakes competition. So maybe there is more footage to be seen.???

The description for the two shows is different.

Or it could be just the same show!!

I enjoy watching the Cake Challenges but this one was very boring. They definetly need to make it a 2 hour show! They only give bits & pieces of what's going on. No one can really get an opinion on how good people work together or how talented they are in only an hour. They only show the drama which I think it wrong. I've heard Colette is a very nice lady. I'll get to meet her in July! Cant' wait! With that said.. I thought Colette's cake was way to bulky too & they used no cool techniques.. just made it look like a pillow. YUCK! The sandwiches were easy enough for a beginner to do. The other 2 cakes were very good! I liked Marina's cake the best even though Bronwen's was excellent~ The oyster shells were EXCELLENT! Bronwen has a great attitude! I just love her! Hopefully I'll get to meet her in July too! Foodtv needs to give us cakers more time!! Oh.. Choco Pan is a very good product! I love it & it tastes wonderful!!

Although I have only read a few comments, I really felt bad for Collette! She is an awesome talent. She is the one that taught Duff how to do his thing... A real icon for us all.

The sad part about this show is she was picked by her partner to help her in the design, so she wasn't in charge. In some parts of the show, the gal (Can't remember her name, but she did win a cake off) was the one in charge. Again and again and again, the gal kept asking questions of Collete that were simple beginner questions.

I think the look on Collette's face was true anguish and complete frustration... If she were in charge, things would have been different.

Under the circumstances, my hat is off to Collette for making honest comments. A Challenge is not a place for new products if they have not been tested properly... Your there to do your best and win and Collette is a winner!

If I were in Collette's shoes, I would have reacted the same way!

This link to your forum was forwarded to me earlier today & I have never posted before but felt compelled to do so after reading in on your discussion today.

I was one of the competitors in the Award Cake Challenge... unfortunately there was SO much you didn't get to see! They easily have over 60+ hours of footage so cutting it down to an hour program is always interesting.

Colette seems to be taking quite a bit of heat from you guys and she really doesn't deserve it! The circumstances we were put in were simply ridiculous and really nothing that any of us signed on for. Colette, Bronwen and myself were all originally asked to mentor a mini-challenge winner through the challenge process- that's what we agreed to- basically giving advice over the phone and being there the day of for moral support. Somewhere along the line the FN began to worry that the end result would be less than spectacular and about three weeks before the taping date we were somehow enlisted as full fledged competitors- working with people we didn't know with our reputations now on the line and zero time to prepare. It was an odd set of circumstances at best. The girl I was paired with literally won her mini challenge 2 weeks before we taped. They flew her to CA the week before the competition for what turned out to be a full day of interviews (of which about 4.5 seconds ended up on the air!) so there was no practice sessions at all. No one had time to prepare in the manner which we were accustomed.

I do agree with you guys there should be less emphasis on the drama and more on the process and the cakes themselves. There were amazing things on all of our cakes that never made it on screen. You should definitely use the link that someone posted above to the FN Challenge email- I know for a fact that they do read them and have made many changes in production based on viewers comments.

As for Colette... she had a bad day- and truthfully none of us were at our best given the circumstances- but she will forever be a superstar of the cake industry and truly my reason for even wanting to learn this art in the first place. It's an honor to have my name mentioned in the same sentence as hers and I know that Bronwen feels the same way.

Thank you for that link to the Food Network. I just sent them an email and hope that more of you will do the same. With many voices, we can possibly get new faces on there.

"I love watching your network as I am a professional cake decorator. I am discouraged though, that you do so many shows as a "celebrity" style, rather than a "teaching" style. As a cake decorator I am always wanting to learn about new techniques and products. Unfortunately I am currently not able to get this information from your network. Please have more shows that teach us, and spotlight new decorators in your challenges, not the same ones time after time. Thank you for taking the time to consider this."

Wow, a response from...I can't believe it....Marina! It's so exciting to hear from a celebrity! Thanks for the inside scoop!

Of course we ALL know that things have to be edited, etc. But, this was a lot of information that we, as the public, don't get.

For instance, I live in KY and one week before I was making a trip to Louisville I saw the Bobby Flay Throwdown episode with Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville. The last comment made was by a gentleman who said, and I quote "I didn't agree with the judge". Okay, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, right? So, I went to Lynn's for breakfast one day and while talking to the cashier she told me that the man that "didn't agree" was one of Bobby Flay's producers! OF COURSE HE DIDN'T AGREE! Go figure! LOL

Beth in KY

Hey, check the post in link below. There's info on the other competitors. Also, Marina's partner Courtney has a website and you can see a picture of the cake they made!

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-215821-0.html

There then, I stand corrected and chastised in the same breath. As I should be, but I didn't have the full story.

Shame on the Food Network for hoodwinking me as a viewer. And shame of Food Network for putting Ms. Peters in such a poor light. "I actually bought the story line." Shame, shame shame on Food Network for messing with all three of their professional reputations.

These big three should be very upset with the station and if I were them would look at defamation.

Shame, shame, shame on Food Network.


Too bad they are the only food television is town, because I certainly would turn the station!

I am so sorry that there was many changes just prior to airtime. Under those circumstances I can see why the celebrities would be so stressed. I wish Food Network would have explained this and we all (myself highly included) might have been more forgiving to personalities and such.

The intention of my post wasnt to blame the FN but to simply explain that there is a back-story to every set of circumstances. Any of us could have said no at any point. I cant speak for anyone else in this regard but at the end of the day every competition Ive been involved with has been a great experience- despite the twists and turns thats just the magic of TV.

The Food Network- and the Challenge series in particular- has done nothing but fabulous things for our industry so to be upset with them is silly. There are quite a few new Challenges coming up there are even a few new faces. Just keep watching and remember there is always much more to a story than what ends up on TV- so cut everyone just a little bit of slack. Thanks!

maybe the food network should do a 'behind the scenes' episode so we can all see what happens when the cameras are off, or before the final show gets aired. that would be interesting to see. plus, it would give us a chance to see exactly what our 'mentors' are like beyond what we see on tv.

Oh nooooooo, not again..............

Bad Tiptop57, bad, bad bad. Do not critique the television/cable industry, bad Tiptop. Sorry Mlsousa and the rest of you on this thread. I must have sounded pretty harsh. I promise it won't happen again.

Yes, Colette surely had it bad from the beginning and that surely took a toll on everything else. She look frustrated (and I would be too) and really tired of trying.

Love the other cakes. Very good sportmanship and creativity!

I am looking foward to seeing them on the show coming up on April 15th!!

I absolutely love the food network cake challenges and this latest episode was no disappointment. I'm always in awe of the talent that is highlighted in each episode. I too wish that we could see more of the special techniques (like how in the world do they build those supports?), longer episode time, and greater details and close ups of the finished cakes shown on TV. All of the teams produced stunning cakes and seeing everyone come together to move that heavy cake was touching. It is because of people like Colette Peters that we even have cake challenges to look at nowadays. She has brought so much attention to the art of cake decorating and hopefully it will be in the public eye for many years to come. Congratulations to everyone and I hope to one day have just a tiny bit of the talent that was in that room that night. Laura

I would like to see an episode where they show how each of the cakes were made and the problems each had and the way they overcame them. Do they not realize some of us would rather learn than to be entertained while watching The Food Network?

tiptop57, you were only giving your opinion. You didn't hurt anyone's feelings, you didn't yell at anyone, you didn't cut anyone down for their opinion You have your opinion~ Don't apologize for that~ It's only a silly tv show anyway right?

That was a good episode. I thought Marina's cake was nice but I have to say that Orlando and Bronwens cake was the winner for me. I think Marina added a creative touch with the tv but the tv is not edible and it isn't cake that didn't seem too fair to me. Bronwen and Orlando not only did great as a team but I think their cake demonstrated how well they worked. It was an awesome cake !!! it definetly represented every show on the Food Network . I was in disbelief with the detail on their cake, it looked so real ! I felt bad for Colette but she seemed like she wanted to give up early on with all the work she put into that cake no way! It was great to see Bronwen and Orlando jump in that was definetly a moment ! Overall its been the best episode Ive watched so far.

i just watched the special again and i wanted to say that i think marina is a doll! she seems so sweet and has such a good personality! and colette seems like such a nice person too. i love the food network because no one acts like a 'holier than thou' celebrity. everyone is so down to earth.

I guess I must not get bored very easily, I thought it was another a great show! Both of the winning cakes were extremely well executed. "Detail Dawn" is a rock star.


I did learn one very important thing... we're sticking with Satin Ice.

She has been around for a bit, so she has a following already. With any product it can have hiccups!

Linda sponsors competitions so that I am glad!

Well, I just got my sample kit of Choco Pan from Linda's shop in Indy. I can't wait to use it!

I'm making a giant cupcake for a young man's birthday this weekend and will probably make the "cherry on top" out of the Choco Pan.

I probably wouldn't cover an entire cake, but, for embellishments I think it could be great!

Beth in KY