The winner of the Great British Bake Off 2024 has taken viewers of the Channel 4 show by surprise as many fans believe another contestant should have been the victor.
The latest season of the show was rife with controversy and drama from the very beginning as contestants abruptly quit and fainted, while incredibly popular and talented bakers were eliminated early.
After 10 weeks it finally came down to the three remaining bakers, Dylan Bachelet, 20, Christiaan de Vries, 34, and Georgie Grasso, 34.
All three finalists were first tasked with creating scones and then an afternoon tea ensemble. Lastly, there was possibly the hardest challenge of the series overall, a very elaborate hanging celebration cake.
The pressure appeared to be getting to all three contestants as Alison Hammond announced: “This is the bake between winning or losing.”
Fan favourite Dylan struggled with the consistency of his genoise sponge in the final round. Meanwhile, Georgie was having a moment of personal crisis as she marched to the back of the tent saying: “What am I doing here?” What did I come over here for?”
This caused many viewers to believe that the calm and collected Christiaan was going to emerge triumphant but judges, Paul Hollywood and Pru Leith surprised everyone by selecting Georgie as their winner, calling her cake “absolutely delicious”.
As her name was called out, the mother from Wales appeared speechless, before adding: “I can’t believe I’ve won the Great British Bake Off.
“It means everything, I’ve always been so self-doubtful, but I just went for it. I’m so proud of myself.”
Reacting to the result, fans were left making the same point, as although Georgie was a worthy winner many were convinced that Christiaan or Dylan should have won.
“Sorry. Picked the wrong winner there. Know the showstopper was great, but consistently across each challenge Christiaan was the better baker,” said one viewer.
Another fan added: “She may have done the best in that week but overall no Dylan or Christian definitely should have won.”
A third fan said: “Even with my Welsh bias, I think Christiaan should’ve won that. My money was on Dylan at the start, but unfortunately, he chose to morph into the wonderful Lucy Beaumont for the final. Congratulations to Georgie, though.”
Congratulations to the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2024... Georgie! #GBBO pic.twitter.com/PoVySiEZ08
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) November 26, 2024
Others were more congratulatory towards Georgie and believed she fully deserved her crown.
“Georgie deserved it, smashed the final & did what you need to do in the final by making the perfect showstopper. Feel for Dylan, but that boy has an amazing future ahead of him,” said one viewer.
Another wrote: “I’m so happy for my girl Georgie, she’s been so lovely through the show and i hope this has given her the confidence boost she needs in life.”
Elsewhere, another fan added: “This year’s Bake Off was probably one of the best seasons ever. The amount of talent this year was amazing. Although Dylan was my favourite, Georgie deserved to win. Her journey throughout the competition was phenomenal to watch.”
After being named as the winner, Georgie said: “This is mad. I have won it, I can’t believe it. This is just incredible.”
“I have got this and that wrong with me and think I can’t do it, and you make excuses. For once I thought I was just going to go for it and put my everything into it. Working all hours and I sacrificed time with the kids and the family.”
She added that she was “just so proud of myself”.
“My heart is racing... and I am already feeling sad that I am not coming back here [to the show] and not seeing everyone,” she said.
“The people I have met are going to be best friends for life. This is the best thing I have ever done.”
