Bake Off Last Night.

[Georgiesmum]

Did anyone else cry buckets at the Bake Off last night or was I the only one?

[B00]

Yes, lol!

I was holding it together, just, when Ian was crying, but then when Mary started to go, I cracked.

[Samuraisan]

Why did you cry ? She was the favourite to win, did a good job. The two men were not up to scratch.

[maggiebee]

Don't watch the programme but my daughter said the best contestant won.

[viv41]

No, I didn't cry, but thoroughly enjoyed the show.

[hellywelly4]

No

[jno]

the Mail seems unmoved - the first time in four years it hasn't run a photo of the winner on its front page

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/08/daily-mail-great-british-bake-off-winner-bbc

Can't think why.

[Gavmacp]

I generally not that passionate about who wins but I was really pleased, when Mary cried it really touched me!!!

[woofgang]

It was a lovely series and a lovely end....just sorry we have to wait till next year now.

[joggerjayne]

I haven't seen any of this series. The last time I watched GBBO was when our local girl Cathryn Dresser was in it, which must've been 2012.

So this is only what I've heard, rather than my opinion.

The person who won was effectively lined up from the start to be the winner. The BBC had been accused of being too "white middle class" with their contestants. They needed ethnic minority finalists, and they needed an ethnic minority winner.

She baked really badly at the start of the series, but the BBC needed to keep her in, so the presenters said they could see some sort of promise in her, kept her in, and sent home contestants who had baked much better. Even if she had a bit of a disaster, she was still kept in.

In the meantime, some people within the BBC, who knew she was being lined up as the winner, made the mistake of placing too many bets. The significant betting bias in favour of the eventual winner aroused suspicion, and has led to the current inquiry.

In the final, she made an uninspiring lemon cake of some sort, and wrapped it in a patterned cloth, so the decoration on the cake was not done by her, it was just fastened around the cake. Because she had to win, the judges said that it was the best lemon cake they had ever tasted, or something.

The other contestants needn't have bothered turning up. They were always going to be runners up, even if the winner had used an Aunt Bessie's cake mix. The bookmakers had already realised that something was amiss, and had pushed their odds on the lady winning out to 1/7 ... but people were still betting on her. Nothing the bookmakers could do was going to stop people backing the known winner. She was the ethnic minority female, whose son was watching from a hospital. There was only going to be one winner.

Anyway, that's the word on the street. Personally, I know nothing.

[Ken4155]

^^
Just about sums it up perfectly, jj:-)

[Georgiesmum]

Ihave only just started watching this programme for the last four weeks. so I am new to it all. I hoped she would win.

[Baldric]

The only thing that makes me cry is that TV Bosses think this sort of garbage is entertaining, it's just another cookery show, it's not!

[marval]

She said in The Sun that she had to hide the winners trophy under her bed in June. It just shows how long ago it was filmed and decided, no wonder there was trouble about people betting on it.

Well done her though.

[rosyposy]

I read that too marval, don't know how they keep it so quiet considering how quickly the news leaks about the Strictly vote off. So many people (and children) at the presentation too, miraculous in this day and age :0)

[trt]

## It just shows how long ago it was filmed and decided, no wonder there was trouble about people betting on it. ##

Yep, spot on marval,

How could all of those family & friends at the final kept it a secret since June, especially the kids at school?

[trt]

Oops rosy, didnt see your post.

[Ken4155]

Chris Evans interviewed her on Radio 2 this morning and asked her how she got her kids to keep it quiet for so long. "I've turned them into pathalogical liars" was her answer.

[woofgang]

Its an interesting idea Jayne and I bet there was dancing at the Beeb when she won, but every other contestant would have had to be nobbled or bribed in some way to make it happen. She did bake badly at the beginning but every week there was someone who had done worse. In the final, the other two contestants messed up the technical. Her son wasn't watching from hospital, he was home again, he watched the previous episode from hospital. If they had been determined to have an ethnic minority finalist, why not have more ethnic minority contestants to start with and make the challenges less "European"?
I know nothing either but that has a strong whiff of sour grapes to me. If I had been given the task of achieving an ethnic minority winner I could have done a much better job!

[Retrochic]

This is terrible -next thing we know they will be telling us X Factor is fixed!