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Paul Hollywood ignores judging rules in sending contestant home and Bake Off-fans are outraged

paul hollywood

Paul Hollywood’s controversial decision has people outraged

Yesterday evening Channel 4 aired the semi-final of everyone’s favourite baking show: The Great British Bake Off. We were definitely watching! Were you? If not, here’s a short summary: it was Patisserie Week and, as always, we saw some exciting bakes that made our mouths water. That’s not what most people will remember from this episode, though…

Controversial
When announcing who would be going home, Paul Hollywood said: “This has been the hardest decision that I have been involved with in eight years of the Bake Off.” He then sent home Stacey Hart, which was a controversial move. Although some viewers thought she should have left the tent weeks earlier, she did not do badly this week, as opposed to Steven Carter-Bailey. His showstopper collapsed before it even made it to the judges. Letting him go through to the final despite his disaster bake had many viewers confused. This turned into anger when Hollywood explained the decision.

Judging rules
Hollywood admitted that he and his co-judge Prue didn’t just look at this week’s bakes, but also took the previous weeks into consideration. This means they basically threw the usual judging rules out of the window. It also means that Steven, who has been star baker multiple times and impressed the judges even more often, would easily beat Stacey, who has had quite a few mishaps in the tent. Hollywood said: “Initially we have to look at this weekend closely and if that has still not drawn any obvious answers, it is so close, than yes you look back retrospectively on the whole series. It has only happened a couple of times.”

Angry
Fans were not happy with this revelation, especially not because this wasn’t the first time they felt there has been favouritism towards Steven. They vented about the decision on Twitter:

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Source: Mirror | Image: Video still Channel 4