Candice Brown wins the Great British Bake Off

[dutchman]

Candice Brown has officially been crowned the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2016 after one of the hardest finals in the competition ever.



Candice - also the last Bake Off champion on the BBC - triumphed over her rivals Andrew Smyth and Jane Beedle to grab the title in an episode which saw the bakers tackle three-tiered meringue crowns, Victoria sandwiches, and an epic 49-piece picnic showstopper featuring bakes including a chocolate cake, sausage rolls and mini quiches.

"When they said my name, that means more to me than anyone will ever realise," Candice said after her triumph. "I have low self-belief, even though my friends and family constantly build my confidence up.

"So it was a big moment in my life, probably the biggest so far. I felt that everything happens for a reason, and I did it, and that makes me smile so much. In fact, I can't stop smiling."

She added: "When they announced the winner, I almost didn't hear it and was in complete and utter disbelief. I was aware of it but I couldn't take it in. Mary and Paul came over and I thought my knees would give way, I was trembling so much."

But Candice revealed that it was a close run thing, because just two minutes from the end of the Showstopper she still hadn't got the chocolate on her cake - and had to put it on with her hands.

And she added that the sausage roll pigs that she made were a bit of a fire hazard, joking: "I managed to fill the tent with smoke as I was cooking the crackling, and they had to open the panels."

Meanwhile, Mary Berry dubbed Candice's Showstopper an "absolute humdinger" and said: "Her win was] well deserved for her determination and passion - she really has excelled. For her wonderful flavours, and everything always looked gorgeous."

Paul Hollywood added: "The standard was exceptionally high. Candice is very much all or nothing. When you look back on some of her bakes they have been beautiful. When she nails it, she is one of the best."

So what's next for Candice now?

"If I can get my little vintage shop selling tea and cakes with random antiques that would be my ultimate dream," she revealed. "Let's wait and see what will come my way but I will be grabbing it with both hands and running with it, that's for sure. It would be crazy not to, wouldn't it?"

If you're a bit gutted that The Great British Bake Off is over, though, fear not: you can catch up with Candice and all the bakers on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice on Friday (October 28) at 8.30pm on BBC Two.

[dutchman]

Great British Bake Off finale was its most-watched episode EVER with absolutely huge ratings

Given it was the grand finale plus the last one on the BBC, it comes as no surprise that last night's (October 26) Great British Bake Off was the most-watched episode ever.

Overnight figures released this morning reveal that 14 million people tuned in to see who would come out on top this year - the show's highest overnight audience (via BBC News).

The audience peaked at 14.8 million when Candice Brown was crowned the winner just before the end at 9pm.

This is a big shift from last year, when 13.4 million watched Nadiya Hussain crowned champion.

The figures are also yet to take into account views on catch-up services, so expect the final consolidated rating to be even higher.

She tweeted early this morning that she was "thankful and honoured" to win, and praised her fellow bakers.

[dutchman]

The Great British Bake Off final was the most watched show since 2012

The ratings for The Great British Bake Off's final have risen even further from the absolutely huge initial figures.

According to Barb (no, not THAT Barb), a whopping 15.9 million people tuned in to see Candice Brown crowned the winner of the final full series on BBC One, before the show's much-talked about move to Channel 4.

That marks the biggest audience recorded in the UK for a show since 2012 and nearly one million higher than last year's final.

It's likely that the devastating news of its imminent BBC departure pushed more people to get their last glimpse of soggy bottoms, but it's still a daunting figure for Channel 4 to live up to.

The result puts the Bake Off final into the top 10 most-watched programmes of the decade, ahead of the World Cup 2010 match between England and Germany and just behind an episode of The X Factor from the same year.

To date this year, the most-watched show on Channel 4 is an episode of Gogglebox in February with 5.8m viewers tuning in, almost a third less than the Bake Off final achieved and under half the average 13m each Bake Off episode pulled in.

Before it leaves BBC One, we'll be getting two Christmas specials of Bake Off with all the gang, ahead of Paul Hollywood leaving to front the show on Channel 4.

Whether his obsession with poking dough will be enough for Bake Off to pull in similar numbers on the new channel remains to be seen.