Giuseppe Dell'Anno has won 'The Great British Bake Off'.

Giuseppe Dell'Anno won Great British Bake Off

Giuseppe Dell'Anno won Great British Bake Off

The 45-year-old engineer narrowly beat Crystelle Pereira, 26, and 40-year-old Chigs Parmar to take the 2021 title on Tuesday's (23.11.21) episode of the Channel 4 show after impressing judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith throughout the competition.

The Italian impressed in the final signature challenge of the series with his "delicious" version of a carrot cake, which featured a fig and walnut jam, but his overbaked Belgian buns led to him placing last in the technical challenge.

And Giuseppe almost suffered a disaster for the last task of the final, a Mad Hatter's Tea Party showstopper after he failed to close his oven door properly and so it hadn't preheated.

Fortunately, he was able to still pull together a spectacular feast featuring a giant tear-and-share brioche mushroom, mango and passion fruit 'drink me' panna cottas - which particularly impressed Paul and Prue - heart-shaped orange and fig muffins, and a choux caterpillar filled with asparagus and pea.

After being crowned the winner, Giuseppe said: "I feel it's been a great year for Italy.

"I truly can't believe it or take it in, this has made me so incredibly happy to be a Britalian. Dell'Anno is my surname which translates in English to 'of the year' – and I feel this has certainly been my year."

And Giuseppe dedicated his win to his father, who was a professional chef.

He said: "All I can think of is the reaction from my mum and dad. The fact is that everything I have done to deserve this comes from his heritage, it's the best thank you note I can possibly send him.

"He is going through a very bad time healthwise, so I think this is going to be a great boost. I don't say often or lightly that I am proud of what I do, but in this case I am really proud of what I have done. It's unbelievable!"

For the first time ever, all three finalists had been named Star Baker twice and received two handshakes from Paul Hollywood, but the judge claimed he had known from week one who would win.

Paul said: "The first time I walked into the tent and in the first signature I saw his mini rolls, I thought that looks like our winner, you could see the heart and soul going into his baking. He has done an incredible job!"

Prue added: "He is such a classic, beautiful baker and he represents a long tradition of classic Italian baking; he has done it brilliantly all the way through."

The closing credits for the show revealed Giuseppe - who is married with three children - had missed an informal reunion of all of the contestants because he has moved back to Italy and is writing a cook book with his dad.

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