Great British Bake Off viewers outraged as they 'switch off' in dessert week fury

The Great British Bake Off returned to Channel 4, as the remaining bakers descended into the famous white tent to take on the tense dessert week. However, as the episode got under way with Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood judging the bakes, while Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding kept the final five entertained, not all viewers were impressed with the quarter-final options. During the latest instalment, the bakers were tasked with making a burnt basque cheesecake and a trifle.

However, fans took to social media with backlash after the judges revealed the bakers would be making their take on a free-standing trifle. Many fumed that the classic British layered dessert should not have been an option this close to the final, as it required no baking. Unlike the Basque cheesecake, which requires going into an oven, a trifle is traditionally assembled in a glass dish. Taking to X/Twitter, one fumed: "I am ALL for dessert week and not being 100% baked goods, but TRIFLE?!!! THAT'S JELLY AND CREAM AND BARELY A SLIVER OF BAKING." As a second revealed they'd had enough and wrote: "I've gone off #gbbo. It's all a bit samey, and the humour isn't funny."

A third viewer was equally as outraged and exclaimed: "Trifle? TRIFLE?? It's Great British Bake Off!! Trifle isn't baking."

"Four and a half hours to make a trifle. Give me 15 minutes. #GBBO You can perform a hip replacement in four and a half hours," raged another.

Meanwhile, a sixth blasted: "You can f**k off with your manky trifle."

By the end of the episode, Jasmine was awarded star baker for a fourth time in the competition, while viewers and the other bakers saw Iain get eliminated after failing to impress Prue and Paul with his trifle.

After opting to make a bright orange cheesecake, he ended up at the bottom after struggling with the showstopper challenge. While Prue said the trifle "fell short of flavour," Paul echoed these sentiments and claimed: "I taste like water."

Prue continued: "Normally, we can rely on you to do very good punchy flavours. [This] flavour is all quite pale, except the sponge, which I like the flavour of."

The hopeful suffered another blow as the judges went away to make their decision, and speaking on his "disappointment," Paul added: "Iain's, I didn't like the sponge, I didn't like the layers, I don't think a lot of the flavours were coming through strong enough."

Elsewhere, moments before being voted off, Iain told cameras: "That didn't go well, not at all. I think that the worst feedback of everyone there, it is what it is; it's fine."

However, after Noel revealed that Iain's time in the competition had ended, the baker admitted: "I knew it. I am proud of making it so far. To make it to the quarter-finals is something I could never have thought of.

"I have made some really, really good friends. It has just been fantastic."