BAKE Off fans were devastated tonight as Briony became the next hopeful to leave the tent.
The Bristol native, 33, struggled to hold back her tears as she narrowly missed out on a spot in next week’s final, after a mishap-filled Patisserie week.
The doting parent was sadly sent home by a tearful Sandi Toksvig, while Ruby was announced star-baker – just one week before the final.
Taking the news in her stride however, Briony said afterwards: “I’m sad to not be going through but so happy with how far I’ve come in so many ways. What an experience.”
Before adding: “I still love baking. I love it more than ever! I don’t often say I’m proud of myself, but I am.”
Her departure leaves Ruby, Kim-Joy and Rahul to battle it out for the title of Great British Bake Off Champion 2018 next week.
However, fans were quick to express their devastation on Twitter after Briony’s emotional departure.
One wrote: “Nooooo I love briony :(”
While others added: “Sorry to see you go Briony. Crowned in glory regardless” and “Dear Briony, in the words of Sir Bruce “you’re my favourite “”
Another said angrily: “May have just went into a little swearing rampage about Briony’s departure on #gbbo. Trying so hard to remember it’s just a show about cake.”
As a further fan added sadly: “Briony leaving is emotional trauma i was not ready for”, followed by a meme of Rylan Clark-Neal crying his eyes out.
Briony left after the notoriously tricky Patisserie week, kicking off with dipped Madeline biscuits – which judge Paul Hollywood branded “deceptively difficult” to make.
However all four hopefuls impressed with their attempts, and Rahul proved to be back on form with his impressive raspberry and white chocolate batch.
The technical challenge saw the bakers whip up a Seven Veils cake, complete with the famously hard to master Genoise sponge and chocolate mirror glaze.
Rahul saw a fall from grace by placing last, while Kim Joy was delighted to find herself in second – despite crying over her failed chocolate mousse.
Yet, it was the show-stopper challenge – a 36-piece Patisserie window display – that saw things in the tent fall apart.
While Ruby triumphed, Briony was left on the verge of tears upon realising her dough was raw, and Kim-Joy faced criticism from Prue and Paul over the “chunky” size of her creations.
Rahul’s eclairs were branded “boring”, but he pulled things back with his “stunning” milles-feuilles, leaving the judges with a very difficult decision.
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The successful semi-final came after the show was hit with fix claims last week, when Manon Lagreve was given the boot.
The French hopeful, 26, was sent packing after making more of a pain-au-chocolat than a Danish pastry during the show-stopper.
However, fans were furious with the result and even threatened to boycott this week’s show, as they felt Rahul should have been the one to go, after three disastrous bakes.
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