First Bake Off star eliminated from 2025 series after ‘worst cake ever seen’

The first baker has already left this year’s Great British Bake Off (Picture: Channel 4)

The Great British Bake Off is back for its 16th season and fans have already had to say goodbye to one baker, who was immediately dubbed a ‘legend’.

Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith had a tough decision on their hands as the 12 new bakers battled it out over Swiss Rolls and Fondant Fancies.

From controversial ground almonds to poor Iain’s collapsed cake, the series kicked off with some challenges even Prue admitted weren’t an easy start for the new contestants.

The first star baker of the season went to Nataliia, with presenter Noel Fielding eager to share the good news after her stunning Ukrainian showstopper.

However, this means it fell to Alison Hammond to announce that Hassan would be leaving the tent after just one week.

The 30-year-old scientist from South Yorkshire was ‘a bit upset’ but admitted he expected the chop after his early Swiss Roll disaster.

The series was off to a tough start (Picture: Channel 4 / Love Productions) Hassan was defeated by Swiss Rolls (Picture: Channel 4 / Love Productions)

‘Everyone is such a phenomenal baker, they are all such lovely people,’ Hassan said of his competitors. ‘Even though it’s been a short-lived experience, I have enjoyed it.

‘Hopefully I can reflect on some things and then maybe get back to baking when I get a chance.’

He had infused his baking with his Pakistani heritage, using his scientific background and research methods to develop new recipes — to mixed results as seen in the tent.

Fans had predicted Hassan would be heading home after the sheer disaster of a first challenge, after which he struggled to redeem himself.

‘I feel so sorry for Hassan that’s a mess 😭,’ wrote grace_is_sugoi on X as mrstu011983 said: ‘Think it’s safe to say Hassan has had a bit of a nightmare!’

The Swiss Roll was ‘a disaster’ (Picture: Channel 4) Fans were devastated that it went so badly so early on for Hassan (Picture: Channel 4) After this he struggled to find his footing in the competition (Picture: Channel 4)

‘Hassan’s swiss roll glob is probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen served up on #GBBO – IT’S LIQUID MY MAN NOOOOOOOOOOOO,’ joked kkthedoctor.

‘Omg poor Hassan, that swiss roll is a disaster,’ added Holy_Rinoa while plenty of people compared the moment to James Acaster’s infamous baking breakdown.

Speaking about his exit, Hassan shared: ‘[My Swiss Roll] didn’t come out as planned, but the worst thing was that it affected my baking after that.

‘Honestly for my first ever bake in the tent to come out looking like that was appalling to say the least, for all the practice and work put into it. On the positive side, it tasted better than it looked, I guess?’

He praised his fellow bakers as a ‘really fun bunch’ who were ‘supportive and knowledgeable’ in his short time on Bake Off.

‘I guess the biggest takeaway is that I actually got onto the show,’ Hassan laughed. ‘For me I’m usually always interested in how things work, so being part of Bake Off gave me a big understanding and insight into TV work, how things all work and the effort that goes into developing a TV show like this with all the secrecy/background work involved.

Fans were loving his positive attitude in the face of disaster (Picture: Channel 4) He said he loved the rest of the cast (Picture: Channel 4 / Love Productions) Sorry Hassan, we just had to look at this again (Picture: Channel 4)

‘I feel my skills in recipe development, flavour combos/ideas and creating bakes that fit a specific brief have drastically improved since being on Bake Off. There’s a lot of ideas I don’t think I would have ever done, unless I was on Bake Off and asked to create these bakes.’

As for the future, Hassan has ‘still ideas, flavours and bakes’ that he’s keen to try, but it will be more as a ‘fun hobby’ than trying to be the next Paul Hollywood.

‘I don’t have any plans and I’m happy to just go with the flow,’ he added.

Hassan will be back for An Extra Slice with Jo Brand and Tom Allen on Friday, September 5 at 8pm on Channel 4. GBBO will continue next Tuesday at 8pm.

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