Great British Bake Off fans slam 'mean' Paul and Prue as they claim runner-up was 'robbed' in final

It was the grand final of the hit Channel 4 show on Tuesday night and it was an all-male baking battle

Great Britsih Bake Off fans have hit out at Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith as they claimed one of the show's runner-ups was 'robbed'. It was the grand final of the hit Channel 4 show on Tuesday night (November 28) and it was an all-male baking battle.

Matty, Josh and Dan had survived the challenges of them week after week in the big white tent in order to be the last three standing. For their final bakes, the trio were tasked with a choux pastry signature, a sticky technical challenge and a celebration cake showstopper.

And at the end of the episode, Alison Hammond announced that Matty had won the show and upon hearing this, the 28-year-old, who has described himself as an “underdog”, expressed his surprise.

READ MORE: I'm A Celebrity fans say 'actually' as they make admission about Jamie Lynn Spears after 'game plan'

READ MORE: Read more of today's top stories from the Manchester Evening News

He said: "I don’t know what to say, everyone said you should go on Bake Off and I thought it was a throwaway comment and never really listened to it. I never thought I would be on the show let alone win it!"

Offering his congratulations, fellow baker and post-doctoral research associate Josh, from Leicestershire, said: "I am so chuffed for Matty – when it always comes to the cake he has been fantastic, he is such a worthy winner, and a lovely chap as well."

Competitor Dan, who is a civil engineering resource planner from Cheshire, added: "I had a feeling that Matty was going to win. On the day it counted and I am honestly so happy for him – what a kid I absolutely love him."

But while many viewers were quick to celebrate Matty's victory, some others shared their disapproval and claimed that runner up Josh was 'robbed' and appered to blame the judges for being particularly harsh.

One said: "Matty is lovely but Josh should have won! Judges were unnecessarily harsh and quite frankly mean to Josh! His showstopper was anything but boring!" Another commented: "Josh was robbed, all due respect to Matty", while a third shared: "Still wildly confused as to why Josh didn’t win. Weird." But a fourth added: "Do feel gutted for Josh because he has very consistently good throughout, but Matty was always my favourite from the start. Stumbling their way through underdogs for the win!"

On the show, the judges spoke about Matty’s journey to the final and Dame Prue said: "I have never met a more cheerful, smiling uncomplaining and willing baker. He was just having such a good time, learning as much as he could, taking on board everything either of us said.”

Meanwhile, Paul said that Matty "got better and better and better". If you are going to smash it you do it in the last challenge, and that is exactly what he did," he said. "That chocolate cake was one of the best chocolate cakes I have had for a long, long time," he added.