‘The Great British Bake Off’ is just days away from its 2021 final and this series may be the best one yet.
If you want to avoid spoilers for ‘The Great British Bake Off’, stop reading this article now.
In last week’s semi-final Crystelle Pereira, Chigs Parmar, Giuseppe Dell’Anno and Jürgen Krauss battled it out for a place in the final. Going into the episode, it seemed that Crystelle was most likely to be miss out on the final but viewers were surprised when Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith chose to send Jürgen packing.
That means that Crystelle, Chigs and Giuseppe will be competing to win when Tuesday’s final episode of the series airs. Honestly, any one of them could win as they’ve all shown so much growth and skill over the series.
For me though, I’m rooting for Leicester sales manager Will ‘Chigs’ Parmar. The charismatic baker was the newest to baking when the series started, having only begun his baking journey at the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020.
Over the past 9 weeks, Chigs has won the hearts of ‘Bake Off’ fans across the world thanks to his impressive skills, his adorable personality and yes, his dashing good looks. Even when things haven’t gone Chigs’ way in the tent, he’s still been able to plaster on a cheeky smile.
Chigs really encapsulates what ‘Bake Off’ is all about. While Jürgen had been a firm favourite to win the series, the German baker didn’t go through the same journey as many of the other contestants. He’s been consistently good from the start and he’s not been on the huge growth journey that Chigs has – and don’t viewers love a good arc when it comes to their ‘Bake Off’ winners.
Week after week Chigs has gone from strength-to-strength, pushing himself out of his comfort zone and rising to the challenge. He’s been awarded Star Baker twice during the series, with his most impressive moment coming during Free From Week where Chigs’ Gluten Free Red Velvet Celebration cake blew our socks off. At the beginning of that episode he admitted he’d never baked anything ‘free from’ before but his triumph suggests he’s a natural.
Aside from his baking skills, Chigs has won a legion of fans thanks to his personality. He’s easy to relate to, calm under pressure and always entertaining. Whether he wins the series or not, Chigs will likely go on to have a career in television and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets booked on shows such as ‘This Morning’ and ‘Saturday Kitchen’. Possessing that same quality that has seen previous winners John Whaite, Candice Brown and Nadiya Hussain become National Treasures, Chigs has what it takes to turn his ‘Bake Off’ run into a full-time career.
Chigs, of course, will come up against Giuseppe’s impeccable range of baking skills and knowledge and Crystelle’s ability to create gorgeous jaw-dropping bakes linked to her family, but for I have a feeling he’s going to pull off one of the most-deserved victories in ‘Bake Off’ history.
‘The Great British Bake Off’ final airs on Channel 4 at 8pm on Tuesday 23rd November 2021.
