Paul Hollywood says picking a winner in this year\'s \'Great British Bake Off\' final was the "hardest judging [he\'s] ever done".
The \'Bake Off\' judge praised finalists Steph Blackwell, David Atherton and Alice Fevronia, admitting the trio are "on par with the best bakers ever", and he says picking the victor "relied a lot" on who made a better showstopper.
He said: "Some of them are on par with the best bakers ever.
"Certainly from my point of view this year was the hardest judging I\'ve ever done. It all relied a lot on the showstopper and not necessarily on challenge one and two."
Paul admitted he was left wondering why one of the contestants couldn\'t just "dominate" the final - which airs tonight (29.10.19) on Channel 4 - with their bakes, so he and fellow judge Prue Leith would\'ve had an easier task choosing the winner.
He said: "The judging, the criteria - it was all about detail. One slip and that\'s it. It was really tight.
"Again, they flipped, they moved. You\'re thinking, \'Why can\'t someone just dominate, dominate, dominate? ... Bam, there\'s your winner."
Last year\'s final was incredibly close and tough to predict, with Rahul Mandul eventually overcoming Kim-Joy Hewlett and Ruby Bhogal, but Paul has teased that this year\'s finale is even tighter.
He added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It was even closer this year that last year."
On last week\'s semi-final, Rosie Brandreth-Poynter narrowly missed out on a place in the final as she was axed - but she praised the "incredible" \'Great British Bake Off\' production team for working around her nut allergy "so well".
She said: "I have a nut allergy so I was so amazed that the production team took that on board, had me in the tent and had to adapt certain practices for filming, everyone worked around it so well, the back room production team were incredible and flexible."
