Prue Leith says David Atherton "absolutely deserved" to win \'The Great British Bake Off\'.
The 36-year-old international health adviser was crowned the winner of the Channel 4 baking competition this week, after entering the final as the underdog, as he was the only baker out of the final trio to have never been given the Star Baker title.
And after some viewers thought Steph Blackwell - who won Star Baker four times during the course of the competition - deserved to win, judge Prue Leith has defended the decision to crown David.
Speaking on this year\'s final episode of spin-off show \'Extra Slice\' on Friday (01.11.19) Prue - who judges alongside Paul Hollywood - said: "You have to do right on the day, it doesn\'t matter that Alice got two Star Bakers and Steph got four Star Bakers.
"On the last day, [David] just got everything right so he deserved it, he absolutely deserved it, he won it."
David recently admitted to being the "underdog" of the series, but triumphed on the day of the final when he beat Steph and fellow finalist Alice Fevronia to take home the trophy.
He said of his win: "Week on week other people were stronger. I was always the underdog and yet I just managed to get through.
"All of it is a bit surreal and I am still trying to process it, but the whole \'Bake Off\' journey is non-stop and part of it is just having the stamina.
"Honestly, it was never in my mind that I thought I could win this. I have had daydreams of winning \'Bake Off\' for about 10 years. The judges always loved my presentation but not my flavours."
The amateur baker achieved victory by impressing the judges with his picnic-themed showstopper, claiming that that he\'d "saved the best til last".
David also had success with his twice baked stilton soufflés in the technical challenge, whilst Steph\'s were under-baked.
