Great British Bake Off runner-up Laura Adlington has said the online abuse she was subject to during the show was so extreme it was as if she had “murdered someone”.
Series judge Paul Hollywood was forced to step in and defend Adlington after viewers took to Twitter to say that she should have been eliminated instead of fan-favourite Hermine in the semi-finals.
In a new interview with Huffington Post, Adlington said: “While the show was airing, I was very anxious. I struggle with anxiety anyway, and it was like a big rollercoaster. Gearing up for every Tuesday night – it was exciting and it was fun, and I don’t want to sound negative about Bake Off, because I really did love it, but dealing with being in the public eye, and Twitter in particular, was challenging, to say the least.”
Speaking about the abuse, she said: “I just wanted to be like, ‘Jesus, it’s a show about cake, give me a break.’ I felt like I’d murdered someone at some points, the hate that I was receiving. That was really tough.”
At the time of the online backlash, Adlington had tweeted: “It's OK to be sad your favourite person didn't go through, but please remember it's not my fault. I don't make the decisions. GBBO is all about kindness and I haven't seen much of that on here.”
Hermine also posted a message on social media asking fans not to send abuse to her former competitor.
“Please don’t be unkind in my name,” she wrote. “Honour my time in GBBO by showing love and kindness. Behind what looks like characters on your TV are real people.”
