'The Great British Bake Off' 2021 final: Who won?

The Great British Bake Off has named its 2021 champion as Giuseppe Dell'Anno.

In what judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith called the closest final there has ever been, Giuseppe fought off some tough competition from Crystelle Pereira and Chigs Parmar to be crowned series 12 champion.

Read more: All the Bake Off winners so far

The Italian baker, 45, received an emotional message from his keen baker father at the beginning of the episode and later dedicated his win to his dad.

Giuseppe said: "The fact that everything I've done comes from his heritage, it's going to be the best thank you note I could possibly send him.

"He's going through a very hard time healthwise so I think this is going to be a boost.

"It's not often in life I can say that I'm proud of what I've done, but in this case, I'm really proud."

Giuseppe, who is now living in Milan, and his father are planning on putting their family recipes together into a recipe book.

Leith called Giuseppe a "classic Italian baker", while Hollywood said he'd predicted the win since day one.

Hollywood said: "From the first time I walked into the tent and saw his mini rolls, I went, that looks like our winner."

Read more: Bake Off's biggest controversies over the years

Viewers were treated to a tense contest which did not go smoothly for all of the bakers, particularly in the showstopper where Giuseppe accidentally left his oven door open and Crystelle admitted she was "baffled" as to how she had served up a raw focaccia.

The piece de resistance of the final involved making a banquet worthy of a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, but Crystelle's central item of a focaccia clock went horribly wrong.

After being told that all the other elements of her showstopper were near perfect, it all fell apart over the underbaked loaf.

Leith told her: "That is not recognisable as focaccia.

Bread guru Hollywood asked: "What have you done? That's actually raw. Has it been in the oven? It's got no rise on it at all. That's inedible, I've never seen anything like it."

A devastated Crystelle said: "I'm just baffled, how the hell did that happen to my focaccia?"

Meanwhile, Giuseppe was under time pressure after losing precious minutes to leaving his oven door open, while Chigs didn't have time to put the grin on his Cheshire Cat cake.

However, all three finalists produced truly stunning showstoppers with elements that the judges thought were delicious.

Things had been neck and neck after the first challenge - a carrot cake signature bake - while Crystelle edged out in front by winning her first technical in a Belgian bun task that included only two instructions.

Chigs particularly impressed the judges having only taken up baking for the first time in lockdown last year.

Watch: Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith decide who is more intimidating