Shropshire Bake Off star Diana: My family was targeted online after Alaska-gate
Former Shropshire star of The Great British Bake Off Diana Beard today told how her children and grandchildren were attacked on social media in the wake of the so-called "Alaska-gate" row.
Before last night's season finale, won by Nancy Birtwhistle, Diana, 69, of Alkington, near Whitchurch, spoke about the pressures her family had faced in the aftermath of the infamous show, the fourth episode of the series.
Listen to Diana being interviewed on BBC Shropshire:
Viewers saw Iain Watters eliminated after his dessert failed to freeze. Diana was shown removing it from a freezer for what producers insist was only a few seconds.
She said: "Our younger daughter took every punch I think. I'm not on Facebook and Twitter but she is and was doing sterling work on Facebook and I think maybe she had some of the nasty remarks that were coming through.
"My other daughter in Norfolk was having Press and they tried to get to my grandchildren and I said 'really? No, no. You can do what you like to me, but don't you get to my grandchildren'."
Speaking about the injury Diana suffered that caused her to pull out of the competition, she said: "I blacked out. I've never blacked out before. We were in a restaurant in Newbury and the bakers get together the night before filming – and I hadn't had any booze as some might suggest – and I got up from the table and just blacked out.
"I bashed my head and was out for some time as the next thing I remember I was on the paramedic's trolley. From that moment I couldn't smell or taste and I still can't".
Diana severed her oflactory nerve in the fall.
She returned to the tent for last night's final, in which Nancy triumphed over favourite Richard Burr and graphic designer Luis Troyano.
Judge Mary Berry praised her "quiet determination" while Paul Hollywood said her baking was "close to perfection".
