If you haven’t watched this year’s Bake Offfinal or are trying to avoid spoilers, then what are you doing on the internet? You only have yourself to blame. Look away now if you must.
In one of the closest Bake Off finals in cakey history, engineer Giuseppe Dell’Anno triumphed, winning the 2021 cake stand trophy - with Chigs Parmar and Crystelle Pereira worthy runners up. He’d won Star Baker twice - in Bread Week with his ciabatta breadsticks, and in German Week too, sadly for pal and fellow baker Jurgen. And let it be known it was he who nicknamed fellow adopted national treasure Jurgen “The Baking Terminator”.
Another reason why we love him? He kissed Noel’s spatula in the final ‘to win’ and was the only one to actually do it.
Prue loves him too - she revealed he’d inspired her to do more Italian cooking, saying, “He’s such a classical, beautiful baker.”
His Instagram account @gisueppecooks is a joy. The best post? Him and Bake Off ‘18 winning legend Rahul posing for a selfie, with Giuseppe captioning the pic: “They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. I say you should!”
Rahul commented, “It was a genuine pleasure!”. A close second on his Insta is his pic with the winners’ cake stand.
“You think you know what you’re getting yourself into when you sign up… it’s a physically, psychologically and emotionally draining experience,” he wrote. “But also exciting and exhilarating. And I could have never done it without the support of my wife, my fellow bakers and the constant support from the production team!
“Thank you all out there, for reaching out and showering me with love! I will be forever grateful!”
Then in the final, there was the message from his eldery dad in Italy, who was a professional chef and inspired him to cook. SOB.
His dad, with his mum, said, “I wish you all the very best. You have really surpassed me. A really really really big hug.”
“There are no words,” responded Giuseppe. “I’m speechless for once.”
AND then there was his winner’s speech, where he dedicated the win to his dad. Again, megasob.
“All I can think about is the reaction I’m going to get from my mum and dad,” he said. “The fact this comes from his heritage is the best thank you note I could possibly send. He’s going through a very hard time, health-wise and I think this will be a boost.”
We’re sure it will. And if we take covid out of the equation for just a second, Italy is in full on thriving mode and is booked and busy in 2021. Italy won Eurovision with Maneskin (who were invited to announced some of the nominations for the Grammys this week), they won the Euros (yes, a sore point for many as football didn’t come home in the end), and the Men’s 100m Gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Now that Giuseppe has added his achievement to those of his fellow eminent countrypeople - it’s fair to say he’s our favourite Italian export (obviously bar the food - sorry!). Well done!