Great British Bake Off Finalist Laura Adlington: ‘Despite A Lot Of Setbacks I Never Gave Up, And I’m Really Proud Of Myself For That’

Here at Grazia it is officially NOT OK for us to have favourites when it comes to Great British Bake Off. Ok, maybe we can pick a feeeeew favourites. Like a lil group. But definitely not a favourite favourite. However, it's fair to say that we, like social media, have now fallen in deep love with Laura Adlington across this series of Great British Bake Off. And as the only woman left in the tent...

Laura, 31, is from Gravesend, married to a Police Community Support Officer Matt and is a volunteer for The Samaritans - which is enough to make us love her anyway - and has become one of the biggest news stories of this year's Bake Off.

Laura has twice been forced to come out and defend herself against trolls who thought she should've been sent home instead of Lottie Bedlow and Hermine.

But now, with the Bake Off final airing tonight, Laura has posted on her Instagram, once again killing all the haters with kindness.

She wrote: 'I can’t put into words how lucky I feel to be in the final alongside Peter and Dave — two incredible bakers who I’m proud to call my friends. I may not be the neatest or the most refined baker, but I put my heart and soul into absolutely everything I make.

'Despite a lot of set backs I never gave up, and I’m really proud of myself for that. Thank you to everyone who has believed in me and supported me over the past 10 weeks. It has meant so much to me. Enjoy the final! ❤️'

Laura hit back at trolls last week, after whether she or Hermine should've stayed became a huge national debate.

Judge Paul Hollywood also stepped in to defend Laura.

Previous to that, Laura was forced to hit back at trolls who tweeted about her surviving 80s week, when her friend Lottie Bedlow was sent home.

Responding to people who Tweeted her saying she should've gone home, she said: 'Cheers for that. You are entitled to your opinion but please remember I am a human being with feelings.’

For many Bake Off fans though, Laura's humour and natural nature has made her a favourite.

During week three, viewers were particularly thrilled with her growing friendship with presenters Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding. Is it just us who thinks you can sometimes tell when the presenters genuinely love someone and therefore they must be a good egg?

Speaking in an interview before the show aired, Laura admitted: 'I saw [Matt] in Les Mis last year and he was incredible. I was very star struck when I first saw him and made a bit of a fool out of myself. I think my first words to him were, "Omg I love you".'

Anyway, Laura's love of musicals (as a viewer AND PERFORMER) saw her bond with Matt during Bread Week. She later confessed to Noel in one of their little bench chats (is it us, or are there quite a few of them?) that his Les Misearbles run was the best thing she'd ever seen on the stage.

After their little chat, Noel walked off and Laura casually said, 'Love you!'... Noel didn't respond, but we feel like he DOES love her and maybe just said it off camera, ok.

And yes, we are going to post our own Tweet about it, because it was our favourite moment of Bread Week.

It was when discussing Paul Hollywood's dislike for glitter with Matt Lucas that she uttered the iconic line: 'He doesn't like glitter, doesn't like theatre, pretty sad life if you ask me.'

Which would've been funny enough (we love the contestants getting cheeky with Paul) if it wasn't that it also accidentally sounded like she was quoting the BEST Come Dine With Me episode ever... it's here if you wanna treat yourself today.

Anyway, on the day that The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, suggested those who work in the arts should retrain, Laura's love of theatre airing that evening - expressed through her plaque harvest loaf thing (what WAS that task?) - got her a lot of fans online too.

Laura says she thrives working under pressure (no shocked Sura faces then) and thinks her organised nature is what particularly suits her to taking part in Bake Off. 'The perfectionist in her wants things to look faultlessly pretty and gorgeously dainty', says the official Great British Bake Off website.

But, for a perfectionist, people are also loving her self-effacing nature when it comes to her bakes...

Laura specialises in decoration and is proud to have mastered the art of piped buttercream flowers. Her amazing Instagram showcases some of her best bakes over the years.

We'd recommend following her on her lovely Instagram account anyway, because it's... lovely? Did we say she's lovely?

Yes, us too.