Bake Off 2026 Week 8: Connie Out, Moyin Wins Star Baker

Connie, the last woman still in the competition, was eliminated from The Great British Bake Off 2026 at the end of week 8, Caramel Week, according to Primetimer. Moyin was named Star Baker.

Host Noel Fielding announced the result after a week in which the judges found a soggy bottom on Connie’s treacle tart and were unimpressed by her millionaire shortbread.

What the bakers had to make in Caramel Week

Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond set the challenges. The signature was a decorated treacle tart with buttery pastry. To fit the caramel theme, the judges asked the bakers to make their golden syrup from scratch and to serve the tart with an accompaniment.

The technical was millionaire shortbread. Hammond told the bakers the judges wanted a buttery shortbread base, a layer of salted caramel and a marbled chocolate finish.

For the showstopper, each baker built a nougatine structure inspired by Grillázstorta, a Hungarian confection, and made a praline dessert to go with it.

How Connie’s week went

Connie made a classic treacle tart for the signature, and the judges found the base soggy. In the technical, Paul Hollywood said her shortbread biscuit was very chewy, possibly because it was still so hot, and that the chocolate on top looked disastrous.

Her showstopper was a nougatine sculpture called “Thank You, Myke.” She became overwhelmed while building it, so Hollywood told her to take a break and come back after five minutes. She finished in time. The judges had notes on the sculpture but liked the cake and its flavors.

In her exit interview, Connie said she was leaving with no regrets and had made friends for life. She singled out Moyin, whom she now thinks of as something like an adopted son.

Why Moyin won Star Baker

Moyin’s showstopper was an “Omo Oba” nougatine sculpture. He said the title comes from a song his grandmother made up and sang to him, and that the words mean child of a king.

Hollywood liked the design. Nigella said the sapphire element on the sculpture looked brilliant and that the cake, while small and dainty, was full of flavor. She was also taken with the taste of his nougatine: “That smoky and sultry nougatine was just wonderful,” she said. She credited him with listening, learning and showing tenacity over the competition.

Moyin was thrilled to win but sad to see Connie go. He described winning Star Baker in the same week his friend left the tent as “bittersweet.”

What it means for the rest of the series

With Connie’s exit, the 2026 series has lost its last female baker, and every baker left in the tent is a man. Moyin heads into the next week as the latest Star Baker, after a Caramel Week built around cooking sugar: golden syrup made from scratch, salted caramel for the shortbread, and nougatine and praline for the showstopper.

The week’s failures were classic ones home bakers will recognize. A soggy pastry base and a shortbread that was still hot and chewy were the problems the judges pointed to in Connie’s bakes.

Source: PRIMETIMER