Diana Beard, 69, has quit the Great British Bake Off following claims that she had sabotaged a fellow contestant's dessert. The BBC, however, have insisted that her departure is due to health reasons and is not related to the incident, which has since been referred to as 'Bin-gate'.
Diana Beard has left the show due to health reasons
Viewers on Wednesday saw contestant Iain Watters walk out of the baking tent after a disaster with his Baked Alaska. With no dessert to judge, he became the fourth baker to be voted off the show. But some viewers are claiming he was the victim of sabotage after fellow contestant Diana was seen removing his pudding from her freezer. Viewers were left furious over Iain's departure and the BBC received 556 complaints.The episode was filmed in the spring and a BBC spokesman said Diana fell ill on the eve of the next instalment. "The night before episode five, Diana made a decision not to come back This is not connected in any way to what happened in episode four," the spokesman said.
Iain Watters became the first contestant to walk out of the baking tent
The BBC have also spoken out to defend Diana, saying she was not responsible for the baking disaster. In a statement, they said: "As shown in the episode, Iain became the fourth baker to leave the tent because he didn't present Mary and Paul with anything to judge in the show-stopper challenge and both judges were very clear about the reasoning behind the decision. "Due to the extreme temperature in the tent that day, many of the bakers struggled to get their ice cream to set as seen in the episode. Diana removing Iain's ice cream from the freezer for less than a minute was in no way responsible for Iain's departure."