Nadiya’s relief as Great British Bake Off secret is finally revealed

She explained: “They all knew that I’d won”.

That’s nearly three times the total who tuned in to ITV and Sky Sports for Barcelona’s Champions League final victory over Juventus (a combined 4.55m).

It was undoubtably the television moment of 2015, at one point drawing in over 14.5 million viewers, the highest television audience figures since the World Cup last July. The people have spoken.

The Luton-born baker admitted to a lack of confidence before she went on the show.

British Twitter users are rallying against the suggestion – by newspaper columnists – that Nadiya Hussain’s victory on The Great British Bake Off had something to do with her identity as a British Muslim of Bangladeshi heritage.

On his part, Judge Paul Hollywood said: “Nadiya has brought something special to the Bake Off. Her ideas, flair, her emotions and her passion were all in her bakes, she just nailed the whole final”.

“I am really proud of Nadiya, not so confident to start with, but over the weeks she has grown in confidence,”presenter Mary Berry told Mirror”.

She said: “Bizarrely, I found the final was one of the least scariest [rounds] and I really enjoyed the experience the most out of all the filming days.

Congratulations Nadiya and the Bake Off team!” Tamal said: “I still have this thing of, I’m a little bit nervous that I don’t want to let anything slip”. “I cried like a baby last night, I texted my friends to say “oh my god I’m wailing” and they all said “don’t worry we are too”. Bridget Minamore tweeted: “Hold tight political correctness, hold tight chocolate mosques, hold tight fulfilling quotas, she still baked better than the white people”, while British and New Zealand writer Stella Duffy added “chocolate mosque is the new humble pie”.

Also in the queue were a few who had grand baking ambitions themselves. Unlike most reality shows, the tone is supremely good-natured – there are no “Apprentice”-style insults here”. “I love baking. I’m sure I’d be out first week but I want to go for it”.

As the crowd were finally allowed into the shop, and weaved their way towards the three finalists who sat beaming behind a red chequered tablecloth, most seemed overcome with nerves.

She said her family life would now “carry on as normal”. The majority of fans rapidly rallied behind Hussain.