Overview
- The finale, which aired Sunday, confirmed Vinnie Gibaldi as the champion and $250,000 winner, Petro Papathomas as runner-up with $40,000, and Aaron Kher in third with $10,000.
- The contest ran six hours in two stages: a 75-minute Mystery Box then a five-hour pastry challenge where finalists had to recreate three of Cherish Finden’s Chinese Afternoon Tea desserts and produce nine in total.
- Judges Poh Ling Yeow, Andy Allen, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli evaluated the final and gave Gibaldi 80 points to Papathomas’s 67 in the pastry test, a margin that determined the outcome.
- Both finalists are amateur cooks — Gibaldi a nurse and Papathomas an accountant — whose season-long personal stories and family culinary ties helped drive viewer interest after they eliminated 22 opponents between them.
- The season included high-profile moments that boosted ratings, with the network reporting 1.6 million viewers for a Meghan Markle episode, and filming for the next season is expected to begin in November for a 2027 broadcast.