Mary Berry has defended 'Great British Bake Off's' Diana following the Alaska-gate ice cream scandal on last week's episode.
The baking veteran showed her support for 69-year-old Diana Beard from Shropshire after she received torrents of online abuse following scenes which aired on the BBC1 show last Wednesday August 27.
Diana appeared to purposely take another contestant's ice cream out of the freezer in the episode, which led to him throwing the oozing dessert into the bin and later being asked to leave the popular show.
She said: "To be absolutely honest, I think it was forty seconds out of the freezer.
"It wasn't actually set and Iain himself says, 'Poor Diana it's nothing to do with her. It wasn't her fault it hadn't set; it hadn't had time in there.'"
The 79-year-old judge said she could understand why the victim of the mishap, Iain Watters, was angry after finding the core part of his baked Alaska out of the freezer, but could not let him continue on the show because of his failure to present a pudding to the judging duo.
Mary explained: "He went off as we all do, a bit cross, and put it in the bin but he came back with a huge smile on his face and of course walked up to Paul Hollywood and me with nothing, and we can't mark nothing."
When questioned about the varying accounts of the incident, Mary added: "You can trust me, and that is the truth."
Following the airing of the episode last week, it emerged that Diana left the show following the drama due to ill health.
However, Iain assured outraged fans that the pair are still friends, saying: "Guys, no hard feelings now. Diana is a top lady and all us tent bakers are great pals. Can't wait to tune into the rest of the series."
The baking judge made the controversial comments on 'This Morning' while promoting her new recipe book 'Mary Berry Cooks The Perfect...'.
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