The Truth About Crystelle Pereira From The Great British Baking Show: Season 12

Crystelle Pereira is a 26-year-old client relationship manager who lives with her parents and sisters in North London (via Netflix). Her bio on "The Great British Bake Off" website says she speaks four languages, and her parents are Portuguese-Goans born in Kenya. She loves to cook and bake with miso — perhaps a little too much for GBBO fans, according to The Sun.

"The Great British Bake Off" airs on Tuesdays on Channel 4 in Britain, with the same episode airing in the U.S. as "The Great British Baking Show" the following Friday on Netflix. So, spoiler alert for U.S. fans who have yet to watch this week's semifinal episode: Crystelle earned this week's Star Baker title and advanced as one of the three finalists of GBBO Season 12. Tune in next week to see whether Crystelle, Giuseppe, or Chigs wins the whole thing.

London Eater, whose reporting betrays a consistent animosity toward GBBO (or maybe just toward Paul Hollywood), believed that fan-favorite Jürgen was robbed this week, as he was eliminated in the semifinal round. London Eater and Twitter user @Eliseylouwamba both argued that Jürgen would be in his rightful place in the finals if Crystelle had gotten the elimination she deserved in the quarterfinals week. Nevertheless, she persisted.

Crystelle Pereira intrigued right off the bat, with the first challenge of the first episode of "The Great British Bake Off." She made coconut and chai mini rolls, a combination judge Prue Leith said she had never tasted before (via Netflix). By Episode 3, "Bread Week," Crystelle was coming into her own. AV Club declared that her feta and grape focaccia bread with fennel and walnut (via Gold Derby) proved she was a "formidable" contestant.

Crystelle has only been baking seriously for three years, according to her GBBO bio page, but by Episode 4, "Dessert Week," she showed she could pull off a top-notch decorative joconde sponge cake with "clever" piping and "perfect" layers, according to Telly Visions. Crystelle finally nabbed the coveted Star Baker award — her first of two — in Episode 6, "Pastry Week." Crystelle squeaked through the quarterfinal Episode 8, even though she came in last place in the technical competition and almost choked out Paul Hollywood with her overly spicy chutney, per BuzzFeed. Fans of Jürgen — and there are many — still remembered Crystelle's quarterfinal stumble when she got the better of the German baker the following week in the semifinal.

Twitter is deeply divided over Crystelle Pereira. Count Twitter user @followthatgoose among her fans. "Congrats to Crystelle!" he tweeted after she made the semifinal. "I've so loved seeing her bakes, which always are so precise and gorgeous, and have really appreciated how often they've tied to her family in some meaningful way."

Several others on Twitter, on the other hand, took issue with Crystelle's theatrics. User "Niamh" tweeted, "Anyone else find Crystelle really irritating, or am I just sad because Jürgen left?" Someone responded, "Her comments and reactions come across to me as too much like 'oh, look at me.'" User @angrykilljoy1 was in the group that didn't like Crystelle's interactions with the hyper-masculine Paul Hollywood, calling her behavior toward him "simpering" and stomach-turning.

Still others noticed the trolling directed at Crystelle and came to her defense. "There's a very specific type of online hate reserved for young and confident women on TV: 'annoying,' 'drama queen,' or only getting ahead because they're apparently 'flirting,'" @helenawadia tweeted. "Some people just can't handle it when talented women like Crystelle from #GBBO succeed."

For her part, Crystelle is reacting playfully to some of the online jabs she's been getting, especially as they relate to her obsession with miso (via TikTok). As far as haters go, Twitter user @auntybacterial gets points for at least admitting her anti-Crystelle feelings are rooted in envy. "I'm kind of over Crystelle's over-exaggerated facial expressions. You look like a GIF at all times, Crys," they tweeted. "Like, you can't be so pretty and so over-dramatic. You have to pick one."