Great British Bake Off viewers and bakers alike were left stunned when judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith set a “ridiculous” task.

In the show’s first-ever Back to School Week, the bakers were instructed to create sweet treats often associated with school dinners.

One such task was to make a batch of 12 identical flapjacks with their choice of filling and topping, with a school cake selected for their technical task.

However, for the latter, the contestants had to make their own sprinkles from scratch, which left them – and viewers at home – baffled.

While the bakers themselves were shocked over the tricky task, social media was soon awash with complaints about the awkward challenge.

Taking to X, one penned: “Next week on #gbbo they’ll be smelting iron ore to make their own baking trays. Making sprinkles, honestly.”

“I’m not saying that Bake Off has gone too far but making them make sprinkles is the most ridiculous thing they’ve ever made contestants do. #Bakeoff #gbbo,” a second agreed.

Another shared: “Sprinkles from scratch, that’s ridiculous! #GBBO,” while a fourth added: “#GBBO Making them make their own sprinkles is a step too far.”

Someone else wrote: “Not being funny but I worked in school kitchens and we never made our own sprinkles!! #GBBO.”

“Homemade sprinkles is psycho s*** it didn’t even occur to me that you could even make them at home… #gbbo,” another shared.

“Making sprinkles from scratch seems like a punishment #GBBO,” another commented. (sic)

Nadia ended up coming last in the task for her cake, which was described as “rock solid”.

Meanwhile, Jasmine came in first place. The Showstopper challenge saw the group tasked with creating a summer féte stall display filled with nostalgic goodies.

Joking about the difficulty of the previous task, the judges themselves joked that “no one’s going to make their own sprinkles ever again”.

Drag king Jessika ended up struggling throughout, and was eliminated from the show.

Applauding the baker, Ms Leith commented later: “The thing I have loved about Jessika all the way through is that she is very creative and she takes risks every single week. And I think she took the risk too far this week.”

Jasmine ended up claiming the victory of Star Baker for the second week running, while the judges made clear Iain was lucky to make it through to the next week.

Speaking after her elimination, Jessika explained: “This was going to be my last year to apply and I feel chuffed that I made it to the tent.

“I have met some incredible talented inspiring bakers so it’s not all bad.”