Former Great British Bake Off finalist Richard Burr has hit out at newspapers as "horrible" for dredging up candidates' past.

Mat Riley, one of this year's contestants, was revealed as having been involved in a fatal car crash that saw him given a one-year ban for careless driving while another, 49-year-old Sandy Docherty, was exposed for having a 10-year affair with a married primary school headmaster.

"(The papers) were horrible to Sandy, bringing up her past," said Burr. "I think Mat coped very well with people dredging up his past. I don't think he would have gone on (the show) if he wasn't able to deal with what people might say."

The 39-year-old builder was forced to defend himself during the previous series when he was accused of not working on a building site.

The finalist, who came runner-up with Luis Troyano to Nancy Birtwhistle, responded to accusations that he only had a "managerial role" by posting a picture of himself and his father repairing a roof with the joking hashtag #massivetoffs.

"I've been really lucky. The worst I got was the papers trying to pretend I was a toff and wandering around all the builders merchants here trying to ask if I work," he said.

"What can you do? You could make the most perfect beautiful signature and there'd be someone willing to taint it for a few column inches. I try and take it all with a pinch of salt," he added.

Despite being busy since he released his first cookbook, BIY: Bake It Yourself, in August, Burr said that he still gets on site two days a week and that his work had helped him slim down after gaining a stone throughout the show.

Bake off judge Mary Berry's faced backlash for her recent choice of words in the Sunday Times that: "You don't want somebody who's judging cakes to be large."

Burr also took umbrage and said: "I couldn't disagree more with Mary. A large person is someone who likes to eat. Mary's awesome and unless she pays attention to what she puts into herself then she'd be the size of a house. But I don't see anything wrong being someone with a bit of meat on their bones, it shows they love what they do.

"You see Paul (Hollywood) gradually inflating as the series goes forward, but it's because he likes it. Same happens to me, I put on a stone throughout the series," he said.

Not only have this year's candidates dealt with stressful intrusion into their personal lives, Burr thinks some of the technical challenges from Mary and Paul have bordered on "torture".

"Some of those challenges have been tough: the gluten free one was a real toughie. Those mokatines and the souffle session sound like torture," he said.

Burr revealed he was backing Nadiya Hussain as winner in Wednesday's final and that he had tweeted and chatted with the three finalists: Hussain, Ian Cumming and Tamal Ray.

"I've liked Nadiya from day one when she did that tiny, really little black forest gateau in the first week and everyone else did identical things. I think it takes a lot of confidence in your abilities to put out something understated, especially on week one. I've been in her corner right from the start."

Warming the hearts of all Bake Off fans will be the news that last year's contestants are still close friends.

"We all meet up for a Christmas party. I'm putting them all up in my house because I'm the Londoner, I'm the way-stop of bakers. I'm just organising how I'm going to cram them onto my sofas and into my daughter's bunk beds," he laughed.

Burr said he was be up for an all-star series, pitting the last three finalists against each other in a best of the best.

"I would do a Bake Off all-stars tomorrow. I'd go back immediately. I loved it so much while doing it and I miss the tent," he said.