Luis Troyano, ‘Great British Bake Off’ Finalist, Dead at 48

The Great British Bake Off is mourning the loss of one of its own. Luis Troyano — a runner-up on Season 5 of the popular culinary competition series, which streams on Netflix under the title The Great British Baking Show — has died. He was 48.

Troyano’s agent Anne Kibel confirmed Troyano’s passing Tuesday, confirming in a statement shared to Twitter that the contestant passed away last week following a battle with esophageal cancer. Kibel remembered Troyano as a “fantastic man with a love of baking that saw him get to the finals of GBBO, write a wonderful book, Bake It Great and do so much more.” His death was also confirmed by the official Twitter account for the series, who said that they “are deeply saddened to hear” of Troyano’s passing and called it “a huge honor and pleasure to have him in the Bake Off Tent for Series Five.”

Troyano, a marketing manager with the city council of Salford, U.K., had competed during Season 5 of the baking competition series, which broadcasts in the U.K. on Channel 4. His Roscón de Reyes won him his first and only Star Baker title during bread week, according to Entertainment Weekly. Throughout his time in the competition, he continued to impress the judges and never once landed in the bottom-baker pile. In 2015, he published his book, Bake It Great, which was selected by The Independent as one of the 10 best of the many cookbooks emerging from the show.

The 48-year-old had opened up about his battle with cancer in April of this year when he shared on Twitter that “a year ago today I had my cancer surgery and an awful tumor removed that would have killed me.” At the time, Troyano offered a “huge thanks” to the doctors and other medical professionals who had aided him and “saved my life.” He is survived by his wife, Louise, who, in a JustGiving page in Toyrano’s memory, extended her thanks to the multiple organizations and foundations who tried “to save my life and their tireless work to try and eliminate cancer. But more importantly a massive thank you to all the amazing professionals who really did try their absolute best for me, showed me absolute compassion and gave me more time than what was seemingly possible.”

News of Troyano’s passing has been met with condolences from those in the culinary world, with Simon Wood, British cook and winner of the 2015 MasterChef competition, remembering Troyano as “a great guy.” Paul Hollywood, a longtime judge on the series, called him a “fantastic baker” who “will be missed by all in the Bake Off team.”