Great British Bake Off champ Rahul Mandal has his apple pie on one of this year’s new contestants.
The 2018 winner got all soppy online in a message of support to 20-year-old Peter Sawkins ahead of the latest series.
Rahul, 33, wrote on Instagram : “Welcome to the family!! Can’t wait to see what you bake!! (And have to say it you are sooooo cute!!!) Good luck!”
The fruity comment raised an eyebrow from former Bake Off rival Dan Beasley-Harling who asked Rahul: “Have you been drinking?!”
Peter is the youngest of the 12 bakers out to impress Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith in the Channel 4 show starting Tuesday.
The Edinburgh finance student has watched every series since he was 12, and says: “My strengths are time management and planning – my weaknesses, artistic decoration and bread baking.”
Engineering researcher Rahul, 33, delighted with his intricate cake designs and charm.
This year’s contest sees Matt Lucas hosting with Noel Fielding after replacing Sandi Toksvig.
Because of Covid-19, the show’s 130 cast and crew had to form a bubble at their Essex hotel base.
Paul said: “There was a lot of community things going on but the bakers had to keep apart from us. They had a separate dining room and separate breakfast things. We were lucky because the hotel was so big.
