There’s no surer sign that autumn is approaching than hearing news of an upcoming series of The Great British Bake Off.
True to form, the series has started gearing up to launch in September, and kicking things off is the announcement of the new bakers. They’ll be putting their skills against each other in the famous baking tent, under the watchful eyes of Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood.
Who’s in the running to clinch baking glory this year?
Aaron
38 year old Aaron is from London and works as a Senior Systems Architect. He’s a baker who fuses French patisserie with Caribbean flavours, and calls himself the ‘King of Hobbies’ for all the hobbies he’s picked up: cycling, teaching himself French, or studying for a Master’s in Computer Science and Data Analytics.
Hassan
Hassan is 30, works as an Analytical Research & Development Scientist and lives with his mum in South Yorkshire. He works in the pharmaceutical industry, testing new drugs, and his approach to baking is similarly analytical. With Pakistani heritage, he’s always looking for bakes and flavours that mimic traditional Asian sweets.
Iain
Software engineer Iain is 29 and lives in Belfast, through he originally comes from Coleraine. He’s a former amateur powerlifter and likes to incorporate the cover art of his favourite albums on the sourdough loaves he bakes.
Jasmine
Though she was born and raised in Edinburgh, 23 year old Jasmine now works as a medical student in London. She lives with her cousins and learned baking from her mums and aunts.
Jessika
Jessika is a roller-skating Drag King who also loves to bake. 32 years old, she lives in London and works as a Service Designer. Her childhood growing up in Cornwall gave her a sweet tooth, and these days she loves to gift her friends bakes for their birthdays (after months of careful information gathering).
Leighton
Mathematically-minded Leighton is 59 and is a Welshman living in Surrey. He works as a Software Delivery Manager and grew up playing the organ at his local church. Ignoring the fact that ‘boys don’t bake’, he taught himself, and likes to fuse American flavours (his husband Eric is from California) with British and Welsh ones.
Lesley
59 year old Lesley has been a hairdresser for 45 years and tends to serve a slice of cake to her customers when they come for a haircut. She lives in Kent and has been baking since the age of 10; her true love is for classic old-school bakes, but with modern, fun designs.
Nadia
Chatterbox Nadia lives in Liverpool and works as a hairdresser. 41 yeas old, she was inspired to cook by her Italian chef dad, and these days combines Italian flavours with Indian and Scouse ones. On Sundays, the family also have mandatory ‘feast days’ filled with roasts, pasta and puddings.
Nataliia
Ukrainian-born Nataliia moved to the UK four years ago, just before war broke out. 32 years old, she lives in East Yorkshire and works as an office assistant. These days, her family have moved over too, as refugees, and she spends her time painting, running and combining British flavours with traditional Ukrainian ones.
Pui Man
51 year old Pui Man was born in Hong Kong, but these days lives in Essex with her family, and works as a bridal designer, creating wedding dresses. Her cakes are similarly intricate: she picked up baking as a hobby during lockdown and combines practicing with volunteering and knitting in the pub with friends.
Toby
Toby grew up in Sidmouth with his three siblings, but now the 29 year old lives in a ‘fixer upper’ in Warwickshire with his girlfriend Syd. He works for a fitness start up, has a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and likes to focus on creating healthy bakes – as well as incorporating as many different flavours as possible into his bread loaves.
Tom
31 year old Tom grew up in a food-obsessed family and learned to bake scones and flapjacks with his mum and Danish grandmother. Now, having stepped back from the advertising agency he helped set up, he has more time for baking. These days, he lives in London but often goes fishing for sea bass with his brother or foraging for mushrooms and cooking roasts with his dad.
The Great British Bake Off starts on Channel 4 from September 24
