Bake Off City chief engineer heads for famous tent as show returns
THE Great British Bake Off is set for a return to our screens – and will feature a Bristol contestant.
Giuseppe, 45, is a chief engineer from Bristol, and is one of the 12 bakers who will take part in this year’s series. He inherited his love for baking from his father, a professional chef.
The programme, hosted by Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas, sees a group of home bakers compete against each other, with their culinary skills judged by Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith.
Its 12th series will be broadcast on Channel 4 from September 21.
Giuseppe isn’t the first Bristol contestant to grace our screens. Briony Williams dazzled the nation in 2019 when she starred in the show. The stay-at-home mum learnt to bake by watching YouTube tutorials.
This year’s bakers range in age from a 19-year-old who has watched the show since she was nine to a 70-year old ex-midwife.
International influences will come from Italy, the Caribbean, Germany, Greece and Portugal.
The other bakers are:
» Amanda, 56, a Met Police detective from London
» Crystelle, 26, a client relationship manager, of London
» George, 34, a Shared Lives coordinator, from London
» Freya, 19, a student from North Yorkshire
» Rochica, 27, an HR business partner from Birmingham
» Jurgen, 56, an IT professional from Sussex
» Jairzeno, 51, a head of finance from London
» Tom, 28, a software developer from Kent
» Lizzie, 28, a car production operative from Liverpool
» Chigs, 40, a sales manager from Leicestershire
» Maggie, 70, a retired midwife from Dorset
Last year, Great British Bake Off finalist Laura Adlington was subjected to horrendous abuse, which judge Paul condemned as “disgusting behaviour”.
Ahead of the new series starting on Channel 4 this month, 55-yearold Paul said he also gets “bombarded” with online abuse.
He was able to cope with it, but said the bakers on the show were “raw, they’re new, they’re not used to this”.
He said: “It is difficult. You get used to it, to a point, but it still upsets me. I’m a judge on a baking show, I’m not a politician, I’m not anything else. So, I’ve learned to live with it, but it’s not fair on the bakers. You’ve got to be really careful. This can damage people.”
Judge Prue Leith, 81, said: “It is just awful that Bake Off contestants should be victimised in that way.”
Returning to the line-up with hosts Lucas, 47, and Fielding, 48, Prue said this year’s standard was very high and she had learned a lot about vegan and gluten-free cooking.
She said: “I was surprised that they could do so many beautiful, amazing bakes with substitute ingredients. The great French chef Fernand Point, who started the nouvelle cuisine revolution after the war, his motto was, ‘The secret of great cuisine is butter, butter and more butter.’
“That is sort of ingrained in me. To cook without butter would seem to me impossible.
“Actually, it’s perfectly possible and the bakers prove it. They did wonderful things with no butter and cream, using coconut cream or other stuff. Amazing.”