Great British Day Off Sick
BAKE STAR ON WHY HE APPLIED FOR TV SHOW I was ill..and got a sign
Bake Off contestant Tom Hetherington only ended up on the show after being off work sick on the deadline day to apply, he has revealed.
The Edinburgh architect put himself forward to be a contestant after watching Bake Off repeats on television.
Tom, 29, said: “My partner David had been trying to convince me for years to apply but I really didn’t want to be on TV.
“I was off ill from work and was watching re-runs of Bake Off and thought, ‘ I wonder if applications are still open?’
“When I checked, it was the last day they were open and I thought, ‘ That must be a sign. What have I got to lose?’ It was serendipitous.”
Tom, who lives with dentist David in Edinburgh, has quickly become a Bake Off fans’ favourite.
The baking contest has pulled in more than nine million viewers for Channel 4 after its controversial switch from BBC.
Liverpudlian grandmother Flo Atkins, 71, became the third baker to be axed last week. But Tom remains in contention despite sparking a cross-Border teacake row after being asked to make a small fruit bun.
He said: “I didn’t even know what an English teacake was because in Scotland it’s a mallow thing with biscuit.”
Being on the show is a massive boost for Tom, who lost his twin brother Robert in 2013 after he was killed serving with the Army in Afghanistan. And he hopehopes to become the firstfirst Scot to be crowned Bake OffO champ. HeH added: “I ’ m fulfu ly aware how luckylu I was to haveh been picked as a contestant.”