BAKE OFF’S COOLEST CONTESTANT EVER I have always loved cakes ... and I don’t care who they belong to
GREAT British Bake Off smoothie Selasi Gbormittah admits he likes to have his cake and eat it… and anyone else’s too!
The star of the new series reveals his love for all things spongy in a series of pictures and social media posts looking back on his childhood.
He pokes fun at himself with comical captions and displays a fun personality that has already won him an army of TV fans.
The city banker, described as the coolest Bake Off contestant ever, has emerged as an early frontrunner after just one episode of the BBC’s hit cookery show.
Social media came alive last Wednesday with Bake Off enthusiasts rushing to label Selasi, 30, as favourite to win.
And many ladies even declared him as their new crush.
Now we can reveal the heartwarming snaps which show how his love for food and baking developed many years ago.
In one picture a young Selasi is seen in his school uniform.
Obsession
In the caption he poked fun at his weight – and blamed his love of food.
He wrote: “OH WOW! Ultimate #TBT...Chubstar! Now I know why I love cooking/baking. Gotta maintain. # GottaEat # FoodyFromDay. Tie game terrible haha.”
In another Instagram post, he shared a picture of himself as a boy alongside another snap of him ogling his sister’s birthday cake.
He wrote: “#TBT... Two massive things wrong with this picture. Always had a MASSIVE HEAD. Secondly, I have always loved CAKES regardless of who they belonged to! Clearly my sister’s bday cake but I wasn’t really interested in whatever was happening around me! HA.”
When he was 30 Selasi uploaded a picture of his birthday cake alongside a snap of him as a young boy.
Originally from Ghana, Selasi moved to the UK with his family 15 years ago and he takes great pride in posting pictures of his brothers and sisters. One shows him alongside two of his siblings.
It was in Britain that baking first grabbed his interest and his Instagram account is full of images of his bright and beautiful creations.
He has admitted: “It’s funny growing up and not knowing that much about baking and then all of a sudden loving it so much.”
Selasi, who now lives in London with his girlfriend, often impresses his Deutsche Bank colleagues with delicate bakes made for charity cake sales. When he’s not in the kitchen, Selasi enjoys basketball, motorcycling and active fundraising.
He recently ran a 10 kilometre race, a half marathon and completed a trek through Malawi.
With colleague Alexandra Neville, he ascended the African country’s 9,849ft Mount Mulanje last year and between them raised £4,000 for World Child Cancer.
But baking is his biggest passion. And fans were won over by Selasi’s unflappable performance in the first episode of Bake Off, hosted by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc.
He proved to be a cool customer in the baking tent, where not even a few mishaps seemed to faze him.
Selasi forgot to put the cinnamon in his drizzle cake, but didn’t let it bother him. Then, whilehile everyone else was pullingng their hair out during thee Jaffa Cake technical, Selasi was cooler than an Arctic Roll.
His offerings were a sensation, winning himm the technical challengege and deserved praise fromom judges Paul Hollywood d and Mary Berry.
And when he forgot to put the vanilla pods in his showstopper, Selasi just brushed it off by saying: “I don’t understand it, I’m just baking it.” More than 10 million watched the first episode,episo in which Selasi’s rival Jane Beedle was namednam star baker. There was more good newsn for the BBC last nightn as it emerged chiefs have won the battle to keep Bake Off on their screens afteraf doubling the fee. ITV had hoped to poachpoa it with a £21million swoop whenwh the BBC’s deal expires. But sources say the Beeb upped its offer to £15million and is poised to seal a three-year deal with makers Love Productions.
Bosses are in the final stages of “exclusive negotiations” and hope to sign off on it soon.
Selasi, meanwhile, is enjoying the attention heaped on him after the opener of this series.
The keen motorcyclist instantly grabbed the limelight by riding in on his bike before taking off his leathers to reveal a sharp suit.
But fans are hoping he will be seen in his kitchen garb – the cream apron he wore in episode one – for weeks to come. In fact, they’re pinnying their hopes on it.