The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Meet the contestants
1 – Michael, 26, a theatre manager and fitness instructor from Stratford-upon-Avon, was taught to bake by his mother using recipes passed down from her grandparents. Born in Newcastle, he was raised in Scone, Perthshire, and studied in Edinburgh.
2 – Helena, 40, an online project manager, from Leeds, watched her Spanish grandmother in the kitchen, but it was moving to Las Vegas and living with a Mormon family on an exchange trip that prompted her to start baking. Helena lives with her husband and baby daughter.
3 – Jamie, 20, a waiter from Surrey, was taught the basics by his grandmother but it was after watching Bake Off and being inspired to make a plaited loaf that his passion took off.
4 – Amelia, 24, a fashion designer from London, has been baking for 19 years after watching her mother and grandmother creating cake decorations as a child.
5 – David, 36, an international health adviser from London grew up in Yorkshire with a mother who would always bake and refused to buy a loaf from the shops. He was inspired to bake as a child.
6 – Alice, 28, a geography teacher from London, started baking at the age of 15 when a back operation left her unable to do sport. She lived in New Zealand in her early 20s, before returning to the UK to become a teacher.
7 – Henry, 20, a student from Durham, became interested in all things culinary at the age of 12 and was intrigued by the Bake Off tent that was pitched in his local park.
8 – Michelle,
35, a print shop administrator from Wales, grew up on a farm and has baked since she was a child. She now bakes almost every other day for her husband and son.
9 – Phil, 56, an HGV driver from Rainham, took up baking seriously six years ago, but was always fond of baking bread in his home economics classes at school. He lives with his wife and two daughters.
10 – Priya, 34, a marketing consultant from Leicester, started to take baking seriously 10 years ago as a way to relax. A wedding gift of a stand mixer seven years ago boosted her passion even more. She lives with her husband and two children.
11 – Dan, 32, a support worker, from Rotherham, says he is largely a self-taught baker, but watched his mother bake a Victoria sponge as a child and his Army chef father coming to his school to teach how to bake and plait bread. Dan, who lives with wife Laura, made their wedding cake.
12 – Rosie, 28, a vet from Somerset, began baking when she was given a book at the age of five. She is married to her childhood sweetheart.
13 – Steph, 28, a shop assistant from Chester took up baking when her grandfather inspired her with his love of homemade bread.