Baker’s dozen – including ex-Scone man – out to impress

A baker’s dozen of contestants will descend on The Great British Bake Off’s tent when the show makes its return to TV screens tonight.

Thirteen amateur bakers will compete in signature, technical and showstopper challenges to be crowned 2019’s winner – and earn the title of Star Baker.

The forthcoming series will be the third to air on Channel 4 after the show and the BBC parted ways.

Hosts Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig, and judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood, return to judge a new batch of contestants.

This year’s line-up includes a student, an HGV driver, a shop assistant and a part-time waiter.

There is also Courier Country interest, through 26-year-old Michael Chakraverty, who was brought up in Scone.

The theatre company manager and fitness instructor, born in Newcastle and now living in Stratford-upon-Avon, was raised in Scone from the age of seven and later studied in Edinburgh, and he considers himself Scottish.

He was taught to bake by his mother using old, handwritten recipes passed down from her grandparents.

He said he is inspired by the flavours of his Indian heritage and, although he has attempted nearly every discipline in baking, his strengths are in cakes and pastry.

He said: “This was the very first time that I applied, one night I applied as I was a bit bored, I never thought I would get to the audition process.

“So when I found out it was a mixture of shock and blind panic.”

The inclusion of 13 contestants instead of the usual 12 means two people could be axed at any point in the series.

The line-up for the new series is the youngest in the show’s history and includes seven people in their 20s, while the oldest contestant is 56, with an average age of 31 in the tent.

In previous years there have been contestants in their 60s and 70s, and the majority of line-ups have had an average age closer to 40.

Bake Off returns on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm.