Fragile, nutty, sweet … Rahul has recipe for Bake Off glory
WHILE many viewers complained that he was lucky to reach the final, others loved his nervous manner. And last night Rahul Mandal won the Great British Bake Off after creating an edible rock garden made from nearly 200 elements.
But his detractors may be annoyed that judges gave Kolkata-born Rahul, 0, an extra 15 minutes to complete his showstopper after a storage jar shattered on his worktop, meaning he had to start the challenge again. The research scientist, who began baking to make friends after moving to the UK – and until two years ago had never made a cake – needed a kiss on the forehead from presenter Sandi Toksvig to calm him down.
Quick, name a past Bake Off winner … bet you said Nadiya. Shy , self - deprecating and funny , Bangladesh-born Muslim Nadiya Hussein became something of a national treasure from the moment she won the crown.
But now, name the winner in last year’s contest – can’t do it without Googling, can you? Her name was Sophie Faldo. Yes, the one in the Army, you remember, don’t you?
Whether viewers will recall the name of last night’s victor a year from now is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain: if it takes a nervous disposition, a slightly nutty character and a disarming lack of self - confidence to make a Bake Off hero, then Rahul Mandal, who emerged blinking and victorious at the end of this series, fits the bill perfectly.
So did his closest rival, super - shy kim- Joy Hewlett. The third finalist, Ruby Bhogal, revealed she had to bolster her self -belief by scribbling inspirational quotes on Post-it notes and plastering them over her fridge.
With so much attention focused on the finalists, all of Asian heritage, judges P aul Hollywood and Prue Leith were almost bystanders. Sandi Toksvig and her co-presenter Noel Fielding had more to do, mostly comforting the contestants and talking them out of their panics. But it ’s a shame that in 2018 some televi - sion personalities still feel they have to flash their cleavage to get themselves noticed.
Noel spent the whole weekend with his psychedelic shirt open to the solar plexus, displaying skin as white as an albino rat with a tuft of limp chest hair.
it wasn’t an appetising sight. He looked like a tubby Dracula, in need of a spray tan and a waxing.
Try as he might to distract the cameras, all the attention was on the search for the Most Over - wrought Baker. king of the Nervous Nellies was Rahul, who appears to be a frightened 11year-old boy trapped in the body of an undersized man aged 30. During the technical challenge, when the finalists were sent out - side to bake pitta breads on open fires, Rahul flung his arm up in the air like a schoolboy desperate to be excused games. ‘i need help, am i doing it right?’ he pleaded.
AND after presenter Sandi gently explained that she wasn ’t able to give advice, he mut - tered sadly, ‘i’d better just not come tomorrow. Just utter disgrace.’
Rahul began each morning with a glass of milk . i suspect this is because his mother told him to do this when he was four , and he is still an obedient boy.
But all that calcium doesn ’t seem to have stiffened his spine: ‘i am very, very, very nervous,’ he admitted at the start of the final signature bake, featuring deco - rated doughnuts.
Not that he’d ever been brave enough to actually try tasting one. ‘ it looks like deep - fried bread,’ he fretted. ‘i’m not going to eat it.’ Quite right – harm could come to a young fellow.
As tension mounted in the tent, Rahul recited his catchphrase ever more quickly: ‘i literally don’t know what i am doing.’
Eventually, his anxiety reached such a pitch that it became par - anormal, and caused one of the glass storage jars on his work - bench to detonate.
The production crew blamed the 32c (90F) heat in the marquee. But we all know that glass doesn’t simply explode on warm summer days, or tropical countries wouldn’t be able to have windows in their houses.
That jar disintegrated because Rahul’s terror had set off a vibra - tion of physical intensity.
‘This is a sign from God that i need to stop baking,’ he wailed as he swept up the fragments.
kim- Joy tried to match his lev - els of eccentricity , by building a ruined temple in Atlantis out of gingerbread, and Ruby popped a unicorn on her profiteroles, but there was only ever going to be one winner.
‘Oh no -no-no-no-no,’ he mum - bled. But oh yes, Rahul – you ’re this year’s Star Baker. Better get used to it.