HOW DAVID KEPT HIS Bake Off champ: I’ve fled two wars and got malaria nine times

He said: “There have been times when I’ve been quite sick with a tropical disease.

“I’ve been in life or death situations when treating children with malaria. I’ve had malaria nine times, which isn’t good, especially as I teach about it.

“I treated it very early so I was OK. I was able to keep things in perspective and kept reminding myself that even if my pastry was soggy, or my cake didn’t rise properly, I’ve coped with more serious situations.”

David took that resilience into the

Bake Off arena and walked away as the surprise winner.

He pulled it off despite never scooping the Star

Baker title throughout the entire series.

The favourite was Steph Blackwell but s he struggled to keep her composure after a catalogue of mishaps. And David’s calmness and control shone through.

Having watched the show, David says he doesn’t recognise the man he saw on telly.

He admitted: “I worry that people will be disappointed when they see me. They’ve seen the character David but I’m not that serious. I go to the shops in the most ridiculous clothes.”

One shopping trip raised a few eyebrows when he forgot to wash off a cosmetic face mask before leaving home.

He recalled: “People were looking at me so I thought they recognised me. Bake Off had been on a couple of weeks. Then I got to the shop and I was wearing a face mask. A woman said, ‘What have you got on your face?’ I wasn’t recognised at all.”

That surely won’t be the case any more, as 6.9 million watched him crowned the 2019 Bake Off winner by hosts Paul Hollywood, od, Prue Leith, Sandi Toksvig and d Noel Fielding.

His social media following ing has gone from 260 to 100,000. 0. Book deals and cookery shows await wait as David follows in the footsteps teps of winners like Nadiya a Hussain.

David’s love of baking goes back to his childhood i n Whitby,

North Yorks.

Mum Judy would encourage him to help her bake bread. With lots of projects in the pipeline, ,

David already has an idea dea about what he wants to do. o.

“I’d love to do a book. I’m m interested in food, health th and f uelling y our body correctly.”