‘The atmosphere changes every week’

Sophie, a serving Army officer, is the current reigning champion, having won last year. “The atmosphere in the tent changes, depending on the challenge. If we were under a lot of pressure there wasn’t time for banter, but for other challenges, for example for bread week when you have to leave your bread to prove, you’d get more chatting. “But after every judging, we’d have a debrief and it was nice to have people build you back up if you weren’t feeling great. As for Prue and Paul, you don’t see much of them apart from judging and when they do ‘sharking shots’ which is where cameras film them loitering behind contestants. As the show went on, it got slicker. When there were 12 of us everything took a long time. But then we got more used to the timetable and everything got faster, giving us more time between challenges. “Having watched the show before I went on, I learned surprising things. For instance, I thought the judges baked the example of the technical challenge, but the home economist actually makes it!” Sophie’s recipe for success? “I was very strict with myself not to get too hopeful. You have to manage expectations and then if you over-achieve that’s a nice, pleasant surprise, but if you don’t you’re not too disappointed. I’d tell new contestants to try and enjoy the experience, although it’s hard because it’s stressful. Also, have a good idea of what you want to get out of it.” What’s happened since? “I’ve been working on a baking book, taking commissions for cakes and doing food demos. I’m also back training for cycle races and doing my stunt training for working on feature films which I was already doing before

I went on Bake Off.”

DID YOU KNOW? One runner is positioned at the closest big supermarket every morning of filming in case bakers decide they need last-minute ingredients!