Great British Bake Off: who are the new contestants?

Series 5 of the BBC’s Great British Bake Off is hitting our screens, offering both the youngest and oldest contestants ever. Here’s the full line-up.

Twelve brand new bakers will take to the Great British Bake Off tent on 6th August for series 5 of the programme. This year the increasingly popular show has been bumped up to BBC One, with an 8pm start time, although thankfully the wonderful Mel and Sue remain as presenters. And, of course, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are still the star judges.

Episode 1 is all about cake, and the first ‘Signature Challenge’ is to make a Swiss Roll. And shortly afterwards, the bakers will attempt Mary Berry’s classic cherry cake in the ‘Technical Challenge’.

But who’s on the show this year? Here’s our guide to all the contestants.

The girls

Martha

At just 17 years old, Martha is the Bake Off’s youngest-ever contestant. She has to balance her love of baking with AS Level revision. Martha is studying Food Technology, Maths and Chemistry, in the hope of becoming a Food Scientist one day.

Martha’s earliest baking memory is baking rock cakes and pizzas with her mum.

Chetna

Chetna was born in India and studied fashion design at Mumbai University, soon after starting her own clothes label. She’s been living in the UK since 2003 and first started baking as a way to embrace British life, beginning with children’s birthday cakes.

Chetna loves combining weird and wonderful flavours, and is described as a ‘creative yet meticulous’ baker.

Claire

Claire is a speech and language therapist who lives and works in Cheshire. Her mother and grandmother are both wedding cake decorators.

Claire’s husband, Carl, is a chemist and his molecular approach to cooking has influenced Claire’s own baking. One of her favourite things to make is Chelsea buns.

Diana

Diana is the oldest ever Bake Off contestant. She’s been a Women’s Institute Judge since the age of 20 and learned to bake from her mother and grandmother.

Bread is Diana’s weakest area, but she excels in making pies, pastries and cakes. Making her daughter’s wedding cake is Diana’s proudest baking moment, but she’s also well-known for her chocolate cake, flaky pastry, Eccles cakes and vanilla slices.

Kate

Kate lives in Brighton with her five-year-old daughter. She trained as an actress but now runs an upholstery company from home, when she’s not baking cakes for her family. Last year she made 15 Christmas cakes for her family.

Kate is an ad hoc baker who rarely uses recipes or even weighs ingredients… a trait that has led to a fair few baking disasters!

Nancy

Nancy has lived in Lincolnshire for 24 years, and bakes for her five children and eight grandchildren. She’s retired now, which leaves more time for growing vegetables, rearing guinea fowl, and cycling.

Nancy and her husband Tim own a house in the South of France, and the time she has spent there has influenced her baking greatly. Nancy’s absolute favourite thing to bake is lemon meringue pie.

The boys

Enwezor

Enwezor is half Nigerian and half Japanese. He lives in Portsmouth with his wife and their four children.

Enwezor has only started baking in the past three years, despite growing up in a family that liked to cook. It quickly became one of his greatest passions, and Enwezor now loves to bake with his children. Pastry is his favourite thing to work with.  

Iain

Irish lad Iain grew up just outside Belfast and now lives in London. He’s a construction engineer with organic and vegetarian principles, and a love of worldwide travel.

Iain lives with his girlfriend Catriona, another keen baker, and his mum taught him everything he knows about baking. He loves baking breads and cakes, often incorporating vegetables into them.

Jordan

IT manager Jordan lives in Nottingham and is the self-confessed ‘nerdy baker’ of this year’s line-up. He loves ‘cross-breeding’ different bakes, such as his ‘pretzel-croissant’ and his own version of a ‘cronut’.

Jordan particularly loves making sweets: marshmallows, caramels and toffees.

Luis

Luis was born and raised in Stockport, but having two Spanish parents has been the biggest influence on his life. Alongside baking, Luis loves playing the ukulele, making model planes and keeping bees (he currently has eight hives).

Luis uses honey from his bees and other fresh produce from his allotment in his baking. His favourite treat to make is Bakewell tarts.

Norman

Norman lives on the east coast of Scotland and is retired from the Merchant Navy. In fact, he once fell overboard three miles off the Solomon Islands and managed to swim to shore.

Norman loves playing the clarinet and makes clocks and pottery in his own kiln. He’s also passionate about Scottish recipes and has been in touch with some of his father’s old baking apprentices to revive some of the more traditional recipes.

Richard

North London man Richard is a keen fisher, diver and cyclist, and a volunteer for the National Wildlife Trust. He is teaching his daughters how to build homes for hedgehogs to hibernate in.

Richard loves baking with his wife and children, especially bread and pastry. His daughters’ birthday cakes are looked forward to more than Christmas!

All images courtesy of BBC/Love 

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