Great British Bake Off: Betting suspended amid fears winner’s name leaked

This year’s contestants include a prison officer, a Lithuanian body-builder, a fireman, a student, and then there’s the trainee anaesthetist who likes injecting his cakes to make them more tasty!

Edd, from Bradford, was 24 when filming started and working as a debt collector for Yorkshire Bank in Leeds.

Having added that he’s disappointed that he didn’t do as well as he believes he could have done, he concluded, “I just hope I don’t disappoint people in my life – but it’s onwards and upwards!” They encouraged me but in a no-nonsense way, and that suited me. Although I was initially sceptical that this might be the series that the Bake-Off finally loses its sheen by the end of tonight’s episode it was like I’d reacquainted myself with an old friend.

Once again, Mary will judge the offerings made by the contestants alongside bread expert Paul Hollywood.

The former GP surgery manager has her own swish website and is in demand for everything from cookery demonstrations to after-dinner speaking.

While baking is her main hobby, Ugne is also a bodybuilder. Flora was another memorable contestant, primarily as she was the youngest member of the group by a decade and therefore reminded me of last year’s teenage baker Martha. I was bored and so I chose to bake. It’s been one way traffic, nearly entirely.

Don’t forget to tune in to next week’s Bake Off (On August 12) to watch the bakers try their hand at biscotti, arlettes and an edible biscuit box. “I quite like to bake a good showstopper, a centrepiece”, she says. “Baking is something that can cross all divides”. “I think my family have reached the point that they are sick of my baking, but they are complimentary when they need to be”. “He said one of my bakes was dry and I said it isn’t”. Sandy started baking as a child and likens her style to the way she’d describe herself: “it might not be glamorous but it’s tasty”. “I just didn’t want to be first out”.

It took the ever-calming influence of Mary Berry to reduce Lulu’s anxiety, by pointing out that she rolls her shortbread in the same way. Last year, 67-year-old Norman Calder, from Portnockie in Moray, became something of a cult figure with his no-nonsense approach to the kitchen.

Other bookies, including William Hill and Paddy Power, refuse to take bets on the show because it is pre-recorded.

A nurse from Berkshire who is originally from the Philippines, Alvin’s two children are going to inherit the many recipes and techniques he is always scribbling down.