The line-up for the Great British Bake Off has been revealed – and two amateur bakers are from Lancashire.
Sumayah Kazi and Gill will represent he county when the Channel 4 baking competition returns to our screens on Tuesday, September 24.
Sumayah, a 19-year-old from Preston, is heading to the bake-off tent in her gap year before going to university to study dentistry.
She is a keen sewer, making her own clothes, and has recently taken up photography.
A self-taught baker, Sumayah meticulously researches her recipes to create an 'eclectic and imaginative fusion' of cultures and flavours.
The project that confirmed her love for baking was a macaron tower she made for her aunt’s mehndi wedding celebration.
Sumayah said she “never imagined herself” heading onto Bake Off.
She said: ”I never actually imagined myself doing it as I don’t consider myself an outlandish person.
"Despite my disastrous audition, I had this inexplicable feeling that I would get into the tent, not because I was confident in myself but more a sense of impending fear.
“I still can’t believe I actually got in, it’s unbelievable! I missed the phone call five times so I was the last baker they notified.
"I remember hearing the news and I felt so numb, I didn’t know whether to be excited or terrified. I still don’t know how to feel about it.”
Sumayah says her strengths lie in decoration but bread week may let her down.
She said: “My strength lies in decoration and detail, my weak spot is just bread baking in general.
"Although I do love bread making, I feel like I don’t understand it enough yet to truly push myself.”
The teenager said she was “in shock” when she saw the iconic white Bake Off tent for the first time.
She said: “We were on the minibus and in the distance, we could barely make out the peaks of the tent and all of us were just in shock.
"I was a bit nervous about baking in an unfamiliar environment, but the workstation is so well organised that everything falls into place.”
Sumayah also revealed some secrets of the show and said judges can take “hours” to deliberate on bakes.
She said: “Judging takes forever. Hours sometimes. I wish I could have glued a pole to my back to keep me upright on the chairs.
“Being miked up and in front of cameras was nerve-wracking, I initially found it so difficult to talk about myself but the team is so lovely and really made me comfortable.”
Gill, a senior category manager from Lancashire, is also taking part in the show.
The 53-year-old is convinced that her love of precision data and her inherent creativity are the perfect match for successful baking.
Gill said she can’t remember a time when she didn’t bake and said growing up, baking was very much a family activity.
Since her father died in 2015, Gill has used baking as a source of comfort and has put her skills to good use, raising money for Alzheimer’s charities in his memory.
Pies, cakes, and pastries, including her dad’s signature lemon meringue pie, were staples of her childhood, so her baking is very much traditional in style with a modern twist.
Her sticky toffee Christmas pudding has been a hit at family celebrations for the past five years.
Gill’s claim to fame is that she was named the UK’s youngest-ever driving instructor, aged 21, in 1993.
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