Essex baker Peter was the first to leave The Great British Bake Off tent. We spoke to him about his experience on the Channel 4 show
He may have been the first to leave the tent, but that doesn’t mean it’s been a bad experience for Peter.
“I’m disappointed to be the first off... it was quite surreal from day one and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. No matter how far you go in the series, it’s still great to be part of the show,” says the IT programme manager.
“And it doesn’t end for me on week one, as all of the bakers are my friends now and they are amazing in their own way. They are a wonderful bunch of guys and we keep in touch regularly. I will be watching them throughout of course.”
His worst moment was probably his technical bake. It started going wrong with the decoration and he says he could’ve done better.
“I actually used the wrong type of chocolate for the decoration. If I did it all again, the only thing I would want to change is that I could have gone further and last more than one week. I would love to bake with the same guys again and share the same experience all over again.
“The bakers share a common interest and the bond is there immediately. I met Kate at the station on the first day, not knowing she was one of the bakers but we got on straight away, and the same with all the others. We bonded pretty much immediately.”
Paul Hollywood said at the end of the episode the standard of the show was so high, unfortunately it was Peter’s turn to go with fellow judge Prue Leith adding she was really sorry to say goodbye to him but he was up against real competition.
The father-of-two’s best moment overall was the selection process.
“I didn’t find it terrifying, in fact I found it really interesting and the guys at Love Productions are so amazing. They changed my perception about people that work in television – each and everyone were encouraging and caring, supportive throughout, it has been a joy.
“Sandi and Noel were great. Sandi is someone I used to listen to regularly on LBC, I loved her show; and Noel I didn’t know so well but when I met them in the tent they were really supportive and lovely, they blended into the show really well. With Paul and Prue, I have watched both of them on television so I knew in part what to expect,” says Peter, who prides himself on making the picture perfect macaron based on a Pierre Hermes recipe.
His daughter, Temi, always wanted him to enter in previous years and this year let him know when the applications were open and encouraged him to try.
“To be shortlisted from such a large list of applications and to be one of the 12 bakers to enter the tent was a huge personal achievement.
“The family have always seen me bake over the last nine years and I began baking bread first and then moved on to biscuits and cakes. They are always asking me to bake something for friends and family when we visit, which of course I love doing,” says the 52-year-old, who was born in Brixton and moved to Nigeria with his parents when he was seven before returning to the UK when he was 24.
“I remember as a child growing up in Nigeria, my neighbour was a baker and she supplied one of the local supermarkets. She would give the leftovers to us, and that kind of inspired me to bake.
“Making my own bread makes me feel healthier as there are no added preservatives in the bread, I keep it to the basics. I tend to bake bread every other day and that’s enough. I will absolutely carry on baking and writing my baking blog as I am getting positive reaction to the recipes and I want to develop new ones.
“Baking is very therapeutic for me, you are creating something within your own space. You can take a recipe and change it around to make something new. My advice to the world is let’s all start baking and make it a better place. We have all these beautiful ingredients flown in from all over the world, so let’s use them and turn them into something amazing.”
Read our chat with Suffolk raised contestant Sophie Faldo here.
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