Meet the four Yorkshire contestants on The Great British Bake Off 2019

The new series of The Great British Bake Off kicks off next week and four of the 13 contestants are from Yorkshire.
The new series of The Great British Bake Off kicks off next week and four of the 13 contestants are from Yorkshire.The new series of The Great British Bake Off kicks off next week and four of the 13 contestants are from Yorkshire.
The new series of The Great British Bake Off kicks off next week and four of the 13 contestants are from Yorkshire.

Helena, 40, is an online project manager who lives in Leeds.

Helena's introduction to baking came at a young age as she watched her Spanish grandmother in the kitchen, but it was moving to Las Vegas and living with a Mormon family for a school exchange trip that prompted her to start baking herself.

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Born in Ceuta - an autonomous Spanish city on the north coast of Africa - Helen was raised in Lanzarote and studied in mainland Spain, but now lives in Leeds with her husband and baby daughter.

Baking style: A fan of using American flavours such as pumpkin, pecans and maple, Helena also enjoys using Spanish flavours and is often inspired by Halloween in her bakes.

She said: "I won a baking competition at work and that gave me the confidence to apply. Although when I learned that I had got in I had a bit of a confidence crisis thinking, can I possibly be good enough?"

Dan, 32, is a support worker from Rotherham.

Dan says he is largely a self-taught baker but has memories of watching his mother bake a Victoria sponge as a child and his army chef father coming to his school to teach how to bake and plait bread.

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He became serious about baking at the age of 21 while trying to impress his girlfriend Laura, who is now his wife, with a themed birthday cake. Dan, who lives with Laura and their three dogs, even made their wedding cake.

Dan said: "I have been trying for a few years now, so finally I am here. It's absolutely crazy, really amazing, I was so adamant to get on, it's very hard to describe the feelings, all strange and surreal. And then when you are in the tent it all feels normal pretty quickly."

David, 36, is an international health adviser who grew up in Yorkshire but now lives in London.

Having grown up in rural Yorkshire with a mother who would always bake and refuse to buy a loaf from the shops, Dan was inspired to bake as a child.

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He became further interested in the art of baking after travelling to Malawi with his job as a health adviser, where he learnt to build an oven out of an oil drum and invented a cake that could steam cook over a village fire.

He studied art and design before switching to nursing and enjoys cycling and ceramics.

His strengths lie in baking bread and he prefers robust flavours and solid bakes to fancy, colourful icings.

He said: "I have watched Bake Off from the start, and I have daydreamed so many times walking to work about being in it for such a long time. And when I got accepted it was such a mixture of emotions. Then I thought this is really crazy, am I good enough, will I have enough time to practice?"

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Amelia, 24 is a fashion designer who grew up in Halifax and studied in Leeds.

Born to a Caribbean father and a half-British/half-Polish mother, Amelia has been baking for 19 years after watching her mother and grandmother creating beautiful cake decorations as a child.

She grew up in Halifax and studied in Leeds and Leicester, and honed her baking skills while at university, baking for friends and college fundraising events.

She currently lives in London and works as a sportswear designer.

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Inspired by her northern roots, she believes that freshly farmed produce is essential for a satisfying bake.

She said: "I have wanted to get into the tent since series one. It's still not sunk in, but it's a dream come true.

They'll be joining nine other contestants from across the country who will be whipping up a frenzy in the kitchen in a bid to impress judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood:

Jamie, 20, is a part-time waiter from Surrey who was inspired to get into baking after watching an episode of Bake Off.

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Alice, 28, is a geography teacher from London who began baking when a back operation for scoliosis left her unable to do sport.

Henry is a 20-year-old student from Durham, has been baking since the age of 12 and loves feeding his housemates with his creations.

Michaelle, 35, is a print-shop administrator from Tenby in Wales. She bakes almost every other day, whether it is a loaf of bread or a dessert for her husband and teenage son.

Phil is a 58-year-old HGV driver from Rainham who took up baking seriously six years ago.

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Priya, 34, is a marketing consultant from Leicester who had her first foray into baking at a primary school baking club.

Michael is a 26-year-old theatre manager and fitness instructor from Stratford-upon-Avon who was taught to bake by his mother using old, handwritten recipes passed down from her grandparents.

Steph, 28, is a shop assistant from Chester who took up baking when her grandfather inspired her thanks to his love of homemade bread.

Rosie is a 28-year-old veterinary surgeon from Somerset who began baking aged five.

The Great British Bake Off will return on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

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