As Bake Off returns next week for its instalment, we look back on the highs and lows of the past local faces who have graced the famous tent.
Northern Ireland finally has some representation again in this year’s batch of ‘Bake Off’ bakers and we’ve certainly had our fair share of mixed fortunes with past contestants on the hit TV show.
Iain Ross from Co Derry is hoping his sourdough skills will be enough to crown him the winner of this year’s The Great British Bake Off. The ultimate baking battle where passionate amateur baking fans compete to be crowned the UK’s Best Amateur Baker returns to Channel 4 next week.
Iain, a 29-year-old software engineer from Coleraine was announced as a contestant on the 2025 series earlier this month and says he hopes to “rewrite the legacy” of a former local participant. He lives in Belfast with his girlfriend Dervla and their cat, Viktor. A former amateur powerlifter, Iain now lifts dough instead of weights.
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The self-proclaimed ‘Yeastie Boy’ has said he mixes his love of live music with sourdough, immortalising album cover art on the crusts of his loaves. He blends classic flavours with a creative twist, often using fermented fruits and vegetables to enhance the depth and complexity of his flavours. If an ingredient can be pickled, aged, or cultured, he’s eager to give it a try!
Several other Northern Ireland contestants have appeared on the show down through the years since it first aired in 2010. And Iain is on a mission to rewrite the Bake Off legacy of ‘Iain from Belfast’ once and for all.
The last time there was good news for Northern Ireland fans of the show was in the 2022 batch of bakers when a local face was included – the line-up featured then 23-year-old Rebs (Rebecca) Lightbody, a former Ballymena Academy pupil.
Holywood man Andrew Smyth came second in 2016, but another Ian – engineer Iain Watters – memorably lost his cool after his Baked Alaska melted, causing him to throw it in the bin in a rage. Edited highlights saw fellow contestant Diana Beard remove the dessert from the freezer, leading to claims of sabotage.
As Bake Off returns next week for its instalment, we look back on the highs and lows of the past Northern Ireland faces who have graced the famous tent.
Rebs (Rebecca) Lightbody, week four, 2022
Ballymena baker Rebecca Lightbody was eliminated from the Bake Off tent in week four in a rare double eviction.
It proved to be too hot in the kitchen for the Co Antrim Masters student who was sent home after Mexican Week.
The judges Prue and Paul decided it was the end of the road for both Rebs and fellow contestant James Dewar.
Rebs caused a stir in the previous week’s serving of the popular culinary show as she, along with fellow contestant Abdul Rehman Sharif, received a free pass to stay in the series after taking ill, causing them to miss bread week. It meant no one was sent home as the judges felt it would be unfair.
Mark Lutton, week six, 2020
Mark Lutton was ‘buzzing to be back in the Bake Off tent’ earlier this as he returned for the show’s New Year’s Day special.
It came three years after the Portadown man, who’s known as The Baking Buddha, appeared as a contestant on the eleventh series.
Mark Lutton managed to make it to week six before being eliminated from the show during Japanese week after what judge Prue Leith described as “a disaster of a showstopper”.
The bakers were tasked with a signature challenge of Japanese steamed buns, which Mark did fairly well in but was told his burger-style buns were a little dry.
Mark’s technical round, which involved a tricky recipe of stacked matcha pancakes, also saw him take a middle spot place.
But it was the showstopper round, themed around kawaii, which proved to be his undoing.
He fell in love with baking through an Edinburgh pie shop he visited daily while at university.
Mark, who now lives in Liverpool where he is a project manager, took part in the show when it was filmed during lockdown.
He admitted he wasn’t even sure he would get on the show after a substantial audition process and had almost accepted defeat before he got the final call to say he had made it.
Imelda McCarron, week one, 2018
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council countryside recreation officer Imelda McCarron was among the 2018 batch of bakers, having learned to cook and bake with her mother.
The Dromore woman has said taking part in Bake Off was “one of the best experiences” of her life, despite being the first contestant to leave that year’s show.
Biscuit Week saw Imelda’s cherry, white chocolate and coconut flakemeal biscuits impress the judges in the signature challenge.
However, her wagon wheels fell flat in the subsequent technical challenge, leaving her in 11th place. Her “selfie” lemon and ginger biscuit was compared to “stale shortbread” by Hollywood and deemed “a little bland and dry” by Leith.
Andrew Smyth, finalist, 2016
Andrew Smyth grew up in Holywood with parents Kay and Nigel, and his younger brother Jamie, an architect. He was influenced in baking by his granny, Helen McDowell and made her chocolate cake in the Bake Off final.
Andrew studied aerospace engineering at Cambridge University and worked for Rolls Royce designing jet engines.
He now splits his time between working as a TV personality and researching aerospace engineering.
On GBBO, Andrew made a cake featuring a gingerbread man punting down the River Cam, and a moving set of gear-shaped savoury pies, inspired by the technical designs of Leonardo da Vinci.
He presented the Duke of Cambridge with a cake in the shape of a jet engine during a royal visit to the Rolls-Royce aero engines plant in Derby. So impressed was Prince William that he remarked he’d “have to have a word with Mary Berry” as to why Andrew didn’t win GBBO.
Iain Watters, week four, 2014
Belfast-born construction engineer Iain Watters, who now lives in London, is best remembered for the “bin-gate” controversy.
Iain had prepared a Baked Alaska dessert but it was accidentally left out of the freezer by fellow contestant Diana Beard — and subsequently melted. Frustrated, Iain threw the dessert into the bin and was soon voted off the show.
Mary Berry described Iain as “a remarkable baker”, while Hollywood said he was “passionate” about his unusual flavour combinations.
Iain’s parents were passionate about organic foods and this outlook has directly affected his style of baking.
His passion for travelling has taken him to all corners of the globe, and he brings these flavours and influence to the bakes he likes to make.
Iain said of his experiences on the show: “My best moment was the plaited loaf in week three, because everything went so well.
“I got the timing right and Paul liked the flavour and the bake.” In September 2016 he married Catriona Mills and their wedding cake was…a Baked Alaska.
Next Tuesday night, another batch of the UK’s amateur bakers will be heading to the famous white tent to work their way through 30 brand new challenges, set by judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith and they’ll receive moral support, jokes and warm hugs along the way from hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond.
Each week on the Channel 4 baking competition – which previously aired on the BBC and is now in its 16th series – the contestants are given three challenges: a signature bake, a technical challenge and a showstopper, based on that week’s theme.
In the first signature of the series, the bakers will need to produce the perfect Swiss Roll with an inlay design. For their first technical, it’s Fondant Fancies, but the catch is that they will need to figure out how to make it without a recipe, using the ingredients they’ve been given. And then make their showstopper, a landscape cake.
Their bakes are then assessed by Hollywood and Dame Prue, and a Star Baker is chosen for that week — a concept introduced in series 2 — before one baker is eliminated, and the winner is selected from the last three remaining contestants who make it to the final.
The 12 bakers this year include a roller skating drag king, a bridal designer, two hairdressers and a creative entrepreneur.
Speaking to Channel 4 ahead of the latest series, Iain Ross said he had no idea he would make it as far as the Bake Off tent when he was finally convinced to apply.
He said: “When me and my girlfriend Dervla watch every year, she says at the end of every episode that I need to apply. This past year she wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I finally caved and applied.
“Every step of the way I kept it a secret from everyone apart from Dervla, I didn’t think I’d make it to the following stage and I didn’t want to let anyone down.
“Then when I got the call to confirm my place I was in sheer disbelief, I had no idea it would actually happen. I thought it was a prank at first.”
On entering the tent for the very first time, he added: ” I genuinely felt like I was watching it on TV whenever I was walking into the tent.
“I also did that thing where you think about how you’re walking and then you forget how to walk, so I was mainly focusing on not tripping during my first 10 seconds in the tent to really appreciate how wild it actually was.”
The Great British Bake Off Series 16 starts September 2. Stream or watch from 8pm on Channel 4.
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