Makbul & Sura among contestants in ‘The Great British Bake Off 2020’

Channel 4 has announced its line-up for the 2020 edition of its popular cookery reality series ‘The Great British Bake Off’.

This year, under exceptional circumstances, the 12 new bakers entered a bubble for seven weeks in order to make the competition happen.

Among the 12 contestants will be 51-year-old accountant Makbul Patel, who is a self-taught baker. He has honed those early skills through watching TV shows, reading books and drawing inspiration from famous chefs. He has a remarkable ability to measure out ingredients just by eye. Makbul’s strengths lie in pastry (he says he’s better at puff than shortcrust); and, for celebrations such as Eid, he enjoys making traditional Asian nankhatai biscuits.

31-year-old pharmacy dispenser, Sura is another name confirmed for the series. The many Middle Eastern and Asian influences in her heritage – including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and India – mean she enjoys experimenting with ingredients and flavours from all over the world. Never one to stick to a recipe, Sura loves to improvise in the kitchen and inject her bakes with as much personality as possible. She loves to work with fragrant and floral flavours such as cardamom, rose and orange blossom.

The iconic tent remains the same, but there are 30 brand new challenges set by Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.

‘The Great British Bake Off’ starts on Channel 4, Tuesday 22nd September at 20:00.