Who is Steph Blackwell on The Great British Bake Off? Meet the contestant and her sourdough Sammy
Steph will put the judges on a diet on The Great British Bake Off 2019
Meet Steph, the shop assistant and health freak from Chester who is competing in this year's Great British Bake Off.
There will be no refined sugars or saturated fats for the judges while she is still in the competition. (Hopefully that won't count against her.)
Steph is joined by a lorry driver, a fashion designer and a veterinary surgeon amongst the 13 contestants in the tenth series of the show.
Steph Blackwell: Key facts
Name: Steph Blackwell
Age: 28
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From: Chester
Occupation: Shop assistant
Twitter: @stephiblackwell
Instagram: @stephiblackwell
Who is Steph Blackwell?
You know Steph is an avid bread-maker when you find out she named her sourdough starter Sammy.
The 28-year-old lives in Chester with her mother where she works as a shop assistant.
Since she was a kid, Steph has always loved playing in the kitchen and it was her grandfather who inspired her love for homemade bread, but it was only three years ago that she started taking baking seriously.
She is passionate about fitness and wellness and that also guides her bakes, which she tries to make healthier by incorporating fruit and vegetables and reducing refined sugars and fats.
Although she likes baking biscuits, and challenges herself to make a healthier version of supermarket favourites, her signature creation is her sourdough loaf which she makes with Sammy, her starter.
Steph says making it onto Bake Off was a bit like a lottery: "It wasn’t really joined up thinking, I didn’t think that I would get in, I wanted to give it a go. It’s just beyond anything that I can imagine, because I didn’t really dream that I would get in, it has been the most incredible surreal experience."
Her friends from work will probably be the most shocked to find out we will see her on the show. "They certainly wouldn’t think that I would have the courage to put myself forward so they have no idea," says Steph.
She has also given us some cheeky insight on what we can expect from other contestants in the first week of competition: "I really remember laughing a lot at Jamie melting his butter in his proving drawer. I was very nervous and it just helped break the ice with us all."
Read more about The Great British Bake Off
- Your guide to The Great British Bake Off
- Where GBBO if filmed
- How to apply for next year's GBBO
- Past winners from GBBO
What time is The Great British Bake Off 2019 on TV?
The Great British Bake Off series 10 returned to Channel 4 on Tuesday, 27th August at 8pm. The bakers are keeping us company for ten weeks.
Amongst the other contestants on this series of Bake Off, we will see a veterinary surgeon, a fashion designer and a geography teacher compete for the spot of top baker.
Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding are hosting once again and Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are back as judges after crowning Rahul Mandal as last year's winner.
The Great British Bake Off is on Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4
