10 Reasons The Great British Bake Off Is A Slice Of British Brilliance

The contestants on the Bake Off are what make each series so different. This year we had a brilliantly diverse group of amateur bakers going through the stresses of the tent together, building close relationships that give the impression they're all one big family even when the cameras stop rolling.

This year's youngest baker was Flora – just 19 years old but a definite old head on young shoulders, and the oldest baker of this series was Marie – 66 years old and still in love with baking. Early viewer favourites were Mat; a lanky London fire fighter who produced a pie tin borrowed from the mother of 'his mate Dangerous Dave', Sandy; a child welfare officer from Leeds who declared 'Famous in Leeds is my three-crack madeira' without even a hint of sarcasm, and heartthrob Tamal; a trainee anaesthetist who was honest about his hate for week 6's technical challenge 'stupid technical. I hate you. I hate all of you. I mean, I love my fellow bakers.'

The winner of the show really stole our hearts, Nadiya had put her career on the back-burner to raise her utterly adorable 3 children, but her curious facial expressions, initial lack of confidence and eventual determination made the judges decision to crown her the winner one we were all happy with.