‘Nigella could do no wrong’ says Brummie Bake Off star Gabe

Before drag performer Gabe walked into the famed Great British Bake Off tent they had planned to treat the show as “any other gig”.

But when it actually happened, it felt “nuts”, they said, especially when new judge and “icon” Nigella Lawson arrived.

“She’s so amazing,” they said. “I’m in the school of, Nigella could do no wrong.”

Originally from Grimsby, Gabe has lived in Birmingham for the past 15 years and is one of three Brummies on the Channel 4 show, including fellow contestant, Mo, and presenter, Alison Hammond.

“We basically spent the entire time wondering when our bins were going to get collected, if I’m honest,” they joked, referring to the city’s long-running bin strike.

Last week viewers watched them make a Balti pie, paying tribute to the one-pot dish invented 50 years ago in their adopted city’s Balti triangle, where Hammond goes for her curries.

“Birmingham very much is my home,” they told BBC Radio WM. “So I felt like I needed to really represent Birmingham in a big way.

“Birmingham’s got such a great food history. And to be part of that now, realistically, is just so fab.”