This week, as part of Her Campus Durham’s “Wine and Dine” week, we were lucky enough to get the chance to chat to Michael Georgiou, star of the most recent series of The Great British Bake Off. When he’s not baking, he’s a third year Economics and Politics student from Van Mildert College.
When and why did you first become interested in baking?
I first became interested in baking a long while ago when I used to bake with my mum and watch my gran bake as well.
Why did you decide to apply for the Great British Bake Off? What was the application process like?
I really only applied to the show as a bit of a joke after my friends were going to do it on my behalf and I decided to go along with it and add in a few points to pad the application out. The process was quite long as I applied in October and it took many months of interviews before I was finally confirmed to the show.
What was it like meeting Mary Berry and the other judges?
Meeting Mary was amazing. She is the queen of baking and so to be able to meet her and speak to her was incredible. Meeting Paul, Mel and Sue was also great as they are such well-known figures that to be able to be in the same tent as them was a dream come true.
What’s your favourite part of the competition: the signature bake, technical challenge or the show-stopper?
Definitely not the technical! Don’t think many people like that. I would say the signature bake. It’s more about the flavor of the bake that I am more about than just visual appearance.
I bet your housemates in Durham love your baking. Do you find it hard to balance baking and creating recipes as well as your degree?
I think they liked it! It was a struggle at first to balance it but once I got into a pattern and organized myself it was okay to do.
Have you got any advice for aspiring bakers?
Go for it! Anyone can bake. Doesn’t matter if it is a simple recipe or something complex, have a go as I’m sure you will shock yourself at what you can do.
You can follow Michael on Instagram here!