Great British Bake Off’s Jane Beedle: ‘being in the final is beyond my wildest dreams’

The finalist talks baking disasters, meeting her fans, and what it's like in the tent
Finalist: can Jane win the Great British Bake Off?
BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon
Peter Walker26 October 2016

Londoner Jane Beedle today said making it to the final of the Great British Bake Off was “beyond her wildest dreams”.

The garden designer from Beckenham will compete in front of an estimated 15 million viewers this evening in the climax of the BBC’s flagship cook-off before it makes its controversial move to Channel 4.

PE teacher Candice Brown, from Bedford, and aerospace engineer Andrew Smyth, 25, from Northern Ireland, take Jane on for the title.

The amateur baker said: “Being in the final is exciting and nerve wracking.

“But above all I felt immensely privileged. I never expected to be chosen as a contestant so getting through to the last three exceeded my wildest dreams.”

The final three: Jane, Candice, and Andrew
BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon

Beedle, who is married to husband Ray with children Amy and Henry at university, started her Bake Off campaign with a bang when she earned the star baker prize in the first week.

Beedle, whose grandfather owned a bakery in Hastings and whose father baked her cakes as a child, has proved a cool customer throughout the seventh series.

“I don’t know really how I remained so smiley under pressure on the show,” she told the Standard.

“I just loved every minute in the tent, if things went wrong I just got on with it and tried to salvage something from the mess.

“No point in getting downhearted. There are an awful lot of people watching who would willingly swap places, disaster or no disaster.”

Great British Bake Off week by week

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Jane said she cannot go out in Beckenham without being recognised, including a fan who asked if she was a lookalike, and die-hard followers even recreate her creations at Bake Off parties.

“Heaven help them if they tried to do my three-tier floral cake,” said Jane, after judge Paul Hollywood compared her attempt to mashed potato.

“I would never have believed that meeting an old baker could give people so much pleasure. I really enjoy it when parents tell me that I am their children’s favourite. It’s great to appeal to the younger generation, I hope it will encourage them to bake,” she added.

She also said the Bake Off’s three hour timings were as strict as the show suggests and that no contestants ever fell out.

“I can honestly say we all got on brilliantly,” said Jane, who also revealed she had received a cheeky helping hand from presenter Mel Giedroyc.

“She was trying to help one day and dropped one of my bakes into the sink.

“We dried it off and hid it at the back. I don’t think Paul noticed.”

The Love Productions show is moving to Channel 4 at the end of the series in a controversial three-year deal worth an estimated £75 million.

Paul Hollywood is the only presenter moving with the show, with Mary Berry, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins all departing when it leaves the BBC.

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