I was on Bake Off and was told I was too confident, cocky and should know my place
A FORMER Great British Bake Off contestant has revealed she was told she should “know her place” by viewers after coming across as “confident” on screen.
Kimberley Wilson, who took part in the fourth series of the much-loved baking competition, said fans hit out against the way she was portrayed in the series.
Kimberley, 39, who was a finalist on Bake Off, was pipped to the post by Frances Quinn in the all-female final in August 2013.
Shortly after the show, she opened up about the horrific response on social media she had from viewers – as she was forced to hit back that what is shown on TV is just a “representation” of what happens.
She told BBC Radio 2: “I was too self-satisfied, I was too confident and cocky and I wasn’t showing enough vulnerability.
“I wasn’t showing enough defence, I wasn’t being gracious enough. I read comments which said I should know my place. It felt political.”
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Hitting back against the viewers, she added: “What you got was a kind of condensed, slightly two-dimensional representation of what happened; nothing is fictionalised, but it’s not fully nuanced.”
Kimberley also hit back at the show’s production, as she said: ” was presented as kind of uber-confident and uber-competent, which is probably just not human.
“People not liking you isn’t very nice, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.”
Elsewhere, Kimberley opened up about how hopefuls may have met judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith ahead of the first episode – and revealed they most likely have their favourites already
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Now a psychologist, and working with The Food Warehouse by Iceland, she’s revealed all the secrets from the show.
Following an extensive 16-page application form, including “your history in food, what you like to make, and kitchen disasters,” successful candidates are given an interview with producers.
“It’s basically a clearing interview, where you bring something in, and they check whether you actually made the cake yourself or just bought it,” laughs Kimberley. “They’re like, ‘So what was the recipe for that?’”
Following that round is a screen test “to see whether you freeze on TV or not”, and then after that you do a live test.
She explains: “You basically do a technical challenge, as like a little test before you’re on the show. In my year, Paul and Mary Berry judged it!”
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Kimberley also revealed how the show is like a “marathon”, which sees contestants having to do baking in between “their lives”.
“So it’s not like a lovely holiday camp where all you do is bake. It’s Bake Off in between the rest of your life, it’s hardcore.”