Warning: there are spoilers in this blog – who won star baker, who left the show, who did Paul give a handshake to, what necklace was Prue wearing, things along those lines.

So last night saw the launch of The Great British Bake Off, series 10, with a twist straight in at the beginning – there is an extra contestant, making it their baker’s dozen of 13. It was explained that this didn’t mean an extra programme but that two people could go at any given time, but considering this was the first programme, I think we were safe that two weren’t going last night.

There was a lot of information to digest last night, with 13 contestants it was difficult to remember who was who and who did what for a living. but a few did stick in my head: Phil the lorry driver, Henry the student, Jamie another student and part-time waiter, Michael the theatre manager and Michelle the print shop administrator.

The signature challenge was a fruit cake – not the most exciting of cakes, but it was probably a good choice to settle their nerves, except for Michael, who managed to cut three of his fingers in the first ten minutes – not a great start for him!

The technical challenge was an angel cake which was shown to us by Prue as the example on the right and probably more realistic is the one on the right, made by,  I think, Jamie. I love the GBBO Twitter and Facebook posts, they are very clever.  Henry is first in this challenge and Jamie is last.

The final challenge is the legendary showstopper, a dream childhood birthday cake. The chance for them to show off their imagination and creativity.  Cue a joke with a mix up with “fairy garden” and “furry garden” and an innuendo or two…

Michelle’s cake, a carrot cake with orange cream frosting which was shaped like a fairy house was the judge’s favourite, though I thought the snake cake was the best and this secured Michelle’s title of Star Baker and controversially, Dan was the baker that left and judging by the comments on Twitter, I am not alone in thinking that Jamie should have gone instead.

My early thoughts on who will win this year: I’m going with Henry, followed by David and then Michelle.  But as we go forward into Biscuit Week, I will leave you with the words of James Ancaster….