Meet Hermine, GBBO contestant and accountant
The 39-year-old is one of the latest batch of Bake Off hopefuls.
This year's series of The Great British Bake Off might have been filmed under different circumstances than usual, but many other things about the show have stayed exactly the same.
And one of those things is that once again the show will see an exciting batch of excellent amateur bakers - with this year's line-up of Great British Bake Off contestants now having been released.
One of this year's hopefuls is Hermine, but does she have what it takes to bake her way through the competition?
Here’s everything you need to know about her.
Who is GBBO contestant Hermine?
- Name: Hermine
- Age: 39
- Where is she from? London
- What jobs does Hermine do? Accountant
Born and raised in Benin, West Africa, Hermine moved to London in 2001 to pursue further education.
Her first experiences of baking were as a child, when she he used to love helping her mum bake for big family gatherings, before deciding to go about it on her own at the age of just eight!
Since buying the ingredients for a Savarin cake and throwing herself into the challenge, she has never looked back!
The French influence in Benin has instilled in Hermine a love of high-end pâtissérie – she enjoys baking intricate millefeuille, éclairs and entremets.
She is also a dab hand at sourdough – so much so that her nine-year-old son now refuses to eat any other bread!
A notorious feeder with an infectious laugh, she’s creative at heart and loves cooking marmalades and jams to give as gifts, making beautiful labels as well as delicious fillings for the jars.
What are Hermine's Strengths? "My strength is my understanding of how ingredients work together and how to get flavours right."
What are Hermine's Weaknesses? "My weakness is the ability to get a clean neat finish under time pressure."
What has Hermine said about joining Bake Off?
Hermine said that finally getting to enter the tent was "surreal" especially given there was a point at which she thought the competition might not be able to go ahead due to the pandemic.
She said, "I could not believe I made it in" and added, "I was looking forward to meeting all the other bakers and see if they enjoyed the same bakes that I did, and to share knowledge and experience."
Asked to pick a former Bake Off contestant she would choose to be in a lockdown bubble, Hermine singled out 2016 baker Selasi.
"He would be calm in a crisis," she said. "He comes across very chilled and has a positive vibe."
When is GBBO back?
Very soon! The first episode of the 11th series arrives on September 22nd at 8pm.
That start date was confirmed by Channel 4 via the official Great British Bake Off Twitter account, with a tweet alerting viewers to the news.
It read: “Put a little love in your tart. Join us on Tuesday 22nd September for the return of The Great British Bake Off!”
All the filming for this year's series took place in just six weeks, with production beginning at the end of July, after all involved had undergone a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
That quarantine was one of many behind-the-scenes changes the show had to go through to ensure that it could go ahead without endangering any members of the cast or crew.
The Great British Bake Off starts on Channel 4 on September 22nd at 8pm. To keep up to date with the latest Bake Off news, see here. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide
