This year’s Great British Bake Off contestants, who will battle it out to become the 2017 champion, have been revealed.

The 12-strong line-up, which includes an architect, a health & safety officer and a software developer, are set to appear in the first episode, which airs on Channel 4 on Tuesday 29 August at 8pm.

The show’s new home and slot on the schedule are accompanied by a new judge, Prue Leith, alongside long-standing one Paul Hollywood. It is to be hosted by Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig, with sponsorship from Dr Oetker and Lyle’s Golden Syrup.

Here’s a lowdown on the 12 contestants:

Tom, 29
Scottish born and bred architect Tom lives with his partner, David, in Edinburgh. He was taught to bake by his mother June, a home economics teacher, and is often found making shortbread. When not baking, he enjoys triathlons, marathons and fresh water swimming.

Steven, 34
Steven comes from a family of strong baking women, with his mother Judi teaching him the basics 25 years ago. As an adult, he started to take baking more seriously, and now cooks and bakes everything he eats. He has managed to lose five stone in the process.

Stacey, 42
Former school teacher Stacey lives with her husband and her three young children in Hertfordshire. Stacey likes to incorporate her Jewish heritage into her baking, with a traditional homemade challah every Friday night dinner.

Chuen-Yan, 46
Yan lives in North London with her wife, Marian, cat Kacey and her sourdough starter called ‘Muvver’. Born in Hong Kong, she moved to the United Kingdom aged two, where she eventually trained as a biomedical scientist.

Liam, 19
Student Liam is the youngest contestant in this year’s showdown and has only baked for four years. He was born in Hackney, North London, and is fondly known as ‘Cake Boy’ to his university friends. One of his ambitions is to make baking acceptable among his peers and younger generations.

Sophie, 33
After graduating with a Masters in psychology, Sophie went on to join the British Army as an officer in the Royal Artillery. When she’s not baking, Sophie leads an active life including track cycling, rowing, teaching military boot camps and training to be a stuntwoman.

James, 46
James describes himself as the bald, baking banker from Brentwood with a bad back. He lives in Essex with his wife Ann, two sons Oliver and Ethan and their three chickens: Sparkles, Superman and Jeff. He also trained as a diver for the Royal Navy Reserves.

Julia, 21
Originally from Kemerovo, Siberia, Julia moved to the UK after meeting her British husband Matt on holiday in Turkey. In preparation for applying to Bake Off, she spent three years practising and studying British bakes in particular.

Chris, 52
Chris lives with his wife Catherine in Bristol where he works in software. He admits to being obsessed with the science behind baking, and develops healthy but unusual flavour combinations. As a cancer survivor, he is passionate about helping others impacted by the disease.

Flo, 71
Flo is the eldest amateur baker ever to take part in Bake Off. Her son Stephen encouraged her to take up baking again two years ago to cope with the grief of her husband dying, and she now prides herself on being a traditional baker.

Kate, 29
Health & safety inspector Kate lives and works in Merseyside where she also pursues her love of blacksmithing, furniture restoration and yoga. She uses old-fashioned techniques for baking, such as using smoked flour for sourdough and recreating recipes such as Dockers Wedding Cake.

Peter, 52
IT programme manager Peter lives in Essex with his wife Tito and two children, Temi and Toni. He started baking eight years after feeling unwell, which he put down to shop-bought bread – this spurred him to make his own. He prides himself on making picture-perfect macarons.  

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