David Atherton was encouraged by friends to try out for The Great British Bake Off... and he won season 10!
Although the show features a cast of friendly bakers, it’s a high-pressure situation with limited time and knowledgeable (but mostly) friendly judges. So the situation is high-pressure, and someone sent home every week because of their soggy bottoms. Atheron won his final bake, and the season, with his showstopper - an ‘edible illusion’ picnic basket featuring cake shaped like blocks of cheese and fig rolls made to look like sausage rolls.
He later described how he prepared for each episode:
“Most of my practices (bakes) I did in my (under)pants while eating pizza and watching RuPaul’s Drag Race. At the end, it showed me singing to myself and dancing around, but actually I did that the whole way through. I am calm and methodical, but I’m not particularly reserved.”
He said that early in the series, he felt a little bit objectified” in some episodes.
“(But) I enjoy the buns innuendos… I mean, I did wear tight trousers every week. It’s not like I wasn’t also playing up to this.”
But it’s Atherton’s real job that’s stressful. He’s a trained nurse and works as an international health adviser. David has had assignments in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, and Nigeria. He’s had to work while bombs are going off. He’s been evacuated from two wars – once by British special forces, once by the Americans.
“I was able to keep things in perspective and kept reminding myself that even if my pastry was soggy, or my cake didn’t riseproperly, I’ve coped with more serious situations.”
Perhaps more stressful, and more of an impact on his life, was being raised in an evangelical Christian family. Knowing he was gay at an early age, he says he grew up with lots of shame. He described the situation in an interview with Attitude magazine.
“[Homosexuality] wasn’t really talked about, but I knew that it was seen as a very negative thing. All my friends were Christians, and there was never a day that went by where I didn’t hear a very hurtful thing said referring to LGBTQ people.”
His volunteer works may have been a way to avoid dealing with his sexuality. He decided he couldn’t continue to lie to himself and his family and friends.
“I’d found it easy to come out to people I’d just met because they didn’t know my history, but I worried that other people would think I’d been living a lie, and that I’m not the person they knew. It got to a tipping point where I thought ‘No, I can’t live a lie anymore.”
He finally came out as gay at the age of 29. But he said that he hasn’t been “brave” - it was simply a step he needed to make to have a happy life.
David met his partner Nik Sariyski via an online dating site. Their second date was a 100km bike ride from London to Brighton, so that showed early commitment. Nik grew up in Bulgaria, a country known to be homophobic. So growing up queer wasn’t easy for either of them.
Nik was the first partner that David introduced to his family. Since the show, David and Nik got engaged and got married in July 2023.
"I’m already fully committed to this guy and love the family we’ve made… I’m so thankful to all the people who fought for equal marriage in the UK, and I stand with all those fighting for the same rights across the world #lovewins"
Since winning the Bake-off, David has written five cookbooks, with three of them targeted to children to encourage healthy eating.
David also writes a cooking column for The Guardian newspaper and cohosts a podcast with Michael Chakraverty called “Sticky Bun Boys”.
He is also amazed that LGBT teenagers contact him for advice. But he thinks it’s ironic:
“They say I’m an inspiration, but I didn’t come out until I was 29. But they’re seeing me after that, where I don’t live with shame anymore. I’m really happy. Shame just eats away at you. I encourage people that the soonest time it’s right for them, they should come out, because I didn’t do that and so many people you speak to wish they’d done it earlier.”
