REVEALED: THE UK’S MOST SUCCESSFUL CONTESTANTS FROM COOKING AND BAKING SHOWS

During the nation-wide lockdowns over the past year, many people rediscovered their love for cooking and baking; from perfecting their homemade banana bread recipes to cooking more fresh dinners. This resurgence in home-cooking has encouraged Magnet to look at the range of amateur and self-taught cooks and bakers that have featured in the nation’s favourite cooking and baking shows, to find out which of them have continued to lead the most successful careers in the food industry since their time on TV.

Magnet has ranked 149 contestants from MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off (GBBO), Hell’s Kitchen, and Best Home Cook based on seven key factors. This includes their Michelin career experience after the show (if they’ve owned or worked at a Michelin restaurant), number of TV appearances, number of published books, number of Google searches between 2017 and 2021, number of restaurants or bakeries they’ve owned, estimated earnings for a sponsored post on Instagram, and the different areas of the food industry they have ventured into – including owning a cookery school, offering catering services, and more.

The top 15 most successful contestants from the UK’s cooking and baking shows are:

Nadiya Hussain, who won the GBBO in 2015, has claimed first place, with 14 books and 113 TV appearances to her name, hosting her own shows ‘Nadiya Bakes’ and ‘Time to Eat with Nadiya’ to name a few. While she has released multiple cookbooks such as ‘Nadiya’s Family Favourites’ and ‘Nadiya’s British Food Adventure’, she’s also released a number of children’s books, from her series of ‘The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters’ to her most recent UK release, ‘Today I’m Strong’.

Nadiya is also expected to earn the most from Instagram with a potential earning of £2,195.28 for each sponsored post, based on her nearly 800,000 followers and her strong engagement rate. This is double the fee of the second highest expected earner from social media, Edward Kimber. Although he placed tenth in the total rankings, Edd could potentially earn £1,044.00 for a sponsored post on Instagram, where he proudly shares regular updates of his bakes and new creations.

Candice Brown, winner of the 2016 Great British Bake Off, has placed second in the rankings for the most successful contestants from the UK’s cooking and baking shows. With over 100,000 searches on Google since 2017 and 51 TV appearances, her time on the show has allowed her to become a regular household name. Since winning the show, she’s become the co-owner of The Green Man pub in Eversholt, she’s released her cookbook ‘Comfort: Delicious Bakes and Family Treats’, and she’s gained work experience at Coach, the Michelin restaurant from Tom Kerridge.

The contestant who has taken the bronze medal for success after featuring on a tv show is MasterChef’s Andrew Kojima. Since reaching the final of the show in 2012, Andrew has gained the most experience within his Michelin career, working at more Michelin restaurants than any other contestant. He has gained experience from eleven Michelin starred restaurants, including Le Gavroche in Mayfair, The Ledbury in Notting Hill, and Oud Sluis in The Netherlands. Andrew then opened his own award-winning Japanese restaurant, Koj, in Cheltenham, which gained recommendations in The Michelin Guide, bringing his Michelin score up to 12 in the rankings.

Somewhat surprisingly, it’s the 2018 winner of GBBO that has received the most searches on Google since 2017. Rahul Mandal stole the nation’s hearts on the show with his apologetic nature and has since gained nearly five times more searches than the most successful contestant in the rankings, Nadiya Hussain. Rahul has been searched for an incredible 209,550 times since being on the show. In fact, contestants from that series appeared to spark the interest of viewers, with Ruby Bhogal from the series of the same year receiving the second highest number of “Googles” from the nation, with 180,080 searches.

Overall, it’s those from The Great British Bake Off that make up the majority of the top 15 most successful contestants, with ten starting out from the baking show and five from TV’s MasterChef. However, it is original MasterChef contestant, Thomasina Mears, that has owned more restaurants than any other contestant. As co-founder of Mexican chain restaurant Wahaca, she went on to open 25 restaurants as part of the franchise, as well as another two called DF Mexico. She also received an OBE for her services to the food industry. Similarly, fellow MasterChef contestant Hannah Miles has published more books than anyone else on the list, with the 2007 finalist releasing 32 books since her time on the show.

Beth Boulton, Head of Marketing at Magnet, says “With the national ‘stay at home’ order having been in place for most of the past year, many of us have had more time on our hands and have found ourselves cooking more fresh dinners or dabbling in a bit of home baking. As there are many successful people in the food industry that started out as amateurs, baking and cooking for fun – like lots of us are now – we wanted to find out who’s become the most successful after learning in their own kitchen. We hope this research will help to inspire anyone who’s embarking on their own culinary journey.”