Byline: Julia Llewellyn Smith

The first time Matty Edgell won a baking competition was four years ago at the secondary school in Peterborough where he works as a science and PE teacher. Yet when he was awarded first prize for his brownies he claimed they weren't his creation but that of his girlfriend Lara. "I don't know why I said that," he says. "Silly really. There would have definitely been a huge element of surprise [if my colleagues had known it was me]; it probably would have provoked lots of questions. Nobody knew I baked, I never mentioned it, and obviously it never came up in conversation. It just didn't seem part of my personality."

Now Edgell's secret is out. Last week, the 28-year-old was named victor in this year's The Great British Bake Off, after Lara entered him. Hearing his name announced as winner "was insane. I've seen that clip played back so many times and it still gives me goosebumps."

It would be impossible to begrudge the cheery, self-effacing Edgell his moment of glory. Nonetheless, the internet is full of mutterings that "Josh was robbed", a reference to the uber-talented Josh Smalley, whose skill shone throughout the contest.

The many gripes regarding the decision by the judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith include the fact that Edgell never won a "technical" -- when contestants tackle the same classic recipe with minimal instructions. In the final, he came last in that round with a raw lardy cake.

Yet his eclairs in the "signature" round were declared "properly firm" by Leith. In the all-important "showstopper", his gaudy, triple-tiered chocolate cake may have resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but was praised as "delicious".

In comparison, poor Smalley, a 27-yearold chemistry researcher, was told by Hollywood that his efforts were "flawed" and "boring". Cue more furious debate about whether a series winner should be chosen based on one final bake, or on a track record established across ten weeks.

"You can't deny Josh was more consistent," agrees Edgell, speaking over Zoom during his school lunch break, dressed in a tracksuit. "He set the benchmark the whole way. We were given...