Great British Bake Off favourite Richard Burr: My mother banned me from her kitchen

Finalist: Richard Burr

8 October 2014

Great British Bake Off finalist Richard Burr was banned from his mother’s kitchen after wrecking it as a teenager — and had to wait until he built his own to develop his baking talent.

The builder from Mill Hill, who is hotly tipped to win in tomorrow night’s final, said he “got into baking at a young age” after watching his mother Adrienne.

But disaster struck when he first turned his hand to cooking and was banned from the kitchen for scorching the floor with a hot pan. Eventually he was able to build a state-of-the-art kitchen in his £600,000 house.

The father of two, the fourth generation to work in the family construction firm, said: “I got into baking at a young age. My mum baked a lot and my dad’s really into cooking too but for me it was when I built my own kitchen — that I could destroy without being told off — that I really got into it.”

Mr Burr’s wife Sarah, who heads up Transport for London’s cycling strategy, told the Standard today: “She was hard on him in the kitchen because he’d made a mess of hers. Whatever he makes, even when he’s being tidy she’ll still find something to clean.

“I don’t mind him trashing our kitchen as he always cleans up afterwards. And it’s his kitchen, he built the walls, floor, ceiling and all the units himself.

“His dad (Peter) built his mum a new kitchen last year as she’d lived for about 20 years with a burn mark on her kitchen floor from where Richard dropped a burning hot pan while cooking. She still tells him off today, even though it’s not her house!”

Mr Burr, 38, also holds a first-class degree in biodiversity and conservation from Birkbeck College. He put in 18-hour days on building sites and competing on the show, impressing the judges with his éclair stair, heart-shaped rhubarb and custard donuts and Swedish ring.

He is widely tipped to beat his rivals Nancy Birtwhistle, 60, and Luis Troyano, 43, after being named the show’s Star Baker a record five times.

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