Imagine your OTP where one is obsessed with watching Great British Bake Off and the other is gaining weight because they can’t say no to the sweets that keep getting made because their partner is constantly “inspired”.
David Atherton won the 2019 edition of Great British Bake-Off winner. His day job, while not concocting sweet deserts, is as a nurse health advisor for the charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). That effort took him to war zones in the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Nigeria.
He explained:
“Having been evacuated from two wars and had malaria nine times, definitely helped me handle the pressure on Bake Off. I was able to keep things in perspective…”
Atherton grew up in an evangelical Christian family rural Yorkshire, England. In an interview with Attitude Magazine, Atherton said that when he realized he was gay it resulting in a lot of shame
“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.”
Working in Africa during his 20s also delayed his coming out. He was told that being gay could lead to time in jail if he wasn’t careful.
Atherton finally came out at the age of 29.
“I realised that I hadn’t been brave… It got to a tipping point where I thought ‘No, I can’t live a lie any more.’
Today, David lives with his partner Nik Sariyski who is from Bulgaria (a homophobic country). Nik is the first partner that David has introduced his family. In 2020 they announced their engagement.
Atherton continues to work for VSO and has written several cook books.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face. Paul Hollywood has never and will never make half the crap these bakers are forced to do
