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Great British Bake Off Download
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The Great British Bake Off quarter-finalist Marc Elliott is not only a mean baker, but also a keen climber and a UKC user. Following his appearance on the hit Channel 4 series, we managed to join the GBBO media buzz and chat to him about climbing, baking, obsession, mental health and *that* David Bowie cake that didn't quite make the cut...
If you look hard enough, there are parallels between The Great British Bake Off challenges and climbing: in the Signature Challenge, a tried-and-tested classic bake that you've done over and over again, like a favourite route, is repeated for the judges. In the trickier Technical Challenge, an 'onsight' attempt at a more obscure bake is made, following a frustratingly vague recipe akin to a poorly-written guidebook description. Finally, in the Showstopper Challenge, weeks of preparation and practice culminate in a dicey redpoint of a complex creation with multiple cruxes. Who will over-egg the pudding and fall flat - or worse, who will crumble and end up with the dreaded soggy bottom?
There is at least one thing that climbers and successful bakers on the show have in common: the ability to perform under pressure. Cornwall-based The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) contestant Marc Elliott, 51, charmed the audience with his creative bakes and his status as a doting single dad of two young daughters and a cheeky dog named Hamish. While Marc's impressive climbing past didn't feature overtly in the series, save for a mention of knot-tying knowledge coming in handy during one bake, in his '90s heyday he was leading E6, redpointing 8a and was part of the bustling Sheffield scene, working at Outside in Hathersage and serving his grit apprenticeship. Marc's ticklist boasts hard classics such as The Cad (E6 6a) and Nosferatu (E6 6b), and his UKC Gallery hints at a life well-travelled, with first ascents in New Zealand and beyond, as well as a talent for photography. Unlike some bakers who rise and fall from week to week like fickle souffls, Marc's ability to keep a cool head and maintain composure on camera resulted in consistent baking, a Star Baker award in Bread Week and a respectable fifth-place finish after missing the mark in Dessert Week.
Life has not always been a piece of cake for Marc, however. In 2016, a motorcycle accident resulted in the amputation of his left leg and set him on a long road to recovery; one in which baking has played a pivotal role in maintaining his physical and mental wellbeing. A reluctant application to the GBBO show - following some forceful encouragement from his youngest daughter - resulted in success and a place for Marc on the most popular series yet, exposing the bakers to a peak audience of 10.4 million viewers. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where housebound people took up baking as frantically as hotcakes could sell, the show was a welcome serving of light relief amid all the uncertainty.
Along the way, viewers became immersed in and felt a part of the GBBO 'bubble'. Marc's most memorable moments involved his splattering of buttermilk to the face, turning out 'pretzel-like' rainbow bagels, fashioning a Buddhist Dharma wheel from bread, designing an ice-cream cake, making a jelly creation (sadly without wobble), sculpting a cutesy cake model of his dog and botching the unforgettable David Bowie bust that looked 'more like Jabba the Hutt than Ziggy Stardust,' as Paul Hollywood put it bluntly. Even Bowie's son couldn't help but giggle at the misshapen cake, comparing it to the unfortunate restoration of the Ecce Homo painting of Jesus.
After a few years of adapting to his limb loss and becoming a TV star - he now has 49.6K Instagram followers - Marc is returning to climbing and recently led his first trad route since his amputation. He's a man with his fingers in many pies as a social worker, climber, baker, sculptor, photographer, father and now a reality TV celebrity, but while his status has risen, he's very much still the grounded and humble guy that so many viewers felt compelled to support on GBBO.
Praised as the baker who had made 'the biggest journey' on the show by steely-eyed GBBO judge Paul Hollywood, Marc told us about his climbing and baking backstory, his experience in the world's most famous tent and how his life has changed since becoming an inspirational icon for his new fans...
While a great many people that appear on television claim to have "done a bit of climbing" you really are the real deal, having served your dues living in Sheffield and working at Outside - could you tell us a bit more about that time in your life? How did you get into it?
Yes, such great memories! I started climbing when I was around 14. I wasn't really "into" school, I wasn't good in school at all. I had the opportunity to go climbing on an outdoor pursuits course and that was the one thing that lit my fire I suppose! From then on I just climbed constantly to the point when I finished school at 15. I was living in Leicester at the time and I told my mum and dad I was going to school and with my butties in my bag I cycled to local quarries instead! I climbed all day until hometime. From that first moment I climbed I just got the bug completely and it's transformed my life ever since really.
I moved to Sheffield in 1992 and lived there for 15 years and worked at Outside for about 8 years. They were great times, it was almost like the heyday of Outside, with Richie Patterson, Glyn Pagett, Jez Portman and loads of guys working in that shop and everyone was just super motivated and we just climbed every minute! There was a friendly competitiveness and it was a really good time to be working there I think.
Stanage has to be one doesn't it; it was on the doorstep and I passed it every single day. Gogarth, too - I've always had a fond affection for Gogarth and Pembroke was always one of my favourite places to climb too.
At the time I was happily ticking off E5 and occasionally E6s. Working at Outside, you were almost climbing full time - you were climbing before work, after work - you were just going to Outside in between, for a rest really! At that time we were just climbing constantly and it was just the nature of everyone working at Outside - you couldn't help but increase your grades and get better.
Prior to moving to Sheffield I took a year out and went to Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada for the whole year and had twelve months of enjoying climbing in those places and making some first ascents.
I had moved down to Cornwall and I'd kind of backed off climbing a little bit. I was still climbing, but doing quite a lot of surfing too. When I lost my leg, the nature of where I lost it (above the knee) meant that surfing was out of the question. I didn't really consider climbing because of my lack of mobility and the fitness and confidence loss. I just didn't think I'd be able to climb again. Then The Tide Climbing Centre opened literally just five minutes from where I live, amazingly, and my two daughters said: 'Oh come on Dad, we really want to have a go down there!' So I said: 'Yeah, I'll take you and you can have a go!' After a couple of times I thought: 'I want to give this a go!', so I took my prosthetic off and started climbing with one leg and amazingly I was really surprised at what you could do with one leg and I just carried on from there. I've not climbed that much recently, partly because I've been busy during and since Bake Off, but I did go down to Bosigran and led my first route without the prosthetic this summer!
Yeah I led Alison Rib (D) (D) at Bosigran. It was an amazing experience and so incredible to be actually placing gear again. The thing I remember is the enormous leg pump from all my weight being on one leg! It was like going ice climbing again. I am trying to get fitter and work out what I can do and what I can't do, it's kind of like beginning again really. It's good fun and I'm really enjoying it and it's quite nice because I can just do my own thing without having to worry about peers. I think as climbers we naturally compare ourselves to other people and our peers, but I'm kind of on my own and it's quite liberating!
Shortly after the accident and a couple of months after I got my prosthetic leg I realised that actually, 'You have got to learn to walk again!' and the mental and physical effort that involved was a bit too much on top of everything else and that's when I just rapidly spiralled into an incredibly horrible place. It was really very, very dark and that lasted eight or so weeks. In that time I kind of just needed something to keep my brain active. As climbers we're always thinking and keeping ourselves busy, aren't we, and I needed something. I couldn't really do anything outside or very active as I wasn't really feeling that strong or confident, so I just started baking bread and instantly I found it really therapeutic. It's slightly physically exerting and in that state I was in, just that little bit of physical exertion and mental focus kind of kept me going and very quickly - again as climbers you get obsessive, well I'm quite obsessive anyway - I just carried on and really enjoyed it!
It is, yeah. I think the last couple of years has kind of opened up not only the depression, anxiety and stress I've felt in this period, but it's also allowed me to reflect on my whole life, really. Going through therapy showed quite a few things up: my obsessive nature and the fact I would push myself to climb to quite a hard level was partly due to insecurities and depression, and maybe some social anxiety as well. As you get older I think it's really good to become aware of these things and not hide from them, but almost welcome them really as a way of growing. I want to encourage people to become completely open about things in the good periods of their life, but also the really dark periods of their life, too, as they are both equally as important. 152ee80cbc
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