Rotherham star Self Esteem will rise to Bake Off challenge

Now she has found a happy compromise - she is working and cooking at the same time! The Rotherham performer, also known by her stage name Self Esteem, will appear as a guest in the famous white tent on The Great Celebrity Bake Off and hopes to earn the champion's title of Star Baker. "When I’ve got time, I love to cook," she says. "In the pandemic, I cooked every meal for my parents, and I would luxuriate in new recipes, and take all day doing it.

"But now I’m back working, I don’t get as much time to cook. "But when I do have time, it calms me down. I love to put a reality TV show on my laptop and cook." She is a regular Celebrity Bake Off follower too, admitting she is: "A massive fan, I love it! "About 15 years ago I got in touch with the chap who does the illustrations over the internet and asked him to draw me as a Cherry Bakewell so this is all very full circle for me." Viewers won't have to wait long to see the episode - it is due to be screened on April 6. It should be a fun hour, too, with the Anston-born entertainer sharing the limelight with two comedians Adam Buxton and Tommy Tiernan, along with actress Meera Syal. The one-time South Yorkshire Ladies cricket player, Wales High School pupil, phlebotomist, and supply teacher, admits to a liking for comfort food. For years her favourite was a "cheese toastie, with white onion, on white bread with salad cream as a sort of dipping sauce." She also has the occasional hankering for a McDonalds, treating herself to a nugget meal with a side order of cheese burger. However, we can expect a plate of something a tad more challenging when she competes in a series that also stars Roman Kemp, Gloria Hunniford, Maxine Peake, Kat Garraway, and Jim Howick. Rebecca loves competitive TV appearances on C4, she has previously starred on Taskmaster, a comedy panel game show created by comedian and musician Alex Horne and presented by both Horne and Greg Davies. It's been a demanding schedule for Rebecca, (38) recently. The one time BBC Music Artist of the Year and Mercury Prize nominee, expects to release her third solo album, A Complicated Woman, next month. She will perform her new material at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End on April 16-20. The album comes out on the 25th. It contains one track that might not get much airplay on mainstream media - it is a song in which she rates sex positions. She explains: "A lot of my music is saying the things I struggle to say in real life. I like the idea of clearly communicating your needs in one quick, three-minute house song. “It is also political – women still are expected to cater to others sexually; I can’t hear another discussion about ‘faking it’, it upsets me too much! There’s enough inequality in the male/female dynamic as it is. Our bodies go through so much more pain and suffering, please god let us get the pleasure where we can!”