Wolverhampton’s John Mincher is a contestant on this year’s edition of the Channel 4 favourite, and impressed so much in last week’s debut he was named star baker.

The 37-year-old NHS directorate support manager wowed judges in the first episode of the new season last week, amazing Dame Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood with his Black Forest cake topped with macarons.

This week’s Biscuit Week challenge saw the tent’s lovely bakers make their own tea-time classics, including minty chocolate viscounts, crumbly cinnamon swirls and mouth-watering gingerbread.

However, during the end of the technical round, London-born baker Illiyin passed out from exhaustion, requiring a swift response from first-aiders and a momentary stop in the show.

And fellow contestant Jeff quit the show altogether, abruptly leaving the tent still feeling ill after having to miss two challenges last week.

The showstopper round tasked the bakers with making an elaborate shadow puppet theatre made entirely out of gingerbread in a style that presenter Noel Fielding described as ‘like something out of The Muppets’.

John’s gingerbread house, affectionately called the ‘Welsh Adventure’, failed to wow the judges in the design this time – but his honey and chilli gingerbread mix saved him as it was dubbed ‘delicious’ by the handshake king Hollywood.

The baker to wow the judges the most (and receive a coveted Hollywood handshake) was Christiaan, who created a functioning rotating gingerbread house complete with an ‘utterly charming’ story.

Noel Fielding stood in for Illiyin, with judges deeming that the flavours of the piece were good, however it was too softly baked.

Sadly, John missed out on the star baker award this week, with the top spot going to Lancashire-born baker Sumayah for her consistent flavour and quality across each of the rounds.

The baker to leave the tent this week was 71-year-old mother of four, Hazel, who pleased judges with her flavours, but fell short of the consistency of her bakes.