Model past of the Bake Off's rising star: Ruby receives flurry of compliments about her looks from show's male fans

Great British Bake Off contestant Ruby Tandoh is a former model
She signed for one of the leading agencies as a teenager
She was the star baker on this week's show

PUBLISHED: 00:38, 29 August 2013 | UPDATED: 08:58, 29 August 2013

Her sweet treats have impressed the judges – but for viewers of the Great British Bake Off, it is Ruby Tandoh’s looks that are causing a stir.

The striking 21-year-old has received a flurry of compliments on Twitter from male fans.

The comments include ‘Ruby is the perfect woman’, ‘I think I’m in love’ and ‘the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen’. But that should come as no surprise.

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Great British Bake Off contestant Ruby Tandoh is a former model having signed to Models 1, one of the leading agencies, in her teens

Miss Tandoh struggled to impress the Bake Off judges at first but was the show's star baker this week

Miss Tandoh, chosen from 10,000 applicants to be one of this year’s 13 contestants, is a former model. In her teens, she was briefly signed to Models 1, one of the leading agencies.

Essex-born Miss Tandoh, now a philosophy and history of art student at University College London, struggled to impress Bake Off judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood at first.

This week, however, she was the show’s star baker. Miss Tandoh’s success should please BBC bosses – it will surely help boost the show’s male viewing figures.

An average of 5.3m viewers tuned in to watch 38-year-old horticulturalist Lucy Bellamy eliminated from the show on Tuesday evening.

The episode attracted a peak audience of 5.9m – 300,000 down from the opening episode last week.

Miss Tandoh has told how she was inspired to bake by the ‘rubbish’ cakes often sold on British high streets.

Bake Off student Ruby Tandoh gets Tweeters hot under collar

An average of 5.3m viewers tuned in to watch 38-year-old horticulturalist Lucy Bellamy eliminated from the show on Tuesday evening

She said recently: ‘I became interested in baking after seeing the cakes in baker shop windows and thinking they were a bit rubbish.

‘I started baking bits and pieces as a teenager. But it wasn’t until I went to university that I really starting to learn more detailed techniques, even though there was only a tiny kitchen.

‘I make such a mess when I bake, which I don’t think my mum was very pleased about when I lived at home, so I had the freedom to make as much mess as I pleased.’