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When his name was ultimately called to departBake Off, the way his fellow contestants reactedspoke for itself.
This is now our bakingPepe Silvia!
Can you tell me about your rabbit?
How long have you had Humphrey?Hes about 8 years old now.
Rabbits are pretty incredible; they can live up to 13 years.
Hes a tiny one.
She was on other calls with friends.
She has her own life.
The cameras were always gone by that time.
Does Humphrey have kitchen privileges?He doesnt go into the kitchen.
Its interesting, its a room he doesnt like to hop to.
Maybe he doesnt like the floor.
like support my friends baking in THE FINAL OF GBBO 2021@giuseppecooksChigs and Crystelle.
We got prepared by the producers about what to expect for a social-media response.
Im blown away by that.
The experience watching myself has been interesting.
Its always hard hearing ones voice recorded.
I felt like I had less of an accent than what came through in the show.
That was a surprise to me.
I really liked watching the show and myself.
Social media is just such an unknown thing to me.
I had Twitter and Instagram accounts before, but with very small followings.
I didnt open those up to the wide world.
I created accounts specifically afterBake Offto separate the two, since I didnt know what was coming.
The response of going from zero to more than 100,000 followers on Instagram is crazy.
Whatever I post seems to resonate with different circles.
Theres a Jewish community, a baking community, and a trombone community.
What encouraged you to want to apply forBake Offin the first place?I had actually applied before.
I did a lot of charity bakes for work and I started baking pretty frequently about ten years ago.
My family and my work friends started to nag me to apply in 2013.
I had a mustache for Movember and it didnt look so great.
And my heart wasnt in it.
I wasnt surprised that I didnt get a callback then.
But a lot of people kept telling me I should be onBake Off.
Last season I felt like the whole show changed filming in that bubble.
Most programs that are about contests are about clashing and being fierce, andBake Offdidnt have that.
I decided that if I could contribute something, its for that.
It felt it was the right time to apply again.
The system felt so smooth.
Did the app change at all from when you first applied?I think they redesign it every year.
Its putting together an art portfolio with a personal story.
Id love to learn more about how your job informs your baking.
Do you think your technical training gave you an advantage in the tent?Its possible.
In the tent, time management is of the utmost importance.
The one thing you dont get in the tent is enough time.
When I started baking, I started learning data percentages, especially with bread-making.
I used that method in the tent.
Which bake was most meaningful to you?
It was fun learning about your childhood in the Black Forest.Thats interesting to think about.
I have three bakes!
The Schwarzwald rolls certainly made me think about my childhood and where I came from.
Paul making me judge them myself was funny.
I wouldnt have imagined that.
She was instrumental in the whole journey.
That was stuck in my memory for years and I wanted to try it again.
The third one was my semifinal showstopper, the Torii gate.
I have a big encyclopedia that my aunt gave me when I was young.
I read it back to front.
Ive never been to Japan, but hope to go one day.
Okay, yeah, we need to discuss that.
Did your elimination come as a shock to you?I kind of felt it coming.
Why was that?I cant pinpoint it to a specific thing.
Well … after the three handshakes Paul gave out, it was pretty clear, I would say.
That seemed a little cruel of Paul.Yeah, I cant say more about that.
You did win the technical.Yeah, but historically, the bake that counts most is the showstopper.
Did Paul or Prue offer their reasoning in the aftermath?I cant really say anything about that.
This is cryptic, Jurgen.[Laughs.]
What are you comfortable sharing, then?Ill say everyone was surprised.
The contestants, the production crew everyone was surprised.
Different people of the crew, Noel and Matt, offered different possible explanations.
I dont want to share what those were.
In the semifinals, I consciously took more risks than in other weeks.
I always took risks with flavors, though.
Its a competition and without risk, why should I be there?
It just didnt resonate with them.
Im curious how you felt about having to engage with Noel and Matts banter during your bakes.
When youre baking, you have a choice with how you deal with that.
You have to keep in mind that what you see is about one percent of all of the footage.
They certainly werent there all the time.
I loved them and loved acting with them.
The basis of how they engaged with me at the beginning was just not there.
We had to find our common ground, which we found quickly.
I really enjoyed their company.
It was a welcome disturbance.
When things go wrong, they can be very helpful.
They definitely wont make things worse.
Matt is also Jewish, so we would talk about festivals and Passover.
That created a nice relationship with him and the quality of our interactions.
With Noel, we talked about our children.
You were all quarantined at the hotel complex to film the season.
Even on the off days, we were all pretty tired.
We enjoyed jogging around the grounds.
I practiced my trombone.
I was there for five and a half weeks in total.
My family was so supportive, which made it possible to really enjoy it.
They didnt let me know about their day-to-day disturbances when we Zoomed every night.
What does the future hold for you?
Im happy to try out things now that come my way.
Theres some television work coming up, and Im thinking about writing books.
Media work can be quite erratic.
My job is flexible to some extent and possibly, at some point, Ill reduce hours.
I venture to get my head around jazz, but I still feel like a beginner after six years.
But its getting there.
I have the guts to stand up and improvise.
I couldnt sing any pop songs myBake Offfriends were singing in the tent.
I had no idea what they were.
