Briony May Williams

Last updated
Briony May Williams
Born1984or1985(age 39–40)
Occupation(s)Television baker and presenter
Years active2018–present
Known for

Briony May Williams (born 1984or1985) is a British celebrity chef and presenter. She appeared on series 9 of The Great British Bake Off in 2018, finishing fourth. She presents the cooking show Food Unwrapped and the reality housing show Escape to the Country , and writes recipe columns for BristolLife and the supermarket Asda's Good Living.

Contents

Personal life

Williams is from Bristol, England. [1] She was born with a physical birth defect in her left hand, which stops after her wrist and thumb – she calls it her "little hand". [2] [3] Williams said that her family did not use the word disability due to stigma around the term. [2] [4] She had some specialised equipment, such as a recorder provided by the disability charity Reach that could be played one-handed, but learned to complete tasks like tying her shoelaces unaided. [4] Williams attended an all-girls secondary school. [4] Since her early 20s, she has experienced depression. [3]

After studying Spanish and French at Durham University, she became a secondary school teacher in the same subjects, qualifying with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from the University of Bristol. [5] [6] She met her husband Steve, a software engineer, online around 2010. [4] Williams baked with her mother and grandmother as a child, but began taking it seriously in 2013, after she was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and had to take time off work. [2] [4] She used YouTube tutorials, such as the ones by Cupcake Jemma, to gain baking knowledge. [4] During this period, she also took up running. [3] She had a daughter a couple of years later, and baked with her as a young child. [4] In 2017, she joined a local running community, This Mum Runs, and ran the Great Bristol Half Marathon that year. [3]

The Great British Bake Off

In 2018, Williams was a contestant on the ninth series of The Great British Bake Off, a television baking competition. She earned the weekly Star Baker accolade in Pastry Week after baking a pie themed around Alice in Wonderland . Eliminated in the semi-final, she finished fourth of 12. [1] In 2019, she appeared on the Christmas special The Great Christmas Bake Off , winning the episode. [4]

Williams told Bake Off producers that she did not want different accommodations due to her limb difference; after appearing on the show, she became more comfortable using the term disabled. [2] [4] At her request, her disability was not mentioned on the show. [7] She later told Disability Horizons that it should "just be natural" to see disabled actors and presenters and that they should not be limited to disability-related topics. [4] She found the production process—with filming at the weekend and practicing bakes during the week—very intense, and credited exercise with giving her the energy to progress far through the series. [3] She said she "had no energy left" after the semi-final and suffered a chest infection that weekend. [4]

Post-Bake Off career

Williams is a presenter of Food Unwrapped for Channel 4. [2] The series sees her travelling to research food and drink. She secured the role after being approached by producers, as the show was looking to expand its presenter line-up. In 2020, production was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; she had been due to visit Austria in the week that the first UK lockdown came into force. [4] Williams also presents Escape to the Country , a daytime reality programme about purchasing a house. [8]

Williams has a recipe column in her local magazine BristolLife and the supermarket Asda's magazine Good Living. She has also made a number of other television appearances on children's shows, cooking shows, talk shows, panel shows and game shows. [4]

Charity work

Williams has served as an ambassador for the disability charities Reach and Paul's Place, the mental health charity Bristol Mind, and volunteered for Comic Relief and the disability sports event Superhero Series. [3] [9] She completed a 5 km run for Sport Relief. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Lee (chef)</span> American television chef and author

Sandra Lee Christiansen, known professionally as Sandra Lee, is an American television chef and author. She is known for her "Semi-Homemade" cooking concept, which Lee describes as using 70 percent packaged and 30 percent fresh products. She received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Show Host in 2012 for her work and her show. As the partner of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, she served as the de facto first lady of New York from 2011 to 2019, when the couple ended their relationship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Perkins</span> British actress and comedian (born 1969)

Susan Elizabeth Perkins is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in Mel and Sue, she progressed into radio and television presenting, notably of The Great British Bake Off (2010–2016), Insert Name Here (2016–2019) and Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Giedroyc</span> British actress and comedian (born 1968)

Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc is an English actress, comedienne and television presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bara brith</span> Welsh tea bread

Bara brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread flavoured with tea, dried fruits and spices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Berry</span> English food writer and television presenter (born 1935)

Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering at college. She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prue Leith</span> South African chef living in the UK (born 1940)

Dame Prudence Margaret Leith, is a South African restaurateur, broadcaster, cookery writer and novelist.

<i>The Great British Bake Off</i> British television baking competition

The Great British Bake Off is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attempting to impress two judges with their baking skills. One contestant is eliminated in each round, and the winner is selected from the three contestants who reach the final.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie Gibson</span> English television personality (born 1985)

Josephine Diane Shirley Gibson is an English television personality. In 2010, she won the 11th series of the Channel 4 reality show Big Brother. Since 2019, Gibson has been a regular segment presenter and announcer for ITV's This Morning, as well as a relief co-presenter from 2021. In 2023, she was a contestant on the 23rd season of the reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! which she finished in fourth place.

John Robert Whaite is an English baker who won the third series of The Great British Bake Off in 2012. He works as a chef, television presenter, and author.

<i>The Great British Bake Off</i> series 2 Second series of The Great British Bake Off

The second series of The Great British Bake Off started 14 August 2011 with twelve amateur bakers. Unlike series one, the competition was held in a single location – the grounds of Valentines Mansion, a 17th-century mansion house in Redbridge. In addition to their on-screen presenting, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins also took over the narration, which had been done by Stephen Noonan for the previous series. Series two also introduced the "star baker" award for the most impressive performer each week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Tandoh</span> British baker

Ruby Alice Tandoh is a British baker, columnist, author, and former model. She was runner-up on series four of BBC's The Great British Bake Off in 2013 and has written four cookbooks. Her 2021 Cook as You Are was named to several best-of lists. Her online debates with many in the UK food world have also drawn attention.

Katie Marie Quilton is an English television presenter and journalist. She is best known for presenting a number of Channel 4 television series, including Food Unwrapped since 2012.

Food Unwrapped is a British television series broadcast by Channel 4 featuring Jimmy Doherty, Kate Quilton, Matt Tebbutt, Jimmy, Matt, Kate and Amanda Byram, Andi Oliver, Briony May Williams and John Whaite. The show is based on the original Dutch series "Keuringsdienst van Waarde", devised by Dahl TV and licensed by Warner Bros. International Television Production Ltd. There have been 25 series and a number of special episodes.

<i>The Great British Bake Off</i> series 6 Sixth series of The Great British Bake Off

The sixth series of The Great British Bake Off first aired on 5 August 2015, with twelve contestants competing to be the series 6 winner. Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins presented the show, and Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood returned as judges. The competition was held in the ground of Welford Park, Berkshire for a second year. The series was won by Nadiya Hussain, with Tamal Ray and Ian Cumming finishing as runners-up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadiya Hussain</span> English baker and author (born 1984)

Nadiya Jamir Hussain is a British television chef, author and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the sixth series of BBC's The Great British Bake Off in 2015. Since winning, she has signed contracts with the BBC to host the documentary The Chronicles of Nadiya and TV cookery series Nadiya's British Food Adventure and Nadiya's Family Favourites; co-presented The Big Family Cooking Showdown; and has become a regular contributor on The One Show.

The seventh series of The Great British Bake Off aired from 24 August 2016, with twelve contestants competing to be crowned the series 7 winner.

Rebecca Frances Lyne-Pirkis, better known as Beca Lyne-Pirkis, is a Welsh cook, food writer and TV presenter. She is best known for her cookery show Becws on S4C. She came to prominence as a contestant on The Great British Bake Off series 4 in 2013, where she made the Welsh speciality bara brith.

Martha Collison is a British baker and food columnist. She rose to fame after competing as The Great British Bake Off's youngest ever contestant, reaching the quarter-final of the fifth series at age 17. She writes a weekly column for the Waitrose weekend newspaper, and has released two cookery books as well as running a successful baking blog.

References

  1. 1 2 Gill, James (24 October 2018). "Who is Briony Williams? Meet the Great British Bake Off 2018 contestant". Radio Times . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lewis, Anna (18 August 2021). "Bake Off's Briony Williams: 'If There's Something I Can't Do, It's Up To Me To Find My Own Way Of Doing It'". Delish.com . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tomas, Fiona (27 August 2021). "'We don't talk about disability and exercise unless we're talking about Paralympians'". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Purcell, Emma (24 July 2020). "Briony May Williams: Bake Off semi-finalist and TV presenter who lives with a 'little hand'". Disability Horizons. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  5. ↑ "Bristol GBBO Star, Briony Williams, announced as Great Bristol 10k University Ambassador!". University of Bristol . 4 February 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "Food Unwrapped S9 Presenter Bios: Briony May Williams". Channel 4 . 26 November 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  7. ↑ Young, Sarah (12 November 2018). "Great British Bake Off's Briony Williams explains why she chose not to mention her disability on the show". The Independent . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "Briony May Williams". Royal Television Society . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Briony May Williams". Andrew Roach Talent. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.