23 Facts About Ruby Tandoh

Ruby Alice Tandoh was born on 1992 and is a British baker, columnist, author, and former model.

Ruby Tandoh was runner-up on series four of BBC's The Great British Bake Off in 2013 and has written four cookbooks.

Ruby Tandoh's 2021 Cook as You Are was named to several best-of lists.

Ruby Tandoh's father worked for the Royal Mail and her mother was a school administrator.

Ruby Tandoh had an eating disorder as a teenager, which she describes as "akin to bulimia, with some binge-eating and anorexia on the side".

Ruby Tandoh was admitted to a mental health ward but released after one day because she had good grades and "beautiful hair".

Ruby Tandoh studied philosophy and history of art at University College London, but left after four years without a degree.

Ruby Tandoh competed in the fourth series of The Great British Bake Off at age twenty, making her the youngest competitor in the series at the time.

Ruby Tandoh reached the all-women final, with Kimberley Wilson and Frances Quinn.

Ruby Tandoh became one of runners-up to Quinn, who made a three-tier wedding cake inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream which the judges said "beat the other two guys hands down".

Ruby Tandoh wrote for The Guardian, but announced in June 2018 that she would stop, citing the "elitist" nature of the industry.

Ruby Tandoh explained the decision to exclude photographs of food and kitchens as intentional, meant to encourage home cooks to assess their success at creating dinner "not by whether it matches up with a photo of a meal staged by a food stylist for a cookbook photo shoot".

In January 2017, Ruby Tandoh referred to wellness bloggers, and specifically food writer Ella Mills, as "dangerous".

In 2018, Ruby Tandoh criticised former Made in Chelsea reality show contestant Lucy Watson, who had released a vegan cookbook in 2017, for tweeting that "most people" should be vegan.

Ruby Tandoh listed reasons why people might not be able to be vegan, and said that Watson was writing from a position of social privilege.

Watson replied by accusing Ruby Tandoh of taking offence because her own cookbook contained meat and dairy recipes.

In 2020, Ruby Tandoh joined a chorus of voices criticising the Horizon episode about "The Restaurant That Burns Off Calories", first tweeting, then writing in The Guardian, that it would encourage fat-shaming and disordered eating.

Ruby Tandoh says that she accepted being queer soon after she came to terms with her relationship to food.

Ruby Tandoh came out in a Twitter tweet in 2015, with a link to the Diana Ross song "I'm Coming Out".

Ruby Tandoh had been encouraged to come out by her girlfriend, Leah Pritchard, a musician training to be a psychotherapist.

Ruby Tandoh says she was lucky to meet her after only a couple of dates after accepting her bisexuality.

Ruby Tandoh has spoken out about her struggles with eating disorders, criticising the body shaming common in "wellness" culture and advocating a healthier, more positive approach to food writing.

Ruby Tandoh was voted the Great British Bake Offs favourite past contestant by the Radio Times audience in 2016.