'Bake Off' star Kim-Joy reveals social anxiety made her 'pretty much mute' at high school

The Great British Bake Off’s Kim-Joy Hewlett has said that she was crippled by ‘severe’ social anxiety at high school, and would barely speak.

Contest runner-up Kim-Joy came joint second on this year’s show, just losing out to this year’s winner Rahul Mandal.

“I didn’t really speak when I was at school, I was pretty much mute,” she told The Guardian.

“I would talk at home, and sometimes I whispered to people, but I was very careful about who could hear me talk; I didn’t want people to know that I could. I would say it was severe social anxiety.

“There’s selective mutism as well, but a lot of that is in really young children, and this was at secondary school. So I don’t know if I fit the criteria.

“But I don’t really believe in criteria anyway. I was always trying to break out of my shell because I knew that wasn’t really me. But who was?”

Kim-Joy, who was born in Belgium and moved to the UK aged nine, was a hit with viewers, thanks to her intricate bakes and flair for quirky decoration.

She added that she now hopes the show will bring her new opportunities.

“I feel like I want to make the most of the opportunities, I don’t want to just sit back and chill the whole time,” she said. “To have people like you for who you are is quite affirming, especially when you always worry about people not liking you.”

Such was her popularity on the show, the hashtag #JusticeForKimJoy soon began trending.

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