Fortunately for those who are overwhelmed by the daily barrage of breaking news and need a regular break, the new season of "The Great British Baking Show" (opens in new tab) began airing at the end of September, mixing reality television with ordinary people from working-class backgrounds and offered a kinder, more peaceful alternative to other ongoing contests (opens in new tab). Because of this innate kindness and the pure joy that comes from watching nice normal people make mouthwatering desserts in a tremendously short time, however, it is easy to forget that this show is, at its core, a classic reality competition with winners and losers.

We all want to see every cake baker take home the coveted first place cake stand, but that's (unfortunately) not how reality TV works. And in the latest season of this beloved baking contest, just a few episodes in, there have already been a few clear front-runners emerging from the all-around hilarious amateur baker crowd. Perhaps the most promising is the youngest, Peter Sawkins, this season's first star baker, who fits the mold of the Great British Baking Show finalists before him. Here is what we know about Peter.

Peter is from Edinburgh, Scotland and is currently a student at the University of Edinburgh. He is majoring in accounting and finance and is also the president of the university's badminton club. At just 20 years old, he is the youngest baker on The Great British Baking Show this season and one of the youngest in the show's history. (Incidentally, the youngest contestant ever was Martha Collison, who appeared on the show in 2014; she was only 17.)

In an all-too-perfect twist of fate, Peter was inspired to start baking by watching the first season of The Great British Baking Show at age 12 and has never missed an episode since. He likes to honor his Scottish background by incorporating traditional ingredients into his cakes and, thanks to his experience baking for his gluten-intolerant brother, impressed the judges with his solid grasp of gluten-free baking.

In addition, according to his baking-centric Instagram page (opens in new tab), Peter also loves to celebrate members of his family and honor them with hobbies and interests-tennis, the NBA, Paddington Bear, etc.-themed treats.

Early in the season, he confessed that while time management and planning are his greatest weapons in the "Great British Baking Show" tent, he may struggle with artistic decorating and baking. Indeed, he struggled during the "Bread Week" episode, but Peter overcame that and will battle through the rest of the season with time management, creativity, and precise seasoning.

In the first episode of "Cake Week," worthy of Star Baker, Peter made a gluten-free chocolate and orange Battenberg cake and a bust of Scottish Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy. He also made a near-perfect mini pineapple upside-down cake, which took second place in the technical challenge.

For "Biscuit Week," Peter placed 10th in the technical (a dozen coconut macaroons) but impressed the judges with a sticky toffee florentine and a biscuit-only table set for the Scottish Burns Night celebration.

Peter's "Bread Week" was a bit of a roller coaster: his black pudding-flavored and ginger beer-flavored soda bread didn't impress the judges too much, but his technical challenge to create six rainbow bagels jumped him up to fourth place UP.

During "Chocolate Week," Peter's technical skills and attention to detail helped bring him back in the eyes of the judges after a rocky few days of bread-based challenges. He started by making an "upside down brownie" that was deemed too cinnamon-y, but he placed fourth in a tricky technical challenge to make a chocolate babka and wowed the judges with a gluten-free celebration cake to commemorate his brother's college graduation, which was aborted by COVID! ...

Peter continued his post-Bread Week arc of redemption at Pastry Week with a perfectly flaky cagerie pasty at Signature, a tray of raspberry and caramel eclairs worthy of first place at Technical, and a delicate, showstopper blackberry and lemon tart under a cage of sumptuous pastries studded with edible flowers. Although he missed out on the Star Baker title, the showstopper was praised by Paul Hollywood as a "happy tart."

Peter won first place for the second week in a row in the technical challenge with his nearly perfect matcha crepe cake in the Great British Baking Show's first "Japanese Week". However, Paul stumbled in the other two challenges, tearing his adorable lamb buns to shreds, and his "Dizzy the Shuttlecock" kawaii cake, named after his love of badminton, received a disappointing response from the judges.

Despite being born long after the 80's ended (it's been a decade), Peter did quite solidly in a series of challenges developed in honor of that era. He started with a Thai curry and salmon quiche, which apparently tasted much better than it looked. He then won second place in the technical category with his fluffy fried doughnuts, and then beat the extreme heat with an ice cream cake that celebrated Christmas in July.

With only five bakers left in the tent, Peter had his most nerve-wracking week to date during "dessert week." A mediocre lime and ginger mini cheesecakes, a second-worst Sussex Pond Pudding, and a snow globe-themed Jelly Art Cake put him in the bottom three. Fortunately, he made it to the semifinals, but let this be a lesson to amateur bakers everywhere: you can't serve a bunch of winter-themed desserts in the summer heat before Paul Hollywood completely loses interest.

In classic Peter fashion, the young Scotsman made another surprising comeback in the semifinals, leaping from the bottom three to become the star baker of "pastry week." He showcased a strawberry and elderflower baba, impressing the judges despite their initial wariness of his courageous decision not to include traditional rum in his recipe.

In keeping with the spirit of generosity and compassion that underlies The Great British Baking Show, I won't spoil the outcome of the finale here. What I can say, however, is that Peter emerged with his eyes on the prize, although his second Star Baker title with renewed confidence is still fresh in his mind. He baked a gorgeous custard slice inspired by a traditional Scottish cranachan and won second place in the technical category with a delicate walnut swirl.