A Baptist pastor last night became the first person to leave the Great British Bake Off, the hit BBC cookery show.

Lee Banfield, from Bolton in Greater Manchester, was the first of the 12 contestants to go after his lemon drizzle cake, jaffa cake technical challenge and "showstopper" mirror-glaze chocolate and strawberry ganache were all found wanting.

Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry and Sue Perkins were mainly critical of the texture of his cakes, which were deemed insufficiently moist.

As he departed the show, Banfield, who at 67 was the oldest contestant, said he had always enjoyed baking and would continue to do demonstrations at his Cornerstone Church.

But he'll refrain from showig the congregation his jaffa cakes. "I will just buy them a pack," he said.

A former builder, Banfield told Christian Today that he gave his life to Christ in the mid-1980s and started baking at about the same time.

"Oh, I knew the Bible stories and bits I'd learned as a child. But that's not the same as having a living relationship with Jesus. It's not the same as knowing him as Saviour and having a living faith in the simple fact that he died for me and that without him I would be lost forever," he said.

He loves food and believes that in the West, it is too easy to underestimate the importance of getting our daily bread because there is so much food around all the time.

"We are in the privileged position of being able to pick and choose what we eat and when." The people in Jesus' time were in a very different situation, he added.

"They were an oppressed people living from hand to mouth. I think this is why Jesus referred to food in many of his stories and parables. It's also how he demonstrated his love for the people around him, by providing it in abundance. His actions demonstrate the importance of feeding a person's body as well as ministering to the spirit."

Jesus also took every opportunity to break bread with the people around him. He dined with "sinners" and "tax collectors" as well as Mary, Martha and Lazarus, Banfield said.

Jesus went to Zacchaeus' house for a meal and ate with Peter and his family and many other people in his day to day life.

"The act of sitting and eating together is one of the ways we relate to each other on a very basic level. It's about sharing a pleasurable experience with the people we love," Banfield said.

"The simple act of breaking bread was used at the last supper as a reminder to his [Jesus'] followers that he was to suffer and die to... rise again. Today, the Lord's Table unites all believers and brings us together in a bond of faith, friendship, worship and service."

He explained how he became a Christian and began baking.

"One day my 11-year-old son and I were playing cricket on some spare land opposite our house. I bowled a ball and my back seemed to lock. However it wasn't until later that I discovered just how serious an injury it was. I was laid low and off work for weeks with little to occupy me. It was at this time that I started to bake. I found it therapeutic and surprisingly, something that I was quite good at.

"A few weeks prior to this incident I had been given a Bible and a little booklet about being Born Again. Like most people, I had heard the term, 'born again', but had no real idea what it meant. So, out of sheer boredom and to prove the booklet inaccurate in its claims I picked up the Bible and examined each quote in the booklet and every single statement it made.

"Examining God's Word in detail is a dangerous business and soon I came to the realisation that I didn't know Jesus at all," he said. "On 28 September 1984 I knelt down in my dining room at home and asked for forgiveness. I begged the Lord to come into my life and make me alive. I asked to be his forever. By faith I know that my request was granted."