Nadiya Jamir Hussain may be basking in the glory of being crowned Great British Bake Off champion but the team at Marketing Metrix are equally chuffed – they predicted she would win even before the first episode was even aired.
Using big data techniques, the team developed an algorithm that predicts the types of contestants most likely to reach the final and win the competition.
Information was compiled about each of the 59 contestants and 44 episodes from series one to five to form one dataset. This dataset was then audited to reveal a bit more about the contestants and assess if there were the correct ingredients for an algorithm.
The formula yielded some interesting results, with mothers aged 30 to 40 and retired women with a passion for pastry having an over 90% chance of reaching the final when compared to other contestant types.
However, the assertion that young working males residing in the South East of England would not fare well proved half-baked; 29-year-old finalist Tamal Ray, a trainee anaesthetist, grew up in Hertfordshire, although he does now live in Manchester so it was not completely wrong.
For real Bake Off fans, Marketing Metrix has set up a competition so you can see how you would fare on the show. Visit the website to see if you could be a potential winner >
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