Great British Bake Off legend Selasi Gbormittah is a dad: Semi-finalist announces he has welcomed his first child - and brands the newborn his 'perfect little sous chef'

Great British Bake Off star Selasi Gbormittah has welcomed his first child. 

The Ghana-born baker, 40, who was a semi-finalist on 2016's seventh series of the show, took to Instagram on Sunday to reveal his long-term girlfriend Joelle Rainford had given birth to 'the perfect sous chef'. 

In an accompanying caption, he wrote: 'My turn! New to this fatherhood thing & loving it. The perfect sous chef, untrained, and currently contributes nothing but sweet bubbly noises - the adventures have already begun....

'All feels special. Happy Father’s Day to all dads and father figures celebrating today'.

The images in his post included a snap of the star in scrubs holding the newborn, an image of him lying on a hospital bed, a shot showing him leaving hospital carrying a car seat and also a throwback shot of his own father. 

A number of fellow Bake Off stars responded to the post, with Crystelle Pereira writing: 'Selasi!!!!!! This is so amazing, the biggest congratulations, hope mum and baby are doing well. Sending so much love to you all xxx'.

Nadiya Hussain wrote: 'Congratulations big guy!'

The show's 2019 winner Rosie Brandreth wrote: 'Oh congratulations!!!!', while 2018 winner Dr Rahul Mandal penned: 'Congratulations x'.

Giovanna Fletcher added: 'Whooooooop!!! Huge congratulations! Xxx'.

Selasi gained a vast fan base during his stint on the show and viewers were left playfully heartbroken when they discovered his relationship with Joelle, due to his flirtations with fellow baker Benjamina on screen. 

At the time, he said of his co-star: 'She was a proper sister to me. She's probably the only one who thinks I'm really funny! Everyone else thinks I'm not funny at all. So yeah - it's good to have a friend like that.'

Selasi has frequently shed light on his life and upbringing. 

He moved to Britain 25 years ago, having previously lived in Zomayi, in the poverty-stricken Volta region of Ghana, with his parents Dan and Regina, brother Senanu, sister Edinam as well as their grandparents in a cramped house.

His parents worked all day to make ends meet (Regina was a nurse and Dan a finance officer at a national oil company) and his grandmother Suzanna took care of the children, cutting their hair and sewing their clothes to save money.

Selasi started helping in the kitchen as a toddler and credits his father for his love of cooking: 'My inspiration was Dad. He is a great cook.'

But, when he was just six, Selasi's life changed dramatically.

In 1992, in a bid to find work that would bring in more money, his mother, now 56, travelled 8,000 miles to London, for a nurse's training post at Charing Cross Hospital and later at Hammersmith and St Mary's hospitals.

She lived in rented accommodation and sent home any money she made. Selasi, meanwhile, was sent to a government-funded boarding school in Accra, Ghana's capital.

At the age of 14, Selasi moved to London with his elder brother and they lived in a three-bedroom local authority flat in a tower block in White City.

He went on to work on the global transactions desk at Deutsche Bank.

As well as his job as a city banker, Selasi is a passionate biker and in 2018 was left heartbroken when his £15k motorbike was stolen. 

After the vehicle was taken by callous thieves, the police managed to recover the bike just days later thanks to a tracking system.

Selasi posted footage on Twitter at the time of the BMW RR motorbike, which he has nicknamed 'Optimus', being taken from a 'secure location'.