The Great British Bake Off runner-up Tamal Ray has revealed he was told by judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry: “We’ve got the finalists that we wanted.”

Despite making it to the final, Tamal and Ian Cumming were beaten by Nadiya Jamir Hussain as she won series six of the BBC One baking contest.

Looking back at filming the final episode, Tamal said: “It was really emotional. It felt very different, that weekend, to any that had gone before. Paul and Mary came up to us at the beginning and said: ‘You’ve earned your place here, we’ve got the finalists that we wanted, just go and enjoy this weekend.’ It was really nice having that.”

Tamal Ray
Tamal Ray (Love Productions/BBC)

The episode also featured a tea party for all 12 original contestants and their families, which Ian has previously explained was the reason for his application.

Speaking at a photocall and book signing for hundreds of fans at Waterstones in London’s Piccadilly, the 41-year-old said: “The tea party was the whole reason I entered, because my wife really wanted to go to it when she saw it on the television last year.

“But actually, in the end, she couldn’t enjoy it because I was in there baking and she had no idea what was going on. It wasn’t as much fun as she had hoped, that’s for sure.”

Ian Cumming
Ian Cumming (Love Productions/BBC)

Previous Bake Off finalists including 2013′s Ruby Tandoh and 2014′s Richard Burr have gone on to write popular cookbooks, despite not winning the competition.

Tamal, 29, said: “I’d love to write a book. People would be like: ‘Oh yeah that guy was on Bake Off – but then he did this book and it was actually quite good’. We’ll see. Loads of dreams, we’ll see what happens.”

Ian added: “It feels like there are so many possibilities, and it’s trying to decide which ones to go for, I guess. It’s a weird, weird exciting time.”

Like Nadiya, Tamal and Ian are also adjusting to being able to talk openly about the show. Tamal said: “I still have this thing of, I’m a little bit nervous that I don’t want to let anything slip. But no, it’s fine, everything has already slipped, so everyone knows.”

Ian said: “Nine months of keeping secrets, basically, and now it’s like – no, I can pretty much say everything and it’s absolutely fine. So it’s lovely, it’s really nice.”