Great British Bake Off contestant James Morton has admitted he is surprised by his star status – and insisted it is all down to his choice of Fair Isle tank top.

The Glasgow medical student, 21, has become a hit with thousands of fans of the BBC2 show, in which amateur bakers battle it out in front of judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

Mr Morton said: "I had 60 Twitter followers before, now I have nearly 15,000.

"It all started after the third episode when I got 'star' baker and wore a tank top – I think people confused their attraction to the tank top with liking me.

"The Fair Isle jumpers were a deliberate decision as I'm a proud Shetlander. They did get a bit smelly after a day's filming in that warm tent, I must confess."

Meanwhile, fellow amateur baker Brendan Lynch, 63, has revealed the show's contestants got a telling off from television producers for helping each other.

"There was a good sense of camaraderie and support. We were often ticked off for wandering over to one another and offering advice. In the end they gave up trying to keep us apart because we would always find a way of meeting up surreptitiously," he said.

Morton is not the only person on the Bafta-winning TV show to have attracted sex symbol status.

Last month, "master baker" Hollywood dubbed his heartthrob reputation "embarrassing, flattering" and "quite silly".