Jake Tyler has long been an unsung hero at Watchet’s Tropiquaria Zoo, where he is a popular keeper and staff member for the past eight years, but last week he finally got official recognition as Somerset’s unsung hero and went on to become a joint winner of the South West Tourism excellence award at a ceremony in Exeter last Thursday.

Now he is hoping to make it to the national awards in Birmingham in June.

Jake was nominated for his work in helping keep Tropiquaria going through the Covid lockdown, and boosting morale during that difficult time.

And Jake’s boss, Chris Moiser, added: “Not only did he do that but he got us on the TV show “Mary Berry Saves Christmas” which maintained the publicity during that period and increased our visitor numbers when we re-opened.”

A self-confessed “hopeless cook” who lived mainly on fast food and lunches at work, Jake became a hit on prime-time TV when he created a surprise meal for Mary Berry having never cooked anything from scratch in his life.

The food he prepared and which was served to Tropiquaria colleagues, was Mary Berry’s recipe of butternut squash, stilton and sage tart. “I did it and I’ve got the T-shirt, “Jake remembered. “But now it’s back to fast food for me!”