Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Topics: Great British Bake Off, Alison Hammond, Noel Fielding, Channel 4, Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood, TV And Film
Jess Hardiman
Topics: Great British Bake Off, Alison Hammond, Noel Fielding, Channel 4, Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood, TV And Film
The Great British Bake Off is back for another season, with the latest addition to the crew – This Morning presenter Alison Hammond – settling into her role for a second season.
Before Hammond, her co-host Noel Fielding had been joined by Matt Lucas, who stepped down after three seasons in 2022.
But just after its move onto its new home on Channel 4, we had the double act of Fielding and QI star Sandi Toksvig – a dynamic duo who apparently no longer speak.
Toksvig, 66, quit the show back in 2019, saying she planned to ‘spend more time’ with her other work projects.
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“Spending time with Prue [Leith], Paul [Hollywood] and Noel has been one of the great pleasures of my life,” she said in a statement.
“These are friendships which I know will continue beyond the confines of television.”
But in a new interview with The Times, she’s been a little less diplomatic about her choice to leave.
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She told the outlet she’s not really in touch with anyone from the hit series other than judge Prue Leith, admitting with a 'sigh’ that her time as Bake Off host had been ‘three of the longest years of [her] life’.
When asked if she was still friends with the team, Toksvig replied: “Prue and I are joined at the hip.”
As for Hollywood?
“Not so much. He’s so busy. He drives cars so fast it’s impossible to catch him.”
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And Fielding? Toksvig responded: “No.”
She continued: “It’s not for me. I walked away from the biggest paycheque of my life, but that’s fine. I’d never watched it. I still haven’t watched it. I didn’t understand it. Cakes are readily available in the shops. I didn’t enjoy the process.
“You stand at the end of a long table for hours when Prue and Paul taste everything and we literally didn’t speak or taste anything. I used to say, ‘Can we not sit down? I’m not contributing,’ but no.”
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She also didn’t even enjoy chowing down on all the cakes, adding: “Not really. My thing is cheese.”
According to The Times, her wife, psychotherapist Debbie Toksvig, eventually ‘insisted’ Toksvig quit.
“There was this showbiz thing you’d made it with Bake Off, it was a big show, getting a lot of attention,” she explained.
“But Deb said, ‘It’s not making you happy.’”