Despite the gulp in her throat when Nadiya Hussain won ‘The Great British Bake Off’ the year before last, the show’s former judge Mary Berry doesn’t really have time for the tears shed by participants in this, or any other TV contest.
Mary, set to debut her new cookery show on the BBC following her decision not to ‘go with the dough’ to Channel 4, tells next week’s Radio Times: “In life you shouldn’t keep bursting into tears. There are occasions when you want to cry your heart out, but not on a television programme. If you do something that doesn’t work out, you have to gather yourself up and keep going.”
There should be fewer occasions to weep in her new show, ‘Mary Berry Everyday’, which Mary will be presenting on BBC2, having decided not to follow ‘The Great British Bake Off’ to its new home on Channel 4.
She says now: “It was the BBC’s programme, it grew there. So I decided to stay with the BBC, with Mel and Sue.”
And Mary adds that she was never made an offer by Channel 4, once she’d made it clear she wasn’t for persuading:
“I was never asked to go. I avoided being asked. It was suggested what would happen if I did go to Channel 4; what I would get, the advantages. But I didn’t ever have a meeting with them. I’d made up my mind. To me it’s an honour to be on the BBC. I was brought up on it.”
In the interview, Mary also reveals she turned down her husband’s first proposal, and his second, because he had been drinking when he asked for her hand in marriage.
Her husband Paul explains his imbibed state: “It’s a big step, you need a bit of fortification.”
Mary adds that his third attempt was more successful, on a bench in London’s Hyde Park, and the couple have now been married for 50 years.
You can read the full interview with Mary Berry in next week’s Radio Times, on sale now.
She was also named the bookies' favourite, more or less as soon as Mel and Sue announced they were stepping down.
On Twitter, hers is the name we keep seeing crop up time and time again, either from people crying out for her to get the job, or pleading with Channel 4 not to give it to her.
In our opinion, it would be a bit too obvious, though, but we'd definitely be in favour of her forming a new double act with runner-up Tamal, with whom she got along like a house on fire in their days on 'GBBO'.
Like Nadiya, he too has managed to bag himself a career in TV, so we wouldn't be surprised if the offer fell at his feet either.
Julian is the undisputed king of innuendo, and his soft-spoken style lends itself perfectly to the 'Bake Off' tent.
He's also become a dab hand at light entertainment since his 'CBB' days, appearing on the panel of 'Your Face Sounds Familiar', as well as fronting 'Nature Nuts' and appearing on 'Give A Dog A Home'.
Hmmm.... maybe not.
Emma must be so stressed out interviewing the stars of 'Celebrity Big Brother' twice a year that we'd be quite happy for her to land a presenting gig that's a bit more... calming.