Mary Berry has finally revealed her feelings on the first episode of the ‘Great British Bake Off’ without her as a judge.
Over the weekend, Mary told the Daily Express that she’d been “dining out and missed” the first ‘Bake Off’ to air on Channel 4, but did insist that she had every intention of catching up.
By the time HuffPost UK spoke to her at the TV Choice Awards on Monday night (4 September), she had finally seen the episode, and shared her take as we chatted to her on the red carpet.
She told us: “It’s followed the same format, and it’s going to be brilliant.”
When asked what she thought of the new crop of contestants, Mary explained: “Remember, they’ve watched, I would think, seven series, most of them. So they’re bound to have upped their game and practised like mad. That’s how they got there.”
We also questioned Mary whether she would have agreed with Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood’s choice for the first Star Baker of the new series, but she admitted: “Oh, I wasn’t concentrating that hard. Thank you.”
Mary also told us about her “proudest moment” from her seven series on the BBC show, revealing: “I think [it was] when Nadiya [Hussain, series six champion] won, because she did very well all the way through.
“But when it comes to the final, those three people, they’ve only got to drop it, or they take it out of the oven too soon and it goes down in the middle and they’ve lost, and that does happen, even when you get to the final.
“You’ve got to present the food and it’s got to taste good, and I was thrilled for her, that she won and I think she’s done very well since.”
‘Bake Off’ made its Channel 4 debut on Tuesday (29 August), pulling in the channel’s highest viewing figures since the 2012 Paralympic Games’ Opening Ceremony.
Newcomers Prue Leith, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding also won praise from viewers, as well as a handful of the show’s past winners, who tweeted their support as the episode aired.