Mel Giedroyc might not be presenting The Great British Bake Off anymore but that doesn’t mean the show hasn’t had a lasting impact on her.
The presenter, who left the baking show along with her comedy partner Sue Perkins when it moved to Channel 4 in 2017, says she learnt a valuable lesson during her six years hosting Bake Off.
She is fronting Channel 4’s new show dedicated to woodwork, Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker, but has admitted she didn’t ask to keep any of the creations because of what she learned on Bake Off.
“I dropped some fairly heavy hints [that I’d like to keep some],” she said of the wooden constructions.
“I remember on Bake Off when somebody put all that effort into making an extraordinary creation, the last thing they wanted was some pushy presenter coming and saying, ‘Oh, I like that cake, can I take it home?’. Sometimes they were very polite and said yes but you could see inside they were breaking.
“I’ve learnt my lesson: respect the creation, respect the creator.”
She added: “They’re not going to let you nick it. It would be like taking a child away from them.”
Last month Mel revealed that she’s only just got round to watching the seasons of Bake Off that she hosted with Sue.
“I have watched bits and bobs. I am very late to the game. But I haven’t watched The Wire yet, either,” she said.
Read the full interview with Mel in this week’s Radio Times, out now. www.radiotimes.com