Great British Bake Off host Noel Fielding has had his say after former co-presenter Sandi Toksvig’s comments about why she left the show.
Noel and Sandi became an unlikely double act in 2017, when they took over from Mel and Sue as the hosts of Bake Off when the show made the jump from the BBC to Channel 4.
Sandi eventually stepped down after three seasons, and claimed earlier this year that she felt her brain was “atrophying” as the result of “watching meringues dry” for too long.
“I was just getting depressed, and it’s about integrity,” she later claimed. “If you have that, then you can sleep. If you have integrity and you think ‘I’m doing a good thing, I’m doing a good thing for other people, I’m being good to my friends, my family’, then that’s fine. There’s no money in the world that can then take that from you.”
Reacting to Sandi’s departure during a recent interview with The Guardian, Noel claimed: “Sandi, as we know, is a massive brain. She went to Cambridge, she’s super-smart, she writes, she does politics, she needs to be stimulated. She never stays anywhere too long, except QI which is the perfect show for her.
“The difference between us is that I’ve always really enjoyed hanging out with the bakers. I befriend them and get them to open up.”
During Bake Off’s time on Channel 4 era, Noel has presented the show with Matt Lucas and his current right-hand woman Alison Hammond.
“It feels like I’ve done three different shows,” he told The Guardian. “First with Sandi, under enormous pressure but we pulled it off. Then with Matt, which was a privilege because he’s a comedy genius. Now I’m enjoying it more than ever.
“Alison’s not a comedian, so she’s not as neurotic about jokes as I am, but she’s a brilliant improviser and instinctively funny. She slotted right in. Paul and Prue are very fond of her. Even my kids adore her. We’re having a blast.”
The Great British Bake Off returns to our screens for its 15th series later this year.