Great British Bake Off host Noel Fielding has admitted there’s one thing judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith do that still upsets him while making the show.
This year marks Noel’s eighth year at the helm of the beloved baking competition, meaning he’s now officially its longest-serving host, overtaking original presenters Mel and Sue.
Ahead of the new series’ debut, Noel spoke to The Guardian about his experiences in the iconic tent, admitting he’s still as emotionally invested in the show as ever.
“I’m fascinated by the people. I feel protective of them. If Paul and Prue [Leith] are hard on them, I’m absolutely livid. It’s devastating when they leave. This year I was particularly fond of one baker. When I had to send them home, I cried.”
During his tenure with Bake Off, Noel has had three co-hosts in Sandi Toksvig, Matt Lucas and his current right-hand woman Alison Hammond.
Since leaving Bake Off, Sandi has made several candid admissions about her motivations for leaving, recently claiming that she felt her brain was “atrophying” as a result of “watching meringues dry” for too long.
“I was just getting depressed, and it’s about integrity,” she later admitted. “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.”
Responding to Sandi’s comments, 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.”
“Nobody expected that to be my strength,” he claimed.
Bake Off will return to Channel 4 for its 15th series later in the year.