Flour power:
Madeleine Sami and Hayley Sproull talk about their roles as hosts of The Great Kiwi Bake Off. Sarah Nealon reports.
It’s time for The Great Kiwi Bake Off.
It is the smell that hits you first. Sweet and strangely comforting, the aroma of fresh baking has me staring in the direction of the aproned people toiling away under the glare of a film crew.
I’m on the set of The Great Kiwi Bake Off where amateur bakers are hoping to wow the judges with their kitchen creations.
Filmed at a secluded Auckland estate where a large room has been prettily decorated in pastel shades and the odd vintage ornament, the reality show is modelled on the successful British format, which is now in its ninth season.
Here in New Zealand the show, which has 12 contestants, is fronted by versatile entertainers Madeleine Sami and Hayley Sproull.
The judges are baker and patissier Dean Brettschneider (New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker) and chef Sue Fleischl.
Sami and Sproull, who are nine years apart in age, only vaguely knew each other before starting on Bake Off. At first glance they might seem like an odd pairing but watching them together it is clear they have hit it off.
They share a similar sense of humour (a mixture of quick wit and deadpan), finish each other’s sentences and, Sproull says, the banter between them “never stops”.
“We’ve been carpooling,” she says. “It (the banter) is like almost 24 hours a day. Mads and I are very much kindred spirits and when the cameras aren’t on us we’re still both trying to entertain anyone who’s around. We’ll be like, ‘Hey do you want to listen to this? Do you want to see something?’
“It’s quite funny because we’re silly all day and then we get in the car and have these deep and serious conversations about the wider issues like life and death.”
Sproull, 29, who hails from Wellington is a rising star on the local comedy scene.
She writes for and appears on Jono And Ben and has a background in musical theatre. She can sing, play keyboards, and is part of a marching drill team.
If that’s not enough, she created and starred in her own comedy web series Hayley’s Kitchen, in which she plays a misguided TV cook whose specialities include “vegan spiced carrot cake with a whipped butter icing”.
On a more serious note, she has made a documentary about polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition which she and, coincidentally, Sami both have.
“Cystic sisters I like to call us,” says Sproull.
Out of the two of them, Sami, who has a daughter with her musician wife Pip ‘Ladyhawke’ Brown, is probably the most recognisable.
She received favourable press this year for The Breaker Upperers, a comedy film in which she shared co-starring, co-writing and co-directing duties with Jackie van Beek.
Viewers may also recall Sami from comedy series such as The Jaquie Brown Diaries and Super City, the sketch show in which she played multiple characters.
Sami will also be appearing in The Bad Seed, an upcoming local drama series.
But co-hosting a reality show is unfamiliar territory for Sami.
“This is kind of a new experience for both of us,” she says. “I haven’t done a lot of presenting or reality television. So we’re both observing how this whole thing works. There are cameras everywhere.
“The first couple of days we were just constantly standing in front of the camera. Sometimes we have a little bit of time to prepare and other times we don’t.
“It’s sprung on us. We’re shooting very fast obviously for various reasons. There is a lot to shoot in this show.”
There is also a lot to taste. Sproull and Sami say they have been sampling the various baking treats whipped up by the contestants and have even managed to prise recipes out of some.
Sometimes the pair are able to take baking home.
“I hover around until I can get some,” says Sproull. “But only because my partner is a big eater and he loves sweets.
“He’s been looking after me because we have these really long days and I come home and he’s been holding the fort. So I can go home and deliver these cakes or cookies or muffins and his beautiful face lights up. Last night he got three slices of
“Mads and I are very much kindred spirits and when the cameras aren’t on us we’re still both trying to entertain anyone who’s around.”
– Hayley Sproull talks about her co-host Madeleine Sami
cheesecake. He ate them all then and there.”
“My wife is dairy free so she’s not getting anything from set,” adds Sami. “She’s very upset that I’m part of a Bake Off (show) that has no dairy-free things. But I do show her the photos and that makes her more sad.”
As far as their own talents in the kitchen go, Sami is more of a beginner while Sproull is an experienced baker.
“I used to do lots of baking,” says Sproull, “because when I was a drama school student I had no money so whenever it was anyone’s birthday or Christmas, you’d just bake them something because it’s
cheap and it has love. My dad’s favourite is ginger slice. I’d always make that and afghans. And a lemon cake.
“Now I do lots of paleo baking because it’s very trendy.”
“You are on trend,” teases Sami. “If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about Hayley in the last couple of weeks is that she is on trend.”