Bake Off: “We’re like therapists in the tent!”

Sandi Toksvig, Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding talk emotional encounters with contestants and tea towel fires as GBBO returns to our screens… I

f this year’s heatwave made you feel uncomfortable, spare a thought for the 12 contestants who had to film

The Great British Bake Off

in the show’s iconic white tent.

Not only did they have the pressure of cooking everything from bread and biscuits, to Parisian tarts and Danish pastries, they had to do it in the intense summer heat.

“It’s been the sunniest Bake Off we’ve ever done,” says Paul Hollywood, 52. “And it’s certainly been the hottest. When we had chocolate week, it was 32 degrees in the tent! It caused a few issues with chocolate and caramel, plus a few other things.”

And it wasn’t just the cooking that was heating up the kitchen in the latest series. “There was a tiny fire,” says Noel Fielding, 45. “It wasn’t that dramatic. It was just a tea towel! But it was exciting for the tent.”

“You know what the headline will be now, ‘Fire in the tent!’” says Prue Leith, 78. “Tent ablaze!” adds Paul.

“RUINING” THE SHOW

Apart from such drama, Paul says that this year’s contestants have been much more “relaxed” than previous ones.

And Noel, Sandi Toksvig and Prue are also more chilled, after joining the show last year, when it moved from BBC1 to Channel 4, and caused a right old hoohah in the process.

“I liked this much more,” says Prue. “I loved last year and I didn’t necessarily think it would get any better. But it did.”

“I kind of missed the sensation of people saying, ‘You’re going to ruin the show.’ That’s kind of exciting,” adds Noel, cheekily.

When Prue compares herself to Sandi and Noel, she thinks she’s definitely got an easier job. “I sometimes wonder how I ever got so lucky,” she says. “I mean, these two never stop working. They write their own material, they have to rehearse it, they have to make sure the jokes work, they have to worry about the props for the links, and then they’re in the tent all the time being therapists to the bakers.”

MELTDOWNS

The contestants may be less tense in general, but there are some occasions when they become distraught – this is Bake Off, after all.

“There’s been the odd meltdown,” says Prue. “Sandi and Noel are very good at comforting. They can see a mile away when someone is getting upset. Old blue eyes

[Paul] has no idea he’s upsetting anybody.”

Sandi agrees, “Noel and I were working our a***s off to keep them all calm.”

Noel adds, “I have to go around mopping up the tears after Paul’s spoken to them! I’m like, ‘Come on now, it’s OK, get off the floor!’ But I think this year they were quite supportive of each other in the final. They were like, ‘I’m pleased I got to the final, let’s just see what happens.’

“Last year, I have to say, all three of them really wanted it, so they were all a bit frantic. They made more mistakes actually because of that. They were like, ‘I’ve got to win!’”

This time, however, it’s a different story, as Sandi sums up, “There has definitely been more laughter in the tent this year.”