Bake Off curtain raiser nets record 11m viewers
THE Great British Bake Off clearly has the right ingredients as far as its TV viewers are concerned.
The first episode of the new series pulled in a peak audience of 11.2 million – the mostwatched opener in the show’s history.
But the recipe hasn’t changed as fans tuned in to watch the familiar faces of presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc and judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry put the contestants through their paces.
The average viewing figure during the programme – 10.4 million – beat the opening episode of the last series by more than a million viewers.
A delighted show insider said: “The whole team love making this show and it would seem the viewers love it too.”
The all-time record for an episode of Bake Off was the 13.4 million people who tuned in to see Nadiya Hussain win last year’s series.
At one point an almost as impressive 11.2 million people were watching Wednesday night’s opening episode on BBC One, with the show’s audience share approaching a hugely impressive 50 per cent across all channels.
Viewers saw church minister Lee Banfield, 67, from Bolton, become the first contestant to leave the tent, while 61-year-old garden designer Jane Beedle, from Kent, was named Star Baker.
Mr Banfield, who was the oldest competitor on the show, admitted he was “disappointed to be the first off”.
Also in danger of an early exit was retired headteacher Val Stones, 66, of Yeovil, Somerset, but she managed to survive to bake another day. The bakers were asked to create drizzle cakes, jaffa cakes and a Genoese sponge with a mirror glaze.
But the biggest talking point afterwards was whether jaffa cakes should be dunked or not.
Paul sent Twitter into meltdown after he dared to dunk one in his tea during the show.
Viewers then took to social media in their droves to debate what they had witnessed.
One wrote: “Why did he dunk his jaffa cake? It’s soft already, Paul.” Another fan tweeted: “Paul dunks his jaffa cakes in tea. This is unacceptable. Just dunk a digestive instead.”
Some 4.1 million viewers stayed with BBC One to watch show spin-off The Chronicles Of Nadiya, in which the baker returned to her Bangladesh roots.
Up against Bake Off, ITV managed only 1.4 million viewers for game show 500 Questions. Some 1.1 million watched Great Canal Journeys on Channel 4 and 600,000 opted for Can Britain Have A Pay Rise? on BBC Two.