‘Snubbed’ TV boss who stole Bake Off resigns

THE Channel 4 executive who poached the Great British Bake Off from the BBC has quit without a new job lined up.

Chief creative officer Jay Hunt will leave her £612,000-a-year role at the end of September, after she was reportedly snubbed to become the broadcaster’s new chief executive.

She had previously been seen as a shoo-in to become Channel 4’s first female boss after David Abraham announced his plans to quit earlier this year. The coveted job is now likely to go to female TV executive Alex Mahon, 44.

For many Bake Off fans, it might feel like she is getting her just deserts. Miss Hunt became a national villain last year when she controversially snatched the show from its home on BBC1. Channel 4 reportedly paid makers Love Productions £75million for three years of the series. Audiences were outraged – as were hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc and judge Mary Berry, who all quit in protest.

Yesterday Channel 4 confirmed that the Australian-born mother of two, pictured, will no longer see the series through and will leave before Bake Off reaches its finale. But Miss Hunt, 50, insisted this would not make a difference to the programme, saying: ‘The effort that goes into landing a show all happens before it airs.’

She was also adamant that she is leaving of her own volition – and not because the chief executive job had gone to someone else.

‘I’ve had a really good run and you have to know when to get off the merry-go-round,’ she said.

Miss Hunt has been at Channel 4 for almost seven years. She was previously the BBC1 controller, during which time she was accused of ageism by former Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly, who took the BBC to court after she was axed from the show in favour of a younger woman.

According to reports, Channel 4 reached a decision about the new chief executive weeks ago and was waiting for a board meeting to formally approve it. But yesterday Channel 4 said the process was ongoing. It is expected to make an announcement as early as next week.

It refused to say if Miss Hunt will receive a payoff, claiming it is not its policy to comment on staff contracts. However, its last set of annual results reveal her £612,000 annual pay in 2015 included a salary of £410,000, a £139,000 bonus and £62,000 of cash in place of a pension payment.