£2m offer to Bake Off stars
STARS OFFERED £1M EACH TO STAY WITH BAKE OFF
BAKE Off bosses are to offer judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood £1million each to stay with the show when it moves to Channel 4.
The pair will be wooed with a guaranteed three-year deal earning them between £300,000 to £350,000 a series.
The move comes six days after Channel 4 swooped to snatch the rights to the show from the BBC – only to lose star presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, who quickly vowed not to “follow the dough”.
All four stars had been thought to be earning around £500,000 a series. But an insider revealed: “That’s hugely inflated, they were on less than half that. This would be a big pay hike.”
Last night BBC chiefs were said to be already turning up the heat to keep the popular judging duo – and were ready to offer them a “golden handcuffs” deal to stop them switching channels.
The contract would forbid the pair from appearing on rivals’ shows – but would compensate them with a hefty pay rise matching the Channel 4 offer.
As an extra sweetener, they would both be in line to front new formats dreamed up by the Beeb to make the most of their talents and popularity.
Such deals are said to be as rare as a plate of leftovers in the Bake Off tent – with ITV double act Ant and Dec currently the only stars deemed big enough to warrant the golden handcuffs treatment.
Last night Channel 4 insiders described the BBC move as “underhand”.
Any big-money deal would raise questions as to whether it is a sensible use of licence payers’ cash at a time when the pay of BBC stars is under huge scrutiny.
Bosses at Love Productions, who make Bake Off and sold it to Channel 4 for £75million on a three-year deal, described the BBC bid as “a dirty trick”.
BITTER
A source said: “It’s turning into a bitter turf war between rival TV stations – but at this rate it’s the viewers who’ll miss out.
“Fans just want the series to stay the same as much as possible – that obviously means keeping Paul and Mary at the centre of it. It’s a shame some at the BBC seem to be looking for a way to sabotage that.
“Many of us feel it’s foul play and not the intended function of licence payers’ cash.”
Meanwhile, as viewers fear seeing Bake Off crumble before their eyes, BBC bosses have launched an inquiry into how they lost the show – with orders to make sure such a blunder can never happen again.
We also understand Paul has been confiding in his baker relatives as he considers his options – and that both he and Mary could take weeks to decide.
And while the Beeb are running a charm offensive, Channel 4 have made it clear they are putting no pressure on Paul, 50, or 81-year-old Mary.
Bosses hope to have both stars on side when Bake Off moves next year. But insiders say the offer stands even if only one of the pair accepts.
They are understood to have held relaxed talks this week – and Paul was spotted back in the UK after a trip to Los Angeles, visiting Channel 4’s London headquarters.
A source at the broadcaster told the Sunday Mirror: “There’s plenty of time – we’re a long way off needing to make those sorts of decisions, so they’re welcome to give it all plenty of thought.
“It’s a big decision and they deserve time to think, rather than being forced into something without proper consideration.
“It goes without saying we would love to have Paul and Mary involved – and so would the Bake Off viewers.”
This week Paul’s brother Lee, also a baker based in their native Merseyside, confirmed the star had been discussing the developments with family members.
Lee declined to reveal details of their chats – or to indicate which way the Pies and Puds presenter might be leaning.
In a further twist to the saga, sources on the show have revealed that host Sue Perkins had already been considering quitting, saying she had “grown bored”.
This year is its seventh series – and Sue and her comedy partner Mel have been at the helm since it started in 2010.
An insider said: “Sue and Mel have come out immediately with a display of fierce loyalty to the BBC – but it wasn’t long ago Sue was hinting she’d had enough anyway. Fans have now lauded her as the hero of all of this for saying she won’t take the money. “People who have worked on the show know it’s not as straightforward as that.” Fears for the future of the show on the BBC were first raised by the Sunday Mirror in October last year – when we revealed industry bosses were eyeing up the rights to broadcast it.
Yet experts were stunned at the announcement by Channel 4 that they had managed to wrest it from the Beeb’s grasp.
And it has triggered a string of questions within the corporation over how they managed to lose out on their biggest enter-
Fans want it to stay as much the same as possible – which means Paul and Mary at centre INSIDER AT LOVE PRODUCTIONS WHO SOLD SHOW TO C4
tainment show. The series has been pulling in up to 15 million viewers an episode – more than double the number three years ago.
But bosses struggled to agree a fee to extend their contract with Love Productions, the independent company who produce the show.
Their offer of around £15million a year was dwarfed by rival Channel 4’s bid.
It had been expected key rival ITV would be the biggest challenger. But they decided to take a £21million offer off the table when they could not get a guarantee the show’s four stars would switch too.
BBC bosses had hoped that ITV’s withdrawal – and the support of the show’s big name stars – would keep Bake Off on BBC1.
But Channel 4’s massive £ 75million three-year offer, drawn up by boss Jay Hunt, saw them snatch it from a stunned Beeb.
A management email to Love Productions’ staff this week confirmed talks with the BBC had broken down.
They wrote: “After more than a year of exhaustive negotiations we’ve been unable to reach an agreement with the BBC.
“Unfortunately we were unable to agree either a fair valuation, and nor were the BBC able to provide the necessary comfort for the future protection of such a distinctive and much-loved television series.”
In response, a BBC statement told Bake Off fans: “We made a very strong offer to keep the show but we are a considerable distance apart on the money.
“Resources are not infinite. Great British Bake Off is a quintessentially BBC programme. We hope Love Productions change their mind so that Bake Off can stay ad free on BBC One.”
But insiders say bosses have since launched an internal inquiry into how they lost the show – after realising they may have been able to use funding from other areas to keep the series.
The show was run by the Beeb’s factual department – which refused to stump up the £25million demanded by Love Productions and offered £15million instead.
But it has since been suggested internally that the show could have remained with the broadcaster if its entertainment department had been asked to chip in the extra.
A TV insider said: “BBC bosses are furious there was no joined-up thinking. All the BBC departments run far too separately with no crossover.
“The entertainment department could have made up the £10million difference.
“Now there’s a full review to look at the whole system of departments and how they work. The public doesn’t care which department produces what show – they just want the best programmes on the BBC.
“To lose a show like Bake Off is such a huge blow. It’s the sort of thing that makes people question the licence fee.
“It’s antiquated for departments to run so separately and to compete against each other – rather than working in the best interests of the BBC as a whole.”