‘I find the whole thing quite funny and surreal’
◆ As The Great Celebrity Bake Off returns, contestants including Jodie Whittaker, Dermot O’leary and Paloma Faith talk to Rachael Davis about the show
Every year, The Great British Bake Off graces our screens with a jawdropping display of baking talent, as a group of amateur bakers head into the famous white tent to bake their hearts out for judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
While the regular series is a source of great inspiration, the celebrity series – which has become a regular fundraiser for Stand Up To Cancer – tends to result in more funny moments than culinary finesse.
This year, 20 famous faces are braving the Bake Off tent, competing in signature, technical and showstopper challenges against their fellow celebs. Split across five episodes, each cohort will have two days to bake their best and impress the judges.
Those taking part this time are: comedian and presenter Adam Hills, actor Danny Dyer, comedian and author David O’doherty, TV and radio broadcaster Dermot O’leary, comedian Fern Brady, TV presenter Gabby Logan, presenter and children’s author Greg James, actress Jodie Whittaker, actor Joe Locke, comedian Leigh Francis, Spice Girl, TV presenter and patron of Women’s Aid Mel B, broadcaster and satirist Munya Chawawa, TV presenter Oti Mabuse, singer and actress Paloma Faith, broadcaster and writer the Rev Richard Coles, comedian Rhod Gilbert, broadcaster Sara Cox, broadcaster Spencer Matthews, comedian
Suzi Ruffell, and presenter and documentary filmmaker Yinka Bokinni.
Let’s hear from some of the celebrity bakers about their time in the tent.
Are you any good at baking? Jodie Whittaker: No, but I’m starting to wonder if I might be slightly better than I give myself credit for. Like, if you can follow a recipe, you can bake. But I couldn’t go offpiste and start designing my own thing.
Just to be a complete stereotype, I’m absolutely brilliant at Yorkshire puddings!
Dermot O’leary: I love cooking. I cook all the time as it really relaxes me… but I don’t bake that much. Baking seems to be really scientific and exact but, I have to say, I’m really enjoying this, so I think I’m definitely going to take it up in some shape or form.
Greg James: We’ll find out! I’ve not baked, really, but I can follow instructions well, and I am enthusiastic. But I’m not the sort of person who bakes for pleasure. Who knows, I might be when the show is finished. Or I might never want to do it again.
I don’t think it really matters whether I’m a baker or not, I’m just going to have a nice time and hang out in the tent with Alison Hammond. What’s nicer than that?
Have you all be practising? Paloma Faith: I did practise the first challenge once at home. But I’m impatient, so
I only did half of it, and got bored, and stopped. I recently got diagnosed with ADHD, so I’m allowed to do those things now. I’ve got an excuse. DO’L: I did, I practised a little bit. I didn’t practise anything in its entirety, and not under the pressure of time.
What are the strengths and weaknesses that you’ll bring into the tent?
GJ: Strengths are that I really like having a nice time, and I really find everything quite funny. So when I’m there, staring into the blue of Paul Hollywood’s devastatingly handsome eyes, I will find the whole thing quite funny and surreal. The fact that the stuff I bake – and it won’t be very good – has to pass the lips of Prue Leith…
DO’L: I’d say I don’t take life particularly seriously. I don’t really mind if I win or lose, but when I’m doing it, I try to do it to the best of my ability. And I’m not a bad cook, so I suppose that is a skill I’m taking in with me. Weaknesses? I like to play around a little bit, which you can’t do with baking.
JW: My strength is that I am competitive, and I think you need a healthy competitive nature. You can’t cross over into enjoying the annihilation of other people, but I think I’ve got a healthy sense of competition. But that’s slightly cancelled out by lack of preparation.
Why is Stand Up to Cancer important to you?
GJ: Because cancer affects every single person in the world’s life in one way or another, and it’s devastated the lives of my friends, and some of my family members, and there’s a good chance that I will have it at some point in my life.
It’s just a horrible cloud that lives over humanity, and anything we can do to help lift that cloud, or ease the pain, we should do it. That’s why Stand Up to Cancer is amazing, because it tackles it head-on, and puts on entertaining and silly things to raise awareness and money.
PF: One of my best friends (bandmate BB Bones) sadly passed away from stomach cancer last year. I was with him until the very end and spoke to him on the phone seven minutes before he died.
I’ d been on tour with him on stage, and I had the best tour of my career because I knew it was our last time playing together every night. We never knew whether he’d be able to do it the next night, because it was very close to the end. He died not long after the end of the tour.
It was an amazing experience, because every night felt like it was so golden, so important. And I just think that it made us all feel the value of life, including him… I would love to raise money to prevent special people like that dying in the future.
This year’s Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer starts at 7:40pm on Sunday on Channel 4
they represent” or their supporters wave banners shouting “Tory Scum” or call the present Prime Minister of our country a “rat”!
This can only be a good thing to quell the divisiveness driven by some Nationalists! Michael Officer
Bridge of Earn Perth and Kinross