Star Giedroyc: It took me just three seconds to quit Bake Off
FORMER host Mel Giedroyc said it took about “three seconds” to decide to quit the show – and she hopes her successors continue to give Paul Hollywood a hard time.
Giedroyc, 49, and fellow host Sue Perkins, 47, were known for gently mocking Hollywood on the juggernaut BBC series before it was snapped up by Channel 4.
The TV host told said she would watch to see whether new hosts Noel Fielding, 44, and Sandi Toksvig, 59, continue the jibes.
“I’m fascinated to know whether they’re going to give him a bit of gyp. I hope so. They really must, it’s part of tradition,” Giedroyc said.
She quipped that “99 per cent of the footage” from her seven years on Bake Off was “on the cutting room floor” because it was “utter filth” and “endless teasing”. She added: “I mean relentless, almost bullying at work of Paul. The guy could not open his mouth without one of us wisecracking.
“A lot of times we were crying, where we just had to stop filming because we were crying with laughter. I mean, the poor guy.”
But the presenter, who is now fronting new BBC One show
confessed: “He gave as good as he got, actually.”
Giedroyc, who is supporting Marie Curie’s Blooming Great Tea Party, a campaign to raise money for the terminal illness charity, said it took “about three seconds” to make the decision not to move channels with
She said: “I think there was no question where we were heading but I miss the gang... we were like a big family.
“All the camera guys, the sound guys, home economists behind the scenes, so knowing a lot of them are there filming as we speak, it feels kind of strange,” Giedroyc added.
She added she hopes the eccentric Fielding will be allowed to “be himself ”.
More information on the charity can be found at www.marie curie.org.uk/teaparty.