Entertainment

Jo Brand breaks silence on Bake Off hosting role after Sandi Toksvig exit

The comic said “there’s a lot more freedom to muck about” in her other Bake Off job.
The comic said “there’s a lot more freedom to muck about” in her other Bake Off job.

Jo Brand has said she does not want to replace Sandi Toksvig as a host on The Great British Bake Off.

The comedian, who hosts Bake Off companion show An Extra Slice, said that she “wouldn’t consider” the job despite being one of the favourites to succeed Toksvig.

Brand, 62, told BBC Radio 2’s Claudia Winkleman “sorry to disappoint you”, before adding: “I actually really love doing Extra Slice, and I think there’s a lot more freedom to muck about, there’s so many different elements to the show.

The Great British Bake Off
Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding on The Great British Bake Off (Mark Bourdillon Love Productions/Channel 4)

“There’s a lovely team of people, I love working with Tom Allen.”

She joked: “So Tom, if you’re listening, you better not get that job!”

Winkleman said that many people “will be disappointed” with her ruling herself out of the job.

Brand is among the bookies’ favourites to take over the presenting role alongside Noel Fielding on the popular Channel 4 baking programme, along with former winner Nadiya Hussain, ex-Bake Off contestant Liam Charles and comedian Sarah Millican.

Toksvig, 61, announced her departure from the show last week, saying that she wanted to spend more time on her other work.

She has fronted the baking competition alongside Fielding and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith since 2017, after it moved to Channel 4 from BBC One.

Toksvig, Fielding and Leith joined the show when previous presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, and judge Mary Berry, quit following the channel move.

She will appear in the forthcoming charity series of Bake Off, The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off, before departing the show for good.