It’s been a tough couple of years for the Nice British Bake Off. Because of obnoxiously sophisticated baking challenges, much-loathed former co-host Matt Lucas, and our basic fatigue with the format, it’s protected to say that the present has misplaced a little bit of its shine. However as of immediately, issues are formally wanting up.
On Friday, Channel 4 introduced that Alison Hammond, a U.Okay. TV presenter and actress who acquired her begin on the truth competitors Large Brother, would exchange Lucas as co-host for the present’s subsequent season. On her Instagram account, Hammond posted a photograph of a cake full with tiny edible sculptures of herself, co-host Noel Fielding, and judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood to rejoice the information. By way of his personal Instagram account, Fielding appeared particularly excited concerning the change. “I’m completely pumped we’re working collectively,” Fielding wrote. “We’re gonna spend the entire time guffawing like naughty faculty youngsters. The bakers are gonna love you to bits.”
Hammond isn’t totally new to the GBBO universe. In 2020, she participated in a star version of the present to lift cash for most cancers analysis, and audiences have been immediately charmed by her infectious humor. That humorousness can be particularly welcome on the forthcoming season of GBBO, contemplating that we’ve all been subjected to Matt Lucas’s deeply corny, usually offensive “jokes” for thus lengthy.
On social media, the information that Hammond is taking on for Lucas was met with nearly as a lot enthusiasm as when the present introduced that he was leaving. “Allison Hammond [sic] becoming a member of the bake off has made me consider god isn’t useless,” mentioned one individual on Twitter, whereas others famous that the choice is perhaps the factor that might lastly encourage them to begin watching the present once more.
Hammond’s arrival is a part of a revamp that can hopefully restore a number of the vitality to the once-beloved competitors sequence. Its final season had the bottom rankings within the present’s historical past, and GBBO producers have vowed to “strip it again to the fundamentals” in an effort to win again viewers. These adjustments embrace “simpler duties” and “extra traditional bakes,” which sounds particularly promising after the earlier stunt-packed season.
A premiere date has not but been introduced for the following season of the Nice British Bake-Off, however it’s anticipated to air someday this 12 months within the U.Okay.