Sue Perkins used to host The Great British Bake Off when it was on the BBC alongside co-host Mel Giedroyc and has criticised bosses for their treatment of contestants.
Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc previously fronted The Great British Bake Off (Image: BBC)
Sue Perkins has spoken about her time hosting The Great British Bake Off saying she raised complaints about the way contestants were being treated.
The TV star, 57, fronted the show alongside co-star Mel Giedroyc for six years until 2016. The pair left the show when it was decided the programme would be moving from the BBC to its current home on Channel 4.
Mel and Sue had previously revealed they nearly quit the show on the first day of filming after being frustrated by how the show was run. They asked producers for a kinder format and demanded change.
Speaking on the How To Fail podcast, Sue said: “It was always like ‘get the narrative’, but get the most dramatic narrative and make people cry and that’s what they tried to do. And then we just said, ‘We’ve had enough of this.’
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“And we walked out and for some reason I found myself on the phone to the director general of the BBC and I have no idea why. We were raising complaints about behaviours and all the rest of it.”
She added: “It just seemed very important in that moment that when people were entering our office, our workspace, that we treated them with respect. You don’t put a camera in their face and ask about their dead dad. How disgusting.”
The BBC, who broadcast the show at the time, and Love Productions, who make the show, have been contacted for comment.
It’s not the first time Sue has called out Bake Off. She previously explained how she just wanted to have a laugh with the programme but found the focus was on harder hitting back stories from the contestants.
“We’re quite cheesy and homespun and we just want to have a laugh. Who wants to see people crying? I don’t. Especially if you work in television and you know the mechanisms that have been used to make them cry,” she said.
Mel and Sue quit in 2016 after learning the show was moving to Channel 4. They claim they found out through the news rather than being independently told. Sue insisted: “There’s no antagonism there. I just think, ‘If you’re going to let us find out that way [from TV], then we’re not really a team, are we?'”
The show is now hosted by Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding, whilst Nigella Lawson has stepped in as judge alongside Paul Hollywood following Prue Leith’s exit from the show.
“I didn’t give it up because I didn’t like it – I loved it. And when I watched Nigella Lawson doing her first episode – and by the way, I think she’s terrific at it – I did feel a pang. I thought, ‘Why did I leave? That was such a great job.’ But I’m glad I did,” Prue shared about her exit from the show as she gave her verdict on her replacement.
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