Sandi Toksvig quits Great British Bake Off
The presenter will leave the hit Channel 4 show after three years to focus on other projects
Sandi Toksvig is to leave the hit Channel 4 series Great British Bake Off. The 61-year-old broadcaster is leaving the show after three years to “focus on other work projects”, according to the channel. Toksvig – who joined Bake Off in 2017 alongside comic Noel Fielding – also presents the BBC quiz show QI, and previously presented the News Quiz on Radio 4. She has also written novels and theatrical works, and will host a forthcoming series for Channel 4, which will see illiterate adults take part in a spelling bee.
In a statement, Toksvig celebrated her time on the baking show, joking that it was all-consuming “as my waistline will testify”. She described working with Fielding and judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood as “one of the great pleasures of my life … these are friendships which I know will continue beyond the confines of television” and added that Bake Off was a “wonderful programme which has already proved it can happily withstand a change of hosting personnel. The reason for that, of course, is that the true stars of the show are the bakers themselves”. The programme was previously hosted by comedians Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins between 2010 and 2016, when it was broadcast on the BBC. It moved to Channel 4 in a £75m deal.
Ian Katz, Channel 4’s Director of Programmes, said that Toksvig had been a “huge part of why Bake Off’s move to Channel 4 has been such a success”, adding that “her unique voice will continue to have an important presence on the channel with new shows in development – none of which involve cake.”