Alison Hammond is ‘life-enhancing ball of fire’ on Bake Off, says judge Prue Leith

Entering the Great British Bake Off tent are 12 bakers who, despite their amateur status, are all at the top of their game. Each week, they’ll create a trio of fantastic bakes – a signature bake, a technical challenge, and a show-stopper – which will then be judged by the discerning Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith.

All of their efforts are made in the hopes of earning a coveted Hollywood handshake, being crowned star baker for the week, and ultimately rising triumphant as the series’ winner.

As usual, each week will be centred around a theme. We’ll see the classics such as bread week, cake week and biscuit week, but this series will also see some exciting new additions: chocolate, botanicals and party bakes.

This year, there’s also a new addition to the Bake Off team: Alison Hammond, who first appeared on television in the Big Brother house in 2002 and is now known for presenting and reporting on This Morning, is filling the shoes of Matt Lucas after his departure from the show.

She’ll host alongside the hilarious Noel Fielding, keeping the bakers entertained and giving them a shoulder to cry on when the heat of the kitchen gets a bit much, and of course providing plenty of laughs and japes for us viewers at home.

“I was really chuffed,” says Hammond, 48, of finding out she’d got the job.

“I actually didn’t realise how much I wanted it until I had to audition with Noel, I had to do a screen test with Noel, and I also had to go and do some interviews with some random general public. And then they took absolutely ages to tell me that I’d got the job.”

“I think because I’d worked for it, and I’d done the audition, I actually felt like I earned it. So it was lovely when they actually came in with the call and said: ‘No-one else would do it, so we’re gonna go with you!’,” she laughs.

“No, I’m only joking. But it was lovely. It was a lovely feeling, I was really chuffed. And my son was really excited as well, because he loves Bake Off.”

“She’s energised the show... it’s amazing,” says Dame Prue, 83, of Hammond. “I mean, she’s such a life-enhancing ball of fire, she’s fantastic.

“She says anything – she has almost no filter - she hugs all the bakers. And she is always the same on set, off set, when she’s in the make-up chair...she’s just herself.

“She can’t be anything else, but the loud happy Brummie who loves people. She’s just hilarious, but also so sympathetic and sweet. The bakers all adore her and, I must say, so do we.”

However, this isn’t Hammond’s first foray into Bake Off: she competed as a contestant on Celebrity Bake Off in 2020, and Dame Prue says her brownie recipe was one to remember.

“I took home her brownie recipe – she scribbled it on a postcard and it sat on my fridge door for a long time,” says the judge.

“I’ve made the recipe two or three times now. It’s a classic brownie, but it has Daim bars in it, so it’s a bit crunchy. It’s so good.

“I made them for my grandkids and I made two great trays of them recently when we had a family party. It went down well with everybody.”

“I did very well, I did brilliant brownies, I did a brilliant technical, messed up the showstopper,” says Hammond of her time in the tent.

“I made brownies twice, and (Paul) said they were bitter! It was because of the chocolate that I used, (he) said my brownies were bitter. Couldn’t sleep!”

Hammond’s personal experience of being in receipt of Hollywood and Dame Prue’s feedback gives her a unique connection with this year’s bakers, who’ll be braving their judgment week after week.

“That’s the power of Paul and Prue, once they say something about your bake, you believe them. What comes from their mouth, you do respect, and it does have an effect,” she says.

“I know I’m only joking now, but that night I did go away and go: ‘Where did I go wrong? Everyone else enjoyed them, why didn’t Paul like them?’”

The bakers this year are “a good fun bunch”, says Dame Prue – “the usual wonderful mix from all over the country”.

“We had everybody from delivery drivers to a science teacher and a doctoral research associate,” she says.

“When you talk to them, they are just such an interesting bunch and all very, very different. They’re different ages, too, ranging from student age to someone who was retired cabin crew.”

“The bakers are really nice people, really nice people,” Hollywood, 57, agrees. And they bonded so quickly as a group as well. And obviously with Alison being there… and of course Noel, between the whole gang with Prue and myself, everyone got on really well this year, it was such a nice experience in the tent. And there wasn’t many tears. It was just quite a bonding thing with the bakers.

“It was lovely to see.”

So there weren’t any disasters, then?

“There’s always something (that) goes wrong!” Hollywood says.

“But it’s not insurmountable. For them, it’s like the end of the world, for the baker. But it happens, you know, but it’s OK.”

The new themed weeks added some spice – quite literally, in the case of botanicals week. Party bakes was a particular hit, as it involved a British party classic: the humble sausage roll.

“They’re really good bakers and if you ask them to do something really simple, you’d think they’d all turn out perfectly,” says Dame Prue of the party week.

The Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 at 8pm on Tuesday, September 26.