Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer

Usually on The Great British Bake Off, Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas are there to chat to the contestants, tell them how much time they’ve got left and generally break the tension.

Occasionally, viewers might think they also inadvertently make the process slightly more stressful by trying to joke around with bakers who would much rather be concentrating on the job in hand.

However, in the latest celebrity version of the show, we’re going to find out how well Matt can bake under pressure as he’s going to be one of the contestants.

Don’t worry though, that’s not a sign that The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer is struggling to attract famous faces and has been reduced to recruiting anyone who happened to be standing around the tent.

Like his predecessor Sandi Toksvig, who once found herself doing the honours when Big Narstie had to drop out of an episode ahead of the showstopper, he’s standing in for a celeb who couldn’t make it.

Matt says: “I was forced to bake by my bosses at the last minute when one of the bakers became unavailable. I can’t tell you how happy I was that my humiliation was caught on camera.”

Whichever celeb he had to replace will undoubtedly be disappointed that they couldn’t take part, especially when they see which stars have made it into the famous tent.

Bake Off has an impressive track record when it comes to getting the A-listers – last year, it even got a couple of Hollywood stars in the form of X-Men regular James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley.

Some of the most intriguing signings this year include Strictly Come Dancing’s Moti Mabuse, who will be the one being judged for a change when she takes part. That’s also the case for comedian Ed Gamble, who has recently been seen scoring professional chefs on Great British Menu, and now will find his own offerings being scrutinised by Paul Hollywood and his GBM predecessor Prue Leith.

The other celebs include DJ Annie Macmanus, aka Annie Mac, actors Ben Miller, Katherine Kelly and Tracy-Ann Oberman, presenters Laura Whitmore and Sophie Morgan, comedians Yung Filly, Ruby Wax and Mawaan Rizwan, singer-songwriters Ellie Goulding and Example, choirmaster Gareth Malone and Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah,

Among the first batch to enter the tent in this opening episode is Alex Horne, who as the creator of Taskmaster is used to setting other people challenges – how will he cope when he’s faced with one of the dreaded technicals? He’s joined by presenter Emma Willis, Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo, Taskmaster co-host Alex Horne and one-time Inbetweeners actor Blake Harrison.

They’ll be hoping to impress the judges with their signature decorated biscuits, before they are asked to make madeleines. Then in the showstopper, they will be building choux sculptures inspired by their hidden talents – let’s hope that for at least one of them that includes baking.

Between the bakes, there will also be reminders of what this is all in aid of – the charity Stand Up to Cancer.

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