‘The Great British Bake Off’s Former Host Sandi Toksvig Says Show Was “Longest Years Of My Life”

Sandi Toksvig has been withering about her time on The Great British Bake Off.

The comedian said hosting the Love Productions competition series, known as The Great British Baking Show on Netflix in the U.S., represented the longest years of her life.

Toksvig told The Times of London that she was well-paid for her role on Bake Off, but needed to move on from the series in 2020 for her own happiness.

Toksvig was a key ingredient in Bake Off‘s smooth transition from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017. She was replaced by Matt Lucas, who in turn was succeeded by Alison Hammond.

“Three of the longest years of my life,” Toksvig said of her spell on the series. “I walked away from the biggest paycheque of my life, but that’s fine. I’d never watched it. I still haven’t watched it. I didn’t understand it.

“Cakes are readily available in the shops. I didn’t enjoy the process. You stand at the end of a long table for hours when Prue and Paul taste everything and we literally didn’t speak or taste anything. I used to say, ‘Can we not sit down? I’m not contributing,’ but no.”

Asked if she has remained friends with her co-hosts, Toksvig said she was “joined at the hip” with Prue Leith, but was not in contact with Paul Hollywood and Noel Fielding.

It is not the first time Toksvig has been downbeat about her experience. Earlier this year, she told The Radio Times: “I left Bake Off because I stopped having fun. I was literally standing there watching meringues dry and thinking, ‘Oh my God, my brain is atrophying.'”