Great British Bake Off stars to reunite for New Year’s Day Special

Virgin Radio

8 Dec 2022, 12:05

Stars from The Great British Bake Off’s past will help ring in the new year by stepping into the famous tent once again. 

Lottie Bedlow, from the 2020 series, and 2021 finalist Chigs Parmar will hope to impress the judges on New Year’s Day alongside 2018 contestants Manon Legrève and Antony Amourdoux. 

The announcements were made via Instagram, with Lottie revealing the news first from her account just a few hours after co-host Matt Lucas announced he was leaving the series.

Taking to her Stories, Lottie wrote: “No I'm not the new Bake Off presenter... but I am back in the tent for the NY special! (if @channel4 are listening though I will 100% take the hosting job).”

She then added some behind-the-scenes photos to her Instagram grid, and added: “Sucker for punishment me…but what a pleasure it was to go back and bake with these legends. So good to see the crew and team again too - now we know @realmattlucas is leaving, it feels extra special that we had another chance to be in the tent with him and @noel_fielding!”

Chigs followed suit soon after, sharing a snap of all four bakers smiling in the GBBO tent, and added: “Guess who’s back in the tent for The Great New Year’s Bake Off. Getting the opportunity to be in the Bake Off tent once is a dream come true, but baking in it twice.”

Manon shared the same uplifting snap to her account, and shared: “Wow it was an experience to be back in the tent after 4 years! But what a blast I had, and it was amazing to see the team again. Now, you are going to have to guess whether I did well for Paul & @prueleith!”

“In for one last hurrah in the very coveted British Tent w. Some fab bakers,” said Antony on his own social media post. 

It sounds like the NYE special will be the final time we see co-host Matt with Noel Fielding, as the comedian announced he’s stepping away from the beloved series. 

On Tuesday evening (6th December), he explained via Twitter and Instagram that he is no longer able to commit to hosting the show as well as Sky’s rebooted Fantasy Football League and his other work.

He wrote: “Farewell Bake Off! It’s been a delicious experience and I can’t imagine a more fun way of spending my summers, but it’s become clear to me that I can’t present both Fantasy Football League and Bake Off alongside all my other projects.

“So, after three series and 51 episodes, I am cheerfully passing the baguette on to someone else."

The Great New Year’s Bake Off on Sunday 1st January at 7.40pm on Channel 4.