'I'd never wanted a job so bad' - Alison Hammond reveals details of Great British Bake Off audition

Virgin Radio

6 Nov 2023, 15:25

Alison Hammond on the Great British Bake Off.

Credit: Channel 4

The new co-host of The Great British Bake Off has spoken about the interview process that she went through to secure the gig.

Alison Hammond has teamed up with Noel Fielding to present the popular Channel 4 show since the start of the current season, after Matt Lucas decided to step down. 

The This Morning star - who has proved popular with viewers - has spoken about how badly she wanted the role. “I’d never wanted a job so bad,” she said in a new interview with The Mirror.

She continued: “I had to audition for it and the maddest thing is, I was like, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ I had to do this chemistry test with Noel and they were all watching me, so I said, ‘Hi Noel, look at the chemistry’. They then handed me a script and I thought, ‘That’s the audition done’, but they said, ‘No, you’ve got to do a bit more’. So they took me to a garden centre and told me they wanted to see me interview people.”

Alison’s chemistry and interviewing skills were obviously deemed up to scratch by the Bake Off bosses, as she got the job, and has fitted right in with Noel, judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and the new gang of bakers. 

During Botanicals Week (31st October), she raised laughs with a cheeky baking innuendo.

When (the also very funny) baker Saku was stressing about getting her buns just right, the former Big Brother star said: “Come here, just lean on these buns,” before pulling Saku in for a hug.

The current series of The Great British Bake Off is already six weeks old, and this Tuesday’s episode (7th November), will see the seventh baker eliminated as the remaining contestants take on Dessert Week. 

The Great British Bake Off airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4.

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