The Great British Bake Off to stay on Channel 4
'The Great British Bake Off' will reportedly stay on Channel 4 after the series' contract expiration sparked fears it would be snapped up by a streaming service.
‘The Great British Bake Off’ will reportedly remain on Channel 4.
The culinary competition - which is hosted by 58-year-old Paul Hollywood, Dame Prue Leith, 84, Alison Hammond, 49, and 50-year-old Noel Fielding - is due to see its UK contract expire within months, which sparked fears a streaming platform could outbid Channel 4 for the programme.
But now, a TV insider has now reassured fans the series’ production company Love Productions will renew their deal with the network.
A source told The Sun newspaper: “Love Productions, which makes ‘Bake Off’, really wants to make the show as accessible as possible for the army of devotees who’ve loyally supported them for the past 14 years.
“So despite rumours of multi-million pound deals with streamers, they’ve decided to stick with Channel 4 where the whole nation can tune in to what’s now considered a national treasure.
“C4 and Love Productions are now hammering out the details, but they’re working on the basis it will stay put.”
The long-running series was first broadcast on BBC Two in 2010 and made television stars out of winners like John Waite and Nadiya Hussain but the format was sold to Channel 4 in 2016 as part of a £75m deal.
Channel 4 recently aired its spin-off ‘The Great Celebrity Bake Off: Stand Up To Cancer’, which saw the likes of TV presenter Gabby Logan, former ‘EastEnders’ actor Danny Dyer, singer Paloma Faith, former ‘Doctor Who’ star Jodie Whittaker, comedian Rhod Gilbert and ‘This Morning’ host Dermot O’Leary take to the tent to show off their baking skills.
Looking to the future, Paul revealed there was a chance pop superstar Taylor Swift could appear on the show for a “Hollywood edition” after her friend Blake Lively expressed giving the programme a go.
Speaking to Best Magazine, he said: “Blake really wants to do it. I mean, she really, really wants to do it and I think she was talking about getting in a couple of friends, and she mentioned Taylor Swift.
“I was like, ‘Listen, if you can get those guys into the tent, get them into the tent’. ‘Bake Off: The Hollywood Edition’.”
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