The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer is back – and the line-up this year includes documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux, Love Island’s Ovie Soko, and comedians Russell Howard and Jenny Eclair.
In each episode of the five-part series, four celebrities battle it out over three rounds – the Signature, the Technical and the Showstopper – in a bid to be crowned Star Baker.
It’s all in aid of Stand Up To Cancer, the award-winning national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 which has raised more than £62 million since it launched in 2012.
Much-loved documentary maker Louis, 49, admitted he hasn’t done much reality TV work.
“Maybe I’ve been a bit precious about not doing TV that wasn’t essential to my work,” he said.
“And I thought, ‘I’m going to turn 50 next year, maybe I’ll start saying yes to things that, in the past, I might have viewed as frivolous if I feel like my kids might get a kick out of it’.
“So, I’m slightly doing it for them and for myself, as a family adventure.”
Louis isn’t an expert baker by any means – but he does have some experience with a traditional kitchen classic.
“I don’t know if it’s a strength, but I’ve made a lot of banana bread over the years,” he suggested.
“Sometimes I don’t know how much something is going to matter to me until it happens. I’m not always in touch with my feelings. I think, if I could win the technical, that would mean a lot.”
However in terms of weaknesses, he’s certain the old-fashioned loaf is difficult.
“I think bread would be really hard,” he added. “I’ve never successfully made bread. Bread, bread rolls… things like cupcakes, cakes and biscuits are relatively straightforward, but bread has this mysterious quality where I think it’s hard to get it right.”
Joining Louis in the tent is a comedian with the ideal baking name – Jenny Eclair. She admitted her skills aren’t up to scratch yet.
“I spent possibly the most miserable Sunday afternoon I have ever had in the kitchen with my daughter Phoebe, who’s equally remedial,” recalls the mother-of-one, best known for being a star of the hit show Grumpy Old Women.
“She’s 30, and can’t cut an onion. So, the two of us just started bitching at each other, fell out, she went to bed with a stress headache, and it ended in disaster.”
Hopefully when the time comes everyone will rise to the occasion!
The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer, Channel 4, Tue, 8pm.
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe