Peterborough's Great British Bake Off winner Matty Edgell on Nigella joining the show - and what really happens behind the scenes
A new series of one of the biggest TV shows in the country is about to start – and a former winner from Peterborough has shared his experiences – and his thoughts on a new star judge.
The latest series of The Great British Bake Off will start on Channel 4 at 8pm on Tuesday, September 22, and Matty Edgell – the Peterborough teacher who won the show in 2023 – has said he thinks the addition of Nigella Lawson to the show will be a great addition.
Speaking to Lottoland he said he expects the dynamic between Nigella and longstanding judge Paul Hollywood would bring a new dimension to the show.
He said: “I don’t expect her to just nod and agree with Paul if she thinks something different. I think she’s going to have her own thoughts and feelings.
“I think the dynamic will be interesting. I don’t expect her to just agree with everything that he says, and I think she’ll be fine with delivering the message.
“With Paul and Prue (Prue Leith, the former judge Nigella has replaced), they weren’t afraid to disagree with each other, which is sometimes quite nice because although they’re both in a position where
their opinion matters, taste buds are different.
"I don’t expect Nigella to be too different, although her opinion might be different to what Prue’s would have been."
Matty was also able to give a few behind the scenes secrets of what really happens in the Bake Off tent.
He said: “I think a lot of people are surprised at the fact that it is one take. So when they say bake, it is uninterrupted. And if they say that it’s two hours, it is two hours of baking.
“The only thing that they ask of you is that when you’re going in the oven and taking something out the oven, is that you let one of the cameras know so that they can capture it.
“The crew are near you all the time. So, they’re never more than, like, a couple of metres away… there’s always someone next to you, really, that you can say, ‘I’m coming out of the oven.’
“With a cake… there’s a high chance of you dropping it, especially as you’re in a rush, or you put it on something that’s not level and then it is falling. So, they want to capture that.
“Also, they want to see the reaction if it’s clearly under- or overbaked, because it also helps them build the story. If you’re the one that is going home, they want to capture all of those bits.”
He also had some top tips for future contestants.
He said: “Quitting your job is a bold thing to do to think that you can go on and it will guarantee change your life, because it won’t.
“Throughout the whole process of the audition, which is quite long-winded, at kind of every new stage, they say, like, ‘Under no circumstance quit your job.’
“It’s bold to think that it will change your life.
“Nothing’s guaranteed in terms of going on the show and what you get off the show. I wouldn’t have left teaching so that I could go on to the show.”
Matty was speaking to https://www.lottoland.co.uk/