Alison Hammond maybe one of the most loved TV presenters in the country, but she still had to audition to secure her Great British Bake Off role.
This month The Mirror exclusively revealed Alison, 48, will host the Channel 4 favourite alongside Noel Fielding, after Matt Lucas stepped down.
Despite her experience presenting on This Morning's Friday shows alongside Dermot O'Leary, Alison still had to show Bake Off bosses she could rise to the challenge and was worth the dough.
The star had to interview members of the public in a garden centre to show off her people skills. Luckily, she had practice, having reported from a similar venue in 2020 for This Morning.
She told The Sun: “They made me interview random strangers, to obviously see if I’m good with different people. It was a weird audition.”
The former Strictly star said she had to keep her new role secret for three weeks, but did tell her son Aiden, 18.
Confirming the news of her new role on Twitter, Alison tweeted: “It’s Official!! It’s happening The Great British Bake off! let’s have it – The cake that is so excited @BritishBakeOff @Channel4 @PrueLeith @PaulHollywood @noelfielding11 #GBBO.“
Matt revealed in December he was stepping down from the presenting role after appearing in the last three series as he could no longer commit to the programme’s schedule alongside his other projects.
The comedian reposted Hammond’s announcement video to Twitter and wrote: “Dear Alison, many congratulations! You were born to do it. You will be brilliant! Xx.“
Meanwhile, Noel posted a photo of his new co-host on his Instagram, writing: “It gives me so much pleasure to welcome @alisonhammond55 into the tent. I’m absolutely pumped we are working together.
“We are gonna spend the whole time giggling like naughty school kids.
“The bakers are gonna love you to bits. x x x @paul.hollywood @prueleith @britishbakeoff x.”
Her selection for the plum role comes after Alison wowed the show’s fans in 2020 with her stint on the celebrity version for Stand Up 2 Cancer.
Going up against James Blunt, Alex Jones and Joe Sugg, she declared: “I do think that good food and good baking comes from the heart - and I’ve got a lot of heart.”
Exuding confidence right from the start, she told judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith: “I love chocolate brownies. Any time I go out and about, try a brownie, it never compares to my brownies. I know that sounds really big headed.”
The TV star’s career was launched in 2002, when she became the second housemate to be evicted from the third series of Big Brother.
Over the past 20 years Alison has also appeared as a contestant on several other shows including Celebrity MasterChef in 2006, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here in 2010 and Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
