The Great British Bake Off did not air in its usual 8pm slot on Channel 4 on Tuesday (17 October).
The competition series’ fourth episode was been postponed until Wednesday due to the 2024 Euro qualifier match between England and Italy, which England won 3-1.
The broadcaster shared the news on Twitter/X, saying: “IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The football is on tonight so Bake Off and Don’t Look Down are on tomorrow night.
“We are posting this now so we don’t get loads of messages at 8pm asking why the Bake Off Tent has been replaced by Wembley.”
While some followers were grateful for the update ahead of time, non-sports fans were not so pleased.
“Nooooooo, I can’t watch on Wednesday. Baking should take preference over sport!” one fan complained.
“WTF?! The world doesn’t revolve around bloody football. A large portion of us don’t give a s*** about an England football match. It’s not like they’re any good,” another raged.
“The only England vs Italy anything I cared about was when Giuseppe was in the final,” a third joked, referring to Bake Off’s season 12 winner Giuseppe Dell'Anno.
Bake Off’s 14th series has already seen the exit of three bakers: first to go was Amos, then Keith followed by Abbi last week.
The latest series has also marked the arrival of a new host: Alison Hammond. The This Morning star takes over from Matt Lucas, who quit after the 2022 series. She has joined Noel Fielding, who is now in his sixth year on the show.
Meanwhile, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are back as the judges.
Episodes themed around different national dishes have been scrapped, following backlash in previous years to “Japan Week” in 2020, “German Week” in 2021 and “Mexican Week” in 2022. During these weeks, some viewers accused the presenters, judges and contestants of “casual racism” and playing into stereotypes.
Episode four of the new series will see the bakers test their confectionary skills in Chocolate Week.
Bake Off returns on Channel 4 on Wednesday at 8pm before returning to its regular Tuesday slot.
