5 reasons why Alison Hammond will be the best, most chaotic Great British Bake Off host to date
Mother, hun and all-round icon Alison Hammond is hosting Bake Off this year. (Getty)
There is no greater gift to British TV than hun-in-chief Alison Hammond, so fans are pretty thrilled to hear that she will be hosting The Great British Bake Off when it returns this year.
Marrying the unbridled campness of Alison Hammond with the legion of LGBTQ+ contestants the show usually has is a truly genius decision by Channel 4. It’s a recipe for fun, chaos and endless soggy bottoms and we can’t wait.
Hammond rose to fame after entering the Big Brother house more than two decades ago, and despite being eliminated second, she has since dominated network TV in the UK. Mere weeks ago, she was co-hosting the BAFTAs, witnessing the Ariana DeBose rap firsthand.
She’s a telly icon, and we can’t wait to see more of her. This is why she’s about to give us the most unforgettable series of Bake Off ever.
She’s the queen of breaking furniture
Her time on Big Brother was short but very, very sweet, thanks to a table-breaking gaffe that saw her gasping for breath from laughing.
Trying to catch a glimpse of the outside world, Hammon climbed onto and jumped on a table in the Big Brother garden, before breaking through it. To this day, it’s one of the most joyous moments of the whole series.
Why would that make Hammon a great Bake Off host? Well, there’s tables in the Bake Off kitchen, aren’t there? We’ve already seen her smash her way through kitchen equipment before (see below), so I’m willing to bet 50p that she’ll clamber on top of one of those kitchen benches at one point or another, sending showstoppers flying.
She will absolutely, unashamedly flirt with the contestants (and Paul Hollywood)
At this point Alison Hammond is pretty much a professional seducer: she sort of forced Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to propose to her, fed chocolates to Hugh Jackman during their interview, and managed to get Michael Bublé to kiss her.
If she puts any of her sweet talking to use in the Bake Off tent, you can guarantee we’ll be seeing some flustered contestants trying to resist her charm while creaming their cakes.
Then there’s the intimidating, supposed sex god Paul Hollywood. We have a feeling his icy exterior will melt when he’s around our Alison.
She can make conversation with absolutely anyone (or anything)
One of the most important roles of the Bake Off hosts is to make conversation with the contestants as they’re desperately drizzling icing or frantically glazing their muffins. More often than not, they’re a little too busy for a proper chat.
Thankfully, Alison Hammond knows how to get gossip out of inanimate objects – she once interviewed a tree live on This Morning.
Therefore, we’re more than likely going to see Hammond striking up a conversation with a mixing bowl, or chatting away with a wooden spoon. Delightful telly.
She actually knows a thing or two about baking herself
Hammond found herself in the Bake Off tent as a celebrity contestant back in 2020, winning challenges and slaying Prue Leith with her stunning brownie recipe.
That means one of two things: she’s either going to be a motherly figure, adorably helping out the contestants when things go wrong. Or she’s going to have us all howling when she reads them and their rubbish flans for filth. We hope it’s the latter, to be honest.
She will literally try anything
During her many chaotic years of reporting with This Morning, Alison Hammond has tried and conquered many things. From conquering her fear of roller coasters, to skiing down the French Alps, there is nothing she isn’t willing to give a go.
That’s why we’re excited to see her bring that enthusiasm to the tent. If something is inedible? She’ll probably eat it. If there’s a kitchen fire? She’ll probably try and put it out. If a contestant needs a hand, she’s probably going to get stuck in, whether they like it or not.
Her antics don’t always go to plan – like the time she was nearly arrested in Italy live on air, or the time she pushed an unsuspecting extra into the Royal Albert Dock, in Liverpool.
But that is what makes Alison Hammond so great. She’s unpredictable, she’s erratic, and she’s just here to have a laugh.
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