To feel let down by Sandi Toksvig's Bake Off Comments?

[BishyBarnyBee]

Sandi has given a few interviews saying her brain was atrophying on Bake Off and she had to leave for her own sanity. I know she's a comedian so her words are partly for effect - but it's so disrespectful to the people who love the show.

Richard Osman tweeted "I honestly don't think you should present shows you wouldn't watch" and I think that's right. She's really gone down in my estimation.

It would have shown more integrity to not take the huge pay cheque in the first place rather than phone it in for 3 years and then rubbish the show that's been paying your mortgage for you.

For the record, it's quite possible to be a very intelligent and well educated person and still be interested in cake - or at least, in other people, which is what that role is really about.

I've gone right off her!

reread and you’ll see

I loved the first two series but the whole of the Eddie Izzard series was about Sandi acting as some kind of fawning therapist to her very specifically chosen partners on the trips. Such a shame as it was one of my favourite programmes before "Sandi making statements" seemed to take over.

I am generally unimpressed by Ms Toksvig's comments on most subjects.

YANBU.

She is. But if you are in show bizz I think it’s professional to keep your own counsel and not rat on a show that has given you a gig!

(Unless there has been actual abuse of course and then it needs reporting.)

I’ve reread. This quote was definitely not in this article to which I was referring and I believe the OP was referring to - there are clearly two articles out there, one more diplomatic about BO than the other, so we’re talking at cross purposes.

I did love him in The Mighty Boosh but his friendship with Pixie Geldof when she was a teen didn’t sit right with me.

In regard to ST as PP said I used to love ‘Number 73’ but she does come across like she believes she’s the smartest person in the room. Steven Fry is similar but he exudes a little more vulnerability so is less off putting for me.

tbf, I've always found the more entertaining hosts to be the ones that genuinely seem to like cake more than themselves - even if they're people I don't like (or the non cake makers are people I like)
To actually have an interest (or be able to feign one) in the product would seem to be a basic requirement.

Steven Fry is similar but he exudes a little more vulnerability

Only when it suits him. He strikes me very much as someone who can dish it out but not take it.

I felt the same!

Just get off the telly and do some proper work ST if you reckon you're too intelligent for it.
Let's face it - all TV has to default to the average common denominator Sandy, so you're hardly a brain amongst brains.

Invented anything or written a thesis lately?
Thought not.

Ageing thesbians all think they're fucking better than everyone don't they.
Court jesters darling. Don't forget your place.

I've always absolutely detested the woman. Now her mask has slipped and the real her is materialising.

She didn't. In the Radio Times interview, she said she couldn't see the point of it, because "you can buy cakes in shops".

"pro-trans". So anti-women then.

Oh don't be silly, I'm sure she loves women and would absolutely date a transwoman who are women...

I’m with her - I find it boring now. It’s way past its sell by date. Series after series, same old stuff. Time to find something else to entertain us with.

I think it highlights her snobbery. She claims she had never watched it, didn't understand it - when you could go to the shop and buy cake and hadn't watched it since leaving She joined in series 8. At a professional you'd have done some research. Clearly she thought she was too good for it. Don't blame anyone for following the coins as she has a family to feed but there was no need to act so superior when it didn't work out.

All worked out hough Allison is better.

I’d agree it’s gone stale, and is maybe ready for a rest. It’s very “same old” now. It’s still pleasant enough to watch but I do so over my phone these days, never really pay much attention, and if I miss an episode, I don’t watch on catch up.

Lets be honest, watching a cake bake is not the most simulating of experiences especially when it gets slagged off by the judges cos it not just x or y etc. Must be hours of boredom.

There are a lot of programmes like that at the moment..

I think she's being honest about how it affected her - that doesn't mean she's criticising everyone who enjoys the show or who enjoys working there, it's just not stimulating enough for her. We all enjoy and are stimulated or turned off by different topics.
I do think GBBO has gone more and more down hill recently, AH might be a nice lady but she has been awful in every presenting role so far.

Thanks everyone. I posted on impulse after seeing a new wave of headlines expanding on the comments a few weeks ago and didn't expect a big response. There is the usual sprinkling of AIBU "get a life" comments but most people seem to agree with me.

I thought the original comment might have been a humorous quip taken out of context, but she has doubled down on it this week. Particularly irritating to frame it as an act of integrity to leave, when she managed to put up with it for 3 years. And also managed to swallow her scruples and present the Tiny Design Challenge, which was about dolls houses and featured lots of slightly cringey jokes about tiny Sandi.

Obviously it's fine for her to not enjoy it and move on. But framing it in terms of her superior intellect and saying she couldn't see the point of the show is pretty disrespectful of the people who watch it.

@Mirabai said "Don't do a Ratners on your own show" and I think that sums it up. Yes, TV is an illusion and the Bake Off is a machine and not a family. But that illusion stands and falls by the relationship with the viewer. To be dismissive of the audience that keep you where you are is unprofessional and rude.

@CanINapNow described it as a "woe is me" attitude at being paid megabucks to present a lovely show". I think that's what prompted me to post. Many people work bloody hard in thankless jobs for a much smaller paycheck. Her comments were entitled and unnecessary.

I agree with everyone who has said Alison is wonderful. She looks like she loves being there, loves the bakers, and is having the time of her life. Of course, that could all be an act too - but IMO she has transformed the show and it is back on track after a few years where Prue seemed to be the only one who really wanted to be there. Noel is much better with Alison than with Matt too. I don't think he's that bothered about cake, but he does seem to really care about the bakers. It's shaping up to be a cracking series.

Can't stand either. Both were hosts of QI. I feel they are employed to appeal to a certain type of person with incredible intellectual snobbery. They would be caught dead in certain parts of the country mixing with the riff raff. Sandy's comments about the bake off tent stink of it. The whole, ugh why do I have to deal with THESE people. I'm so much better than this. To the point that she says she felt her brain rotting.

It's classism. It's really rather repellent.

Now we have Noel and Alison though. Right at the other end of the scale. I really liked Mel and Sue and preferred Mary Berry to Prue Leith.

They need presenters who are actually interested in baking themselves. Sandi isn’t, neither are Alison and Noel. They just make increasingly off colour ‘jokes’ and behave as if they don’t care .

I didn't know Sandy had started off in children's TV and just had a look. Wow! Full on 80s nostalgia including big hair and shoulder pads.

And a very young (obviously) Sandi. With a much less posh accent than she has now. I wonder if she was dialling it down to fit in with the vibe of the show or if she's developed the upper class drawl to fit in with the super-intelligent QI persona? Possibly a bit of both.

The sidebar then brought up this interview with Lorraine where Sandi says how much she loves working with Noel and how it's all about the bakers putting their heart and soul into their creations. Probably should have left it at that, Sandi!