Sandi Toksvig Has Quit The Great British Bake Off And We Are Devo

Sandi Toksvig has announced that she’s stepping down as host of The Great British Bake Off to focus on other projects.

The comedian joined the show three years ago when it moved to Channel 4, co-presenting with The Mighty Boosh creator Noel Fielding.

While viewers missed former hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, they soon warmed to Sandi and Noel’s often absurd jokes and sweet relationships with the contestants.

“When stepping down from a job it is quite common for people to say they are doing so in order to spend more time with their family,” Sandi said in a statement. “Unusually I am departing from the Great British Bake Off so I can spend more time with my other work.”

As my waistline will testify, Bake Off is an all-consuming show. Spending time with Prue, Paul and Noel has been one of the great pleasures of my life. These are friendships which I know will continue beyond the confines of television. Bake Off is a wonderful programme which has already proved it can happily withstand a change of hosting personnel.

“The reason for that, of course, is that the true stars of the show are the bakers themselves. I wish everyone well.”

Sandi will host the upcoming Stand Up To Cancer series before saying goodbye to the tent for good.

Ah god. Channel 4’s Director of Programmes Ian Katz said Sandi is a “huge part” of why GBBO has done so well at the network, and they’ll “miss her warmth and wit, not to mention her endless willingness to be the butt of jokes about being the least tall person in the Bake Off tent.”

Honestly, one of our fave parts of the Noel/Sandi partnership were the quips about her being small enough to sleep nestled in the cutlery drawer. Who could possibly replace her?

Sandi won’t be disappearing from our screens completely – she’s still hosting QI, of course, and has a new Channel 4 series about adult literacy, The Write Offs, coming up. We’ll sure miss her on GBBO.

• #gbbo
• great british bake off
• sandi toksvig