Great British Bake Off: Diana Beard quits due to illness (2024)

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Great British Bake Off: Diana Beard quits due to illness? ›

Diana Beard, the Great British Bake Off contestant at the centre of the "Bingate" controversy has slammed the "misleading" editing of the programme and insisted she left the show due to illness. Beard tells The Guardian that she withdrew because she lost her sense of taste and smell after fainting in a restaurant.

The 69-year-old Women's Institute member quit the show after losing her sense of smell and taste the night before episode five was filmed. The BBC said Diana's exit this was "not connected in any way" to the Baked Alaska scandal of episode four that viewers witnessed last night.

Diana found herself at the center of the "Bingate" controversy, where she was accused of sabotage after removing her fellow contestant Iain Watters' dessert from the freezer to make space for her own.

A tearful Tasha was comforted by new host Alison Hammond. Tasha was filmed having a discussion with the camera crew and revealed she had suffered with a migraine the night before. The decision was made for her to go home.

At the time, Toksvig said she was leaving “to spend more time with my other work”. As my waistline will testify, Bake Off is an all-consuming show,” she said in her statement. “Spending time with Prue [Leith], Paul [Hollywood] and Noel has been one of the great pleasures of my life.

According to his co-host Matt Lucas, Noel wouldn't be appearing on the first day of the final because he 'was feeling under the weather'.

I was on Great British Bake Off and my Baked Alaska was sabotaged by my co-star but I blame the BBC, says Iain Watters. The 39-year-old famously binned his melted dessert after it had been removed from the freezer by his co-star Diana Beard. He was sent home by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood that week, back in 2014.

Wednesday night's controversial episode saw Iain Watters, a construction engineer from Northern Ireland, eliminated from the show by judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, after he threw his show-stopper baked alaska in the bin because the ice-cream had melted.

Iain did not present his Episode 4 showstopper, resulting in one of the most controversial eliminations in show history. His melted ice cream (and subsequent meltdown) led to his elimination, but both #JusticeForIain and #Bingate were trending on Twitter after the episode aired.

“We are deeply saddened to hear that Luis Troyano has passed away,” the “Great British Bake Off” show account tweeted Tuesday. “It was a huge honour and pleasure to have him in...

Why did host leave Great British Bake Off? ›

"It's been a delicious experience and I can't imagine a more fun way of spending my summers, but it's become clear to me that I can't present both 'Fantasy Football League' and 'Bake Off' alongside all my other projects. After three series and 51 episodes, I am cheerfully passing on the baguette on to someone else."

The term "Bake-Off" is registered to the Pillsbury Company, which since 1949 has held the Pillsbury Bake-Off — a contest that searches for the best recipes in the U.S. using its signature flour. Not wanting any confusion among viewers, the company didn't release the rights, PBS reported, prompting the new title.

The comedian shocked fans earlier this month by announcing he was quitting the show after three series. He explained that it had become too much of a struggle juggling his various TV commitments. “Farewell Bake Off!” he wrote in a statement.

Lucas announced his departure from the series in a tweet on Tuesday, saying that he simply couldn't juggle his other commitments, including an appearance in the upcoming reboot of British TV show Fantasy Football League, and his Bake Off hosting duties at the same time.

In a comment made to The Independent on Thursday (14 March), Leith said: “I absolutely love working on Bake Off and am looking forward to filming the next series and meeting our new bakers, I am only stepping back from the Celebrity series, which is just a question of the filming commitment involved as we make these ...

On 10 January 2020, Lucas himself was forced to withdraw from the show following a back injury. In March 2020, he became the new co-host of the Channel 4 and Love Productions television show The Great British Bake Off, taking over from Sandi Toksvig. He departed from the programme in December 2022.

In a joint Twitter and Instagram statement, Matt explained that his time on The Great British Baking Show has come to an end so that he can focus on other opportunities.

Mary left GBBO because the U.K. series switched networks. The show, which originally aired on BBC, decided to move to Channel 4 instead of sticking with BBC. Unhappy with the decision, Mary left the cast to show her loyalty to BBC.