Paul Hollywood says ‘Great British Bake Off’ needs at least eight million viewers to be successful.
The 51-year-old celebrity chef has been a judge on the baking competition since its conception with the BBC in 2010, and has said the show needs to rake in the whopping viewing figures when the new series starts next week in order to consider its move to rival broadcaster Channel 4 a success.
Paul – who is the only member of the original line up to continue in his position on the programme despite it’s controversial move – said: "’Bake Off’s not broken. If we were in a slump, down to something like eight million, then we’d say we need to change something. But we don’t."
If ‘Great British Bake Off’ – which saw Mary Berry, Sue Perkins, and Mel Giedroyc step down from their roles last year – were to pull in just eight million, it would be a loss of almost half the viewers from the final of 2016’s series, which was watched by a staggering 14.8 million people.
However, according to The Sun newspaper, the figures might seem unlikely, since the last time Channel 4 was able to gain the attention of more than eight million people was during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in London in 2012.
New host Noel Fielding – who will join Paul alongside Prue Leith and Sandy Toksvig – isn’t convinced about the show’s popularity either, as he joked he would be happy if just five people tuned in for its Channel 4 debut.
He quipped to the Radio Times: "I think if we get five people watching we’ll be happy with that."
Meanwhile, 59-year-old Sandi is keen to keep the format of the show the same despite its move, out of "respect" to the original programme.
She said: "You want to show that everybody has respect for the show. You don’t want to break it, because it’s something precious and it’s precious to so many people. I have to say what we’ve made I’m very proud of it."
‘Great British Bake Off’ airs on Channel 4 next Tuesday (29.08.17) at 8pm.
Paul Hollywood: Great British Bake Off needs 8 million viewers
