Noel Fielding steps out in eye-catching Battenberg coat as his salary is set to DOUBLE as Great British Bake Off host
COMEDIAN Noel Fielding prepared for his new Bake Off gig yesterday by wearing a Battenberg cake-style coat.
Noel, 43, can also look forward to some huge cheques of a different kind now he’s signed up to host the Channel 4 show.
The comic, who accounts reveal made just under £300,000 last year, will earn £200,000 from Bake Off alone plus “hundreds of thousands more on top”.
Yesterday Noel stepped out for the first time since his signing was announced and dressed accordingly.
He picked a coat with a Battenberg cake pattern for his stroll around north London.
A source said: “Noel is going to see his bank balance double at the very least.
“Landing the Bake Off gig will be huge for him and really open him up to more lucrative offers no doubt.
“For Bake Off alone he will make as much as what he made in total last year.”
Noel is director of two businesses with his talent agent Caroline Chignell – Secret Peter Limited, which last posted a £23,000 profit, and Fantasy Man Limited, which made £286,355.
He has admitted to previously squandering his previous financial success after becoming a cult favourite thanks to his work alongside Julian Barratt on The Mighty Boosh.
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBIZ
He said: “We never really thought about money that much or career steps or anything like that, so that was all quite alien to us.
“When we got quite big and were generating a lot of money through the arenas we became quite a big thing and a lot of managers appeared and it became a big machine like we were in Pink Floyd or something, and I don’t think we were into that.
“We didn’t really compromise.”
Noel, known for his wild partying and ladies’ man ways, admitted: “We got quite famous in England and I got sucked into the party lifestyle and it was crazy, like it was your birthday every day.”
Noel may have landed a hot new job on Bake Off, but he is clueless in the kitchen, according to his dad.
Speaking for the first time since Noel’s job was revealed, Ray, 64, said: “He’s got no baking background whatsoever.
“Fortunately, Noel’s not there to bake, he’s there to present.”
Ray is confident Noel, 43, and Sandi Toksvig, 58, who replace Mel and Sue as hosts, will be a hit.
Ray said: “Noel is pretty easy-going and relaxed and I think he’ll fit in well. Hopefully it will work out. It’s a really popular show and we’re so pleased for him.
“He is excited, but he said on the phone everything has gone a bit crazy and he’s worried about being in the limelight.
“But we are so proud of him.”
Noel and Sandi will join judges Paul Hollywood, 51, and Prue Leith, 77, who takes over from Mary Berry who quit when the show moved from the BBC.
We can reveal Channel 4 have been trying to find a project for Noel for two years.
A source said one idea for a show giving a comic commentary on YouTube videos was “signed off by Channel 4 nearly two years ago” but then canned.
The source said: “Channel 4 had promised Noel that when the time was right they would work together again.
“Bake Off appears to be that project.”