The Big Family Cooking Showdown host Zoe Ball insists new BBC2 series has not copied The Great British Bake Off
THE duo fronting BBC2’s The Big Family Cooking Showdown have shrugged off comparisons with The Great British Bake Off.
ZOE BALL and NADIYA HUSSAIN, the 2015 Bake Off winner, are presenting the new primetime series.
Families will do battle in the kitchen and take on challenges to see who is crowned the best culinary clan.
Zoe said: “They can’t keep saying, ‘the new Bake Off’ because the new Bake Off (on Channel 4) is the new Bake Off.
“We’re not Bake Off because it’s not baking, it’s all cooking. There are different dynamics.”
Meanwhile Nadiya, who was in the frame to appear on Channel 4’s Bake off, which will kick off in the coming weeks, referred to the now-infamous “£75million tent” in which Bake Off is being filmed.
She said: “We’re in a barn. Bake Off is completely new now. It’s going through changes itself.
"There’s loads of room for this. It’s so different to anything else that is actually out there.”
The Big Family Cooking Showdown launches at 8pm on Tuesday, August 15.
Zoe and Nadiya, who will be joined by judges GIORGIO LOCATELLI and ROSEMARY SHRAGER, insist there is no pressure to emulate former Bake Off hosts MEL GIEDROYC and SUE PERKINS.
Zoe said: “There are so many cooking shows on now. Obviously, comparisons will be made — they are going to be made because two women are hosting.
“We’re never going to be as funny as Mel and Sue. We have different humour, which is mostly unbroadcastable.”
MOST READ IN BIZARRE
But while Zoe bigs up the three new members of the Bake Off team, there was no mention for the only returning judge, PAUL HOLLYWOOD.
She said: “I’ll be watching NOEL FIELDING and SANDI TOKSVIG because I absolutely love them.
“And PRUE LEITH — my brother always says she wrote the best cookbook ever. I think there’s room for all of us.”
Let the showdown begin.
Hot on heels of hit return
THE cast of Cold Feet look raring to go for their latest series, which begins next month.
My exclusive snap shows FAY RIPLEY, JOHN THOMSON, HERMIONE NORRIS, ROBERT BATHURST, and JAMES NESBITT all beaming on set.
John delighted the ITV show’s legions of fans in June after revealing a seventh season would begin on Monday, September 11.
It crowned last year’s successful comeback after a 13-year break, despite the absence of HELEN BAXENDALE.
The first series, which ran from 1998 to 2003, centered on the gang navigating life in their twenties and thirties.
Now the temples are greying, the plot focuses on middle-age antics.
Ratings soared, with the series becoming ITV’s most successful drama launch of 2016, drawing in 8.4million viewers.
That meant ITV director of television Kevin Lygo had no choice but to recommission the show.
He said: “We’ve been humbled by the astonishing reaction from viewers and critics.”
No Berry Xmas in US
DESPITE a successful run in the US with her Great American Baking Show, I can reveal that MARY BERRY won’t be returning.
The show garnered five million viewers but US network ABC has confirmed the former GBBO star’s prime time Christmas series has not been re-commissioned.
Asked on Sunday night at the Television Critics’ Association awards in LA whether Mary would be returning, ABC network boss Channing Dungey said: “Not at the moment, but she is fantastic and we would be happy to do something in the future.”
A source added: “Mary enjoyed her experiences and left left the network on good terms.
"But she has a string of BBC commitments in the UK and wants to concentrate on them instead.”
I’d say she has her plate full.
SOAPBOX
IT’S crunch time for Mick in EASTENDERS.
He’s not sure if he should tell Linda about him and Whitney.
But his wife smells a rat and quizzes Johnny on what’s been going on in her absence.
She tells Mick there should no longer be any secrets between them, prompting him to drop a bombshell.
Meanwhile, Abi and Max keep Steven on edge as he continues to make plans for his wedding.
In EMMERDALE, Robert is making himself comfortable at Home Farm, but panics when he hears Rebecca return.
He is frustrated to discover that Lawrence has discharged himself – and thinks his plan is being thwarted.
5 lovers bang out of lock
CHANNEL 5’s Make Or Break? gets off to a steamy start in tonight’s series opener.
But amorous couple Richard Cohen and Sophii Vassallo reveal security on the show went to extraordinary lengths to STOP them having sex.
The duo claim they were in locked in separate rooms to prevent them getting intimate.
Richard, who has previously dated Gogglebox’s SCARLETT MOFFATT, and his girlfriend Sophii did their best to rebel.
Sophii said: “They must have had extra security on me and Richard.
“Every time I tried to sneak off to find him, I’d get carried back by a big security guard and locked in my room.”
The ten-part series – billed as Channel 5’s answer to ITV2 smash hit Love Island – follows eight couples who are each at a crossroads in their relationships as they head to a Mexican paradise.