...including Matt Lucas, forced to switch from presenting it

Alex Horne, Ed Gamble and Mawaan Rizwan will be taking part in this year’s Great Celebrity Bake Off, it has been announced.

As well as the three Taskmaster comedians, Matt Lucas had to switch from presenting the show to competing in it after one of the 20 stars lined up to appear pulled out at the last minute.

He and co-host Noel Fielding tossed a coin to see who would don the apron – and the Little Britain star lost. Lucas said: 'I was forced to bake by my bosses at the last minute when one of the bakers became unavailable. I can’t tell you how happy I was that my humiliation was caught on camera.'

When he replaced Sandi Toksvig on the show  in 2020, Lucas spoke about his limited cake-making skills, saying: ‘I’m happy to eat the cakes, but I’m not a great baker.’

Other comedy names taking part are Ben Miller, Ruby Wax, social media comic Yung Filly,  Inbetweeners actor Blake Harrison and Friday Night Dinner and Toast  Of Tinseltown star Tracy-Ann Oberman.

The final celebrity bakers  are Annie Macmanus, who broadcasts as Annie Mac; broadcaster Clara Amfo; pop star Ellie Goulding; TV presenter Emma Willis; singer-songwriter Example; choirmaster  Gareth Malone; actress Katherine Kelly; TV presenter Laura Whitmore; Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah; dancer Motsi Mabuse and TV presenter Sophie Morgan.

Five episodes will air this spring as part of Channel 4’s annual  Stand Up to Cancer fund-raiser. Each one features four famous bakers, judged as usual by Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.

Published: 4 Feb 2022