Category Archives: Sandi Toksvig

Prue Leith Reacts To Sandi Toksvig’s Bold Admission About Why She Left Great British Bake Off

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Prue Leith has responded to Sandi Toksvig’s recent claims about what led to her resigning from the Great British Bake Off.

Both Prue and Sandi were new additions to the Bake Off family when the show made the jump to Channel 4 in 2017, and while the former still remains a judge on the show, the latter stepped down as a presenter after three seasons.

Last month, the QI host made headlines when she claimed that her time on Bake Off came to an end because she “stopped having fun”.

“I was literally standing there watching meringues dry and thinking, ‘Oh my God, my brain is atrophying’,” she claimed.

During an interview on Times Radio on Tuesday, Prue was asked what she thought of Sandi’s comments, to which she admitted they didn’t correspond to her memories of working with the comedian.

“I don’t think Sandi was [that] bored,” Prue said. “She and I shared a wonderful green room in this posh house, which was where we filmed Bake Off, which was in the library.

“And so we had this wonderful selection of books, and she would [knit] little figures. So she made lots of those. She wrote a few scripts. She did a lot of other things.”

Sandi with her former Bake Off colleagues Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding
Sandi with her former Bake Off colleagues Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding

Prue added: “I mean, I can see that for some people as clever as Sandy watching meringue dry is perhaps a bit heavy, but I think she just liked the joke. I don’t think she was really bored.”

Sandi previously told Radio Times: “After three years, I thought, ‘That’ll do, go and do something else!’” I’m in love enough with the business to think, ‘OK, that’s a nice pay cheque, but it doesn’t work for me. I’ll move on and do something else’.”

Back in 2020, long-standing Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood claimed he’d been left “surprised” and “really upset” by Sandi’s exit.

“I’m very fond of Sandi. She was never too busy to sit down, have a chat and put the world to rights. We shared a couple of drinks and had some good times together,” he said at the time.

Sandi was replaced by Matt Lucas, who fronted three seasons before announcing he, too, was leaving. Daytime favourite Alison Hammond then made her debut at the helm of Bake Off last year, and is set to return in 2024.

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Sandi Toksvig Pens Powerful Letter To Archbishop Of Canterbury After ‘Horrible’ Gay Sex Comments

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Sandi Toksvig has penned an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, after he “affirmed the validity” of a past declaration that gay sex is a sin.

The former Great British Bake Off host wrote that the Archbishop had “made a horrible mistake” by saying a past statement that marriage is “between a man and a woman”, and that same-sex relationships are “incompatible with scripture”, was “not in doubt”.

“I know we’ve never met and I should probably call you ‘your grace’ or ‘your eminence’ or something, but I wish we were friends,” Sandi began.

“If we were, I’d call you and say, ‘Justin, Justin, what are you doing?’. We’d have had a chat and maybe I could persuade you that you have made a horrible mistake. It’s what friends do for each other.”

The QI star continued: “You and your other religion pals got together at the Lambeth Conference and the main takeaway seems to be that gay sex is a sin. It was a sin in 1998 and you just wanted to make clear in 2022 that no one in your finely frocked gang has moved on from that.

“Seriously, with the state the world is in, that is what you wanted to focus on? You didn’t have other more pressing matters like, I don’t know, war or poverty?”

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Sandi went on to share statistics which revealed that young LGBTQ+ people are more likely to contemplate suicide and self-harm.

“Do you know why?” she questioned. “For many it’s because they don’t feel loved and love, Justin, is supposed to be at the core of what you do.”

She added: “The lives of LGBTQ+ people are at stake here. I have had credible death threats over the years sometimes requiring the very kind assistance of the police hate crime squad. Each and every one of those threats has come from an evangelical Christian.

“Inevitably, they have wanted to kill me on God’s behalf because although he may be omnipotent apparently he’s also very busy. Why just raising this matter is probably a bad idea for my health. I’ll cope, but what about my brothers and sisters who won’t?”

Sandi ended the letter by stating: “Call me, Justin. Let’s have coffee. Let me talk you round. You never know, I might even forgive you.”

The Danish comedian, presenter and activist came out as gay in 1994. She entered a civil partnership with her wife Debbie Toksvig in 2007.

Sandi and Debbie later renewed their vows on the day same-sex marriage was made legal in England in 2014.

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