The Great British Bake Off Has New Hosts & We Are Excited

Who knew a show about biscuits and cakes could trigger such polarising opinions?

Yesterday The Great British Bake Off, the popular show devoted to amateur bakers, announced its replacements for beloved hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins (widely known as Mel and Sue): eccentric comedian Noel Fielding and political activist and TV personality Sandi Toksvig.

Fielding, famed for his work on The Mighty Boosh, and Toksvig, who, in addition to recently replacing Stephen Fry as the host of quiz show QI, is the co-founder of Britain's Women's Equality Party, will host the show when it makes its leap to Channel 4 after seven seasons on the BBC. They will join judges Prue Leith, the cooking school founder who has replaced original baking goddess Mary Berry, and Paul Hollywood.

Hollywood, a professional baker, is the only original GBBO castmember to stay with the show as it jumps ship. Last year negotiations between the BBC and Love Productions, which produces the show, fell through, prompting a lucrative (and highly controversial) new deal with Channel 4. Berry and Mel and Sue declined to follow the money and carry on with the show, though Hollywood had no such qualms and has been villainised as a "scab" as sorts for participating in the GBBO's unwelcome new makeover.

"I could not be more delighted by who will be joining me on the show," Hollywood said in a statement to the Guardian. "Prue is a hugely respected culinary legend, and Sandi and Noel are warm and utterly hilarious. I cannot wait to get back in the tent with the bakers.”

Viewers and Mel and Sue loyalists aren't so welcoming. Others are merely flummoxed.

Some people might not be happy but we can't wait to see what Noel and Sandi do.