Bake Off: James Acaster responds to rumours he’s replacing Matt Lucas

Comedian became a meme when he appeared on celebrity edition of competition in 2019

James Acaster has responded to rumours that he will replace Matt Lucas as the new host of The Great British Bake Off.

Following the announcement in December that the Little Britain star is stepping down from the baking competition series, many fans had begun to speculate who would replace him, with Acaster among the rumoured frontrunners.

Appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show on Saturday (11 March) alongside Prue Leith, stand-up comedian Acaster – who made a memorable appearance on the Stand Up to Cancer celebrity edition in 2019 – addressed his rumoured involvement.

“No-one’s spoken to me about it and rightly so,” he said.

“It was traumatic what happened to me in that tent. I think if I was one of the hosts, I’d be constantly having flashbacks and full meltdowns and I don’t think that’s very relaxing for the contestants.”

Asked about his time on the show, Acaster said that he “can’t remember most of the stuff that happened”.

During filming of the chat show, the comic added: “Listen, if they approach me to do it, I would string them along for as long as possible, get there on the day, say, ‘Suck it’ and go home.”

Acaster appeared on the second celebrity series of Bake Off on Channel 4, with a scene in which he presented his flapjacks to the judges with the words: “Started making it. Had a breakdown. Bon appetit” becoming a meme.

Acaster has discussed his experience on Bake Off on his food podcast Off Menu and in his comedy special Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, in which he explained that he was struggling with his mental health during the filming process.

In February, Lucas admitted in an interview that he’d viewed Bake Off as a “pandemic job” and had “never seen the show” before he was approached to star on it.

Richard Ayoade, Shaparak Khorsandi and Sara Pascoe are among the other names reportedly in the running to replace Lucas.