Next year’s special Sport Relief version of the Great British Bake Off may become a political hot potato after it emerged both Samantha Cameron and Ed Balls have signed up for the BBC1 show.
The Great Sport Relief Bake Off will feature 16 famous faces, including the prime minister’s wife and the former Labour shadow chancellor.
Cameron is not the first person with political connections to have appeared on a celebrity edition of the popular baking show: Sarah Brown, wife of former Labour PM Gordon, was a contestant in this year’s Comic Relief Bake Off in March.
But as the woman who juggles the duties of a prime minister’s wife with being a part-time creative adviser to stationery company Smythson, and the man who most publicly represented Labour’s fortunes during the last general election when he lost his parliamentary seat, Cameron and Balls are likely to attract a great deal of scrutiny.
The other celebrities taking part in the special edition of the show include former Spice Girl Geri Horner, singer Will Young, Louise Redknapp and former Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh.
Also appearing are actors Alison Steadman and Ade Edmonson, comedian Morgana Robinson, BBC world affairs editor John Simpson, presenter Victoria Coren-Mitchell, EastEnders’ Maddy Hill and former host of the One Show, Jason Manford.
The world of sport is represented by Sky Sports pundit Chris Kamara, footballer Jermaine Jenas and goalkeeper David James, who are all donning aprons in aid of Sport Relief’s biennial charity fundraiser.
Most of the usual ingredients of Bake Off will appear during the four-part series, which will air next spring across a week. Judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are scrutinising the efforts of the 16 bakers in the famous Bake Off tent and usual co-host Mel Giedroyc will front one episode, with Jennifer Saunders, Sarah Millican and Ed Byrne doing one each of the other three.
Giedroyc’s regular comedy partner Sue Perkins was unable to take part due to other filming commitments when makers Love Productions were shooting.
The series will also include films following Clare Balding and Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis as they visit Comic Relief projects supported by Sport Relief money abroad and in the UK.
Sport Relief will return between Friday 18 and Sunday 20 March 2016 andencourages people to hold their own bake sales or get involved with sporting activities.
The Great Sport Relief Bake Off is produced for BBC1 by Love Productions in conjunction with Comic Relief and is executive produced by Richard McKerrow with Clare Paterson as commissioning editor for the BBC.
