Channel 4 has insisted the judges and hosts of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ gave “significant” donations to Stand Up To Cancer, after it was claimed they were paid to film the recent charity specials.
The Sun claimed Paul Hollywood received as much as £117,500 to judge the five episodes, which featured celebrities showing off their baking skills to raise money for the charity.
However, bosses have spoken out to clarify the report, insisting all money raised from the show went directly to Stand Up To Cancer.
Furthermore, they pointed out that appearing in the charity episodes forms part of the team’s regular contracts, adding that Paul and his co-stars Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig would still have donated part of their fee.
“Our aim is to raise as much money as possible for Stand Up To Cancer and 100% of the money raised goes directly to the charity,” a spokesperson said in a statement issued to HuffPost UK. “All contributors donate their fee to the campaign.”
They continued: “Those who are already contracted for long running series also make a significant donation to the SU2C campaign and as a result of their involvement millions have been raised to fund ground-breaking research that will save lives.”
HuffPost UK has contacted Love Productions, who make ‘Bake Off’, for further comment, as well as reaching out to Paul’s representative, and is awaiting responses.
This year’s ‘Bake Off’ specials featured the likes of Nick Hewer, Alan Carr, Jaime Laing, Ella Eyre, Stacey Solomon and Ruth Davidson taking part.
