Sandi Toksvig on Why She Quit ‘Great British Baking Show’ & Who She’s Not Friends With Anymore

Sandi Toksvig has been dishing on her time on The Great British Baking Show and her surprising exit from the Netflix series. She also opens up about her former co-stars.

The 66-year-old co-hosted the popular competition show alongside comedian Noel Fielding. She stepped away from the series in 2020 after three years and was replaced by comedian Matt Lucas, who himself has since been replaced by current host Alison Hammond.

Toksvig told U.K. newspaper The Times, “I walked away from the biggest pay check of my life,” explaining that working on the show “felt like the longest three years of my life.” Toksvig said that her psychotherapist wife Debbie, who she has been married to for 17 years, persuaded her to quit the show because she clearly “wasn’t happy.” She also admits that she wasn’t comfortable being in the public eye so much as the host of a hugely popular show.

Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding, and Sandi Toksvig (Netflix)

During the interview, she also spilled the tea on which co-stars she is still close to four years after leaving the show. Toksvig said that she is “joined at the hip” with judge Prue Leith. but “not so much” with Paul Hollywood due to him being busy.

When asked if she is still buddies with her former co-host Noel Fielding, she gave a simple, one word answer: “No.”

Clearly, some residual heat there. 

Despite Toksvig’s feelings, Fielding was somewhat more cordial in speaking about her ending her time on the show. He recently admitted to The Guardian that his time with Sandi came “under enormous pressure but we pulled it off,” and said that “The difference between us is that I have always really enjoyed hanging out with the bakers. I befriend them and get them to open up.”

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He added that “Sandi, as we know, is a massive brain,” remarking on going to Cambridge University. And that, “she never stays anywhere too long, except QI, which is the perfect show for her. 

After leaving The Great British Baking Show, Toksvig certainly didn’t fade into obscurity. In addition to hosting the BBC quiz show QI, she has dedicated a lot of her time on political activism as the co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party over the past decade. She has also cooked up a variety of plays, novels, and children’s books. Not to mention officiating the recent wedding between ABBA’s  Björn Ulvaeus and Christina Sas.