BBC says farewell to Great British Bake Off in a dramatic move to channel 4

The Great British Bake Off has left BBC and joined Channel 4. With millions of loyal viewers, many people seem to have concerns about the switch.

For anyone who has never watched Great British Bake off, let's give you the rundown. Great British Bake Off, or GBBO as it is fondly known to many, is a British baking competition which brings in amateur bakers and selects the best one through a process of elimination. If you have watched a show such as MasterChef it is the same basic premise.

GBBO, moved from BBC to Channel 4 for selective reasons. While these reasons are being guarded, it has been rumored that money was one of the leading reasons for the switch. While BBC offered a good amount of money, it simply was not enough and Channel 4 swooped in and purchased GBBO for 75 million.

 

When GBBO was on BBC there were no commercials. While many people are used to sitting through commercials while watching TV, faithful BBC viewers pay extra to not watch commercials. After the first new episode aired on Channel 4, Twitter was filled with tweets from GBBO watchers feeling anger and disappointment.  "The programme is OK but the adverts are too much. I don't think I'll be watching the rest of this series. #GBBO" one Twitter user said "All these adverts on #GBBO so annoying!" said another.

While GBBO may lose some fans to the numerous advertisements, another disappointing turn for many is the departure of three of the four judges. Only Paul Hollywood remains from the original judging crew and has now been joined by two  new judges, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding. Coming in with a bang, the duo arrived in a hot air balloon as their introduction to the show, winning over the hearts of many skeptics.

The season premiere of GBBO on Channel 4 this year had about 6.5 million viewers, 4 million less than the previous season premier which aired on BBC. While this may seem discouraging, Channel 4 is very upbeat about these numbers and is seeing them continue to rise. Channel 4 took to Twitter "#GBBO is @Channel4's biggest overnight audience in 5 yrs (since Paras Opening Ceremony) Biggest peak time share for 16-34s in over 10 yrs". Channel 4 is also trying to account for the number of people who are recording the show to watch later in order to skip through the commercials.

With GBBO bringing in the most young viewers Channel 4 has seen in years, the show seems to still be on a roll. With the future looking bright, let's hope things continue in a good direction for GBBO.