Delia Smith

Jennifer Saunders has dismissed rumours that she and Dawn French will be taking over hosting ‘The Great British Bake Off’.

Reports over the weekend stated that French and Saunders were top of Channel 4’s list to replace Mel and Sue, but the comedian has called the story ‘b******s’.

Jennifer Saunders says she won’t be hosting the ‘Bake Off’ with Dawn French

Continue reading: Jennifer Saunders Shoots Down 'Great British Bake Off' Rumours With One Tweet

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are reportedly top of Channel 4’s list of dream ‘Great British Bake Off’ hosts, to replace Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins .

Channel 4, who bought the baking show from the BBC for £75million last month, are also said to be after cookbook legend Delia Smith, 75, to work alongside Paul Hollywood as the replacement judge for Mary Berry.

Channel 4 are reportedly after legendary duo French and Saunders as the next ‘Great British Bake Off’ hosts

Continue reading: Could Dawn French And Jennifer Saunders Host The 'Great British Bake Off'?

‘Great British Bake Off’ presenter Mary Berry has gotten her fans gossiping after she seemingly took a swipe at fellow celebrity chef Delia Smith while presenting her new show ‘Foolproof Cooking’.

The 80 year old was presenting a segment in which she was preparing to have some of her friends over for afternoon tea, baking in her kitchen when the apparent shade was thrown in Sunday night’s episode (March 6th).

“I love having a crowd. I’d never write a book ‘cooking for one’,” she said to the camera. A perfectly innocuous comment, you might think, but viewers quickly pounced upon the remark as evidence that Berry was criticising her fellow chef Delia, who wrote a cooking book called ‘One Is Fun’ three decades ago in 1986.

Continue reading: Mary Berry Seems To Diss Delia Smith With 'Cooking For One' Remark

Waitrose has already made one high profile change to its celebrity staff this year, axing Delia Smith from its television commercials, though it seems the chain has moved quickly to ensure it doesn't lose ground on its rivals. On Monday, it announced the sister of The Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton, will be joining the company to give out cooking tips to the middle-class masses.

Though her party planning book didn't exactly go to plan, Waitrose seem confident enough for the young socialite to churn out similar stuff for its magazine. In a statement, the company said she will be dishing up "casual dining ideas and recipes" in a column titled 'Pippa's Friday Night Feasts.' Middleton herself insists the magazine has "always been a source of inspiration to me, for its extensive spectrum of food and beautiful style."

There is a problem here.

Continue reading: Food Writers Incensed As Pippa Middleton Lands Waitrose Job

Delia Smith has retired from TV cooking, claiming that television producers no longer want to educate their viewers, only to entertain them. She will continue to teach the world to cook, via the internet but when it comes to her long-running career as a TV cook, she has well and truly hung up her apron, The Telegraph reported yesterday (February 5, 2013).

Delia first appeared on television over 40 years ago and in that time she’s sold millions of cookbooks, many showcasing basic cooking recipes and others, more elaborate cookery techniques. She caused controversy with her ‘how to boil an egg’ tuition back in 1998 but you know what? You try Googling “how to boil an egg” (some people don’t know, you know!) and you’ll most likely find Delia’s instructions right there staring back at you. She said, “If you do a TV programme now, it’s got to entertain… When I started, there was further education in the BBC; now you have to entertain. You have someone telling me I haven’t got time to show this, or I haven’t got time to show that.”

Smith was dropped “by mutual agreement” from Waitrose’s advertising campaign (she featured alongside Heston Blumenthal) and she said that once that was finalised, she decided “this is the end when it comes to Delia on the telly.” She had been approached by the BBC to work with them again but turned the offer down, choosing to focus instead on her online tuition. 

Continue reading: How To Boil An Egg? You'll Have To Look Online, No More TV For Delia Smith

Delia Smith has been dropped from the Waitrose supermarket adverts after nearly three years in order to place more emphasis on chef favourite Heston Blumenthal.

Delia has always been popular for her timeless, classic home-made dishes while Heston has received increasing fame for his inventive and often unusual dishes such as snail porridge as well as his wacky TV shows, the latest of which, 'Heston's Fantastical Food', was dedicated to creating enormous sized versions of our most favourite foods. Waitrose have defended their decision insisting that Heston's appeal will 'excite customers' and will begin to 'push the boundaries of supermarket innovation' and so Delia is set to end her contract on the £10 million campaign in February after being a part of it since 2010. It seems that their decision may have been a smart one as Heston's recipes, like, ketchup-flavoured bacon and, of course, duck and sour cherry bangers, have sold well amongst Waitrose shoppers.

The marketing chief for the supermarket, Rupert Thomas, has, however, insisted that Delia has been a brilliant part of the advertising scheme. 'It has been such a fantastic experience working with Delia', he told The Mirror. Delia has, however, declined to comment further on the decision.