Emotions are running high across the nation, following the announcement that Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc will not continue to host The Great British Bake Off when it moves from the BBC to Channel 4 next year.
So it was without surprise that This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby took a bit of a Twitter beating after the official This Morning account teased that they might be the show’s new presenters.
It all started before the ITV1 show aired, and the social media account posted a speculative message that said they would be revealing the Bake Off’s new presenters with an “official announcement”.
Along with that, there was an image of a silhouette of a man and woman against a mock-up of a typical countryside Bake Off backdrop.
A second tweet teased that the This Morning hosts themselves would be taking over from Mel and Sue, and fans were not amused.
Who will be the new presenters of the GBBO? Official announcement on 'This Morning' at 10:30am. pic.twitter.com/B8WZ85XCpZ
— This Morning (@thismorning) September 14, 2016
Are @Schofe and @hollywills taking over from Mel & Sue? We reveal all at 10:30am only on #ThisMorning
— This Morning (@thismorning) September 14, 2016
Official announcement! @hollywills and @Schofe rule themselves out of #GBBO presenting job... for now 😉 #ThisMorning pic.twitter.com/iYvhAJefy2
— This Morning (@thismorning) September 14, 2016
The show kicked off with the two of them throwing around some potential names for the hot TV gig before they declared: “We are in the mix at 100/1 and we can officially announce… It’s NOT going to be us!”
How dare Holly and Phil mess with people's #gbbo emotions, I'm on the edge
— Emma Kelly (@TooManyEmmas) September 14, 2016
Later in the episode, their co-star Rylan Clark-Neal made them aware of the Twitter stunt and the furore, to which Phillip said: “We had no idea that our interactive team had done that!”
Holly added, horrified: “We didn’t even know! We’re so sorry!”
Understandably, riled fans took to Twitter to complain about the stunt attempt, with some thinking that it was a cruel trick thought up to get more viewers.
@thismorning @hollywills @Schofe Oh. Hilarious. Nice attempt at getting extra viewers. This is why I won't watch daytime telly.
— Mrs Spanner (@mrsspanner) September 14, 2016
#ThisMorning pretended to have a #GBBO announcement and I'm officially coining "viewbait". You done goofed. https://t.co/1iRLkRFCpj
— Huw Fullerton (@HuwieMcChewie) September 14, 2016
Rare misjudged "joke" by Pip and Holly there. Lots of #GBBO fans would've tuned into #ThisMorning especially. Grrrrr
— Michael Hogan (@michaelhogan) September 14, 2016
@Schofe @Rylan @hollywills taking a time talking about the #gbbo prank on @thismorning wasting valuable gossip time lol 😁
— bryan d (@bpd1) September 14, 2016
Basically, whoever thought it would be a good idea to toy with us #GBBO lovers at a time like this can go jump off a bridge @thismorning
— Rhianna 🍑 (@robowecop) September 14, 2016
So @thismorning Official announcement was just to say that Holly & Phil weren’t doing it. Bad taste ITV! #GBBO
— Col (@c_l84) September 14, 2016
They both look thrilled at whichever producer/editor thought up this segment. https://t.co/4B1lPtRHwz
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) September 14, 2016
So are @thismorning announcing new presenters of #GBBO or was their big announcement that it's not Phil and Holly? I'm confused
— Kellie Dawson (@BigFashionista) September 14, 2016
@thismorning Naughty production team!! :P
— sallyann photography (@Sallyahosking) September 14, 2016
I actually love how seriously everyone in the UK takes bake off. Stop toying with the #GBBO public @thismorning https://t.co/92LiHDuN1D
— Rebecca Stewart (@BereccaStewart) September 14, 2016
Too soon, guys?
