The Great British Bake Off; Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins

“With a full face of flawless makeup, in leopard print and exuding the same effortless exuberance and laughter she brings to ITV’s mornings, Alicon Hammond fit into the opening episode of the fourteenth series perfectly. Like any series that’s been on TV for over a decade, Bake Off has to keep reinventing the wheel and before watching last night’s episode, I thought it was on its last legs. But the straightforward approach to the challenges and the breath of fresh air that is Alison Hammond have proven me wrong. Turns out there’s life in the stale sponge yet.”
Emily Baker, The i

“While some of the handshakes and soggy bottom shtick has been getting stale, season 14 has wisely injected the most lovable jolt of energy in the form of Alison Hammond, who replaces Matt Lucas to present alongside Noel Fielding. Hammond’s infectious cheeriness, which has melted everyone from Harrison Ford to Mariah Carey, is unparalleled.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“She’s a good signing. The show had lost its way in the past couple of years. The joy had gone out of it, challenges were too hard, moments of meanness were sneaking in. Change was needed, and Hammond is a lovely, sunny presence. A little Alison goes a long way, but she’s deployed at just the right level here.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Bake Off has discreetly gone back to basics after viewers slung doughnuts at it last year for becoming all a bit much, a bit too harsh. If 2022 was something of a cakus horribilis for the show, this opening episode showed a kindly, consciously warm-hearted tent, with added Alison ‘MORNING BAYKERS!’ Hammond and even some retro Mel and Sue-style innuendo.”
James Jackson, The Times

“The problem with these early episodes, as Strictly Come Dancing is also currently experiencing, is that they’re overpopulated. Too many contestants jostle for camera time. When the field is whittled down and we get to know them better, the series will settle into a rhythm. This isn’t quite a show-stopping opener, but a hugely promising start.”
Michael Hogan, The Independent

“Matt Hancock seems to love being belittled. You could see it on his face when he was laughed at for somersaulting through the parallel bars during a vertigo test like a toddler at Tumble Tots and duly called a ‘complete and utter buffoon’. And when he was brought in for interrogation with a bag over his head and mocked for being caught on camera groping a bottom that didn’t belong to his wife. He was told he had shown weak leadership in the pandemic and then to ‘shut the f*** up’. It was pretty damn hilarious to watch.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The opening episode is an elaborate montage of Hancockian misery. There’s Hancock being shoved into a flood-swollen river. Hancock half-drowning in sludge. And my favourite: Hancock sprinting towards the camera in slow motion while an instructor yells: ‘He runs like a f—ing ostrich.’ Hancock aside, Celebrity SAS slips smoothly into its groove. It’s been running since 2015, clocking up eight series, and it remains one of the most moreishly daft things on TV, elevating military campiness into high art.”
Alex Duggins, The Telegraph

“Against stiff competition from the entire population, Hancock is his own worst enemy. He was arrogantly dismissive of the special forces challenges he would face. ‘I’ve seen pressure,’ he boasted. ‘What I’m going to face is water off a duck’s back.’ Really, Matt? Really? No wonder the instructors thought he had an attitude problem.”
Roland White, Daily Mail