Coleen Nolan had to be 'bullied' into taking part in Celebrity Bake Off

05 April 2023 , 19:34

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Coleen admits she is a terrible cook (Image: Channel 4 / Love Productions)

Coleen Nolan says she had to be “bullied” into going on The Great Celebrity Bake Off because her cooking skills are so dire.

The Loose Women star and Daily Mirror agony aunt said despite wanting to help the Stand Up 2 Cancer event because three of her sisters have battled the disease, she feared making a fool of herself.

Coleen, 58, said: “I literally look at toast and it burns, I don’t know how to do it. I said to my manager ‘You’re going to have to bully me into this’, as my initial reaction was to say no.”

But Coleen, who appears in the contest on Sunday with comic Ellie Taylor, actor Joe Thomas and presenter Paddy McGuinness, added: “When I did it, I got so into it. I really wanted to do my best.

“I was really proud I’d done it, because it’s one of those ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’.” And while judge Prue Leith was “delightful”, she said of Paul Hollywood: “I thought he might be nicer because we’re celebrities doing it for charity. But he wasn’t."

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Coleen was surprised how tough it was on the show

Coleen said ahead of the day her nerves got the better of her. “The night before I was telling myself, ‘You’re an idiot. Why did you agree to do this? You're dying of nerves and you're going to be rubbish, and you're going to make a fool of yourself.’”

But in the event her time in the famous tent was fun - apart from the tasks themselves, which were made harder because she is vegan and so cannot use any dairy product.

“It's strict,” she says. “I thought they'd give a bit more leeway with the celebrity one, but they don’t - they really stick to time and you don't really get any help.

“I think that's part of it, isn't it? When it goes wrong, it’s very funny.”

When I ask what her best bits were, she laughs it was simply “the fact I turned up”.

But she adds: “One of the challenges, I didn't do too badly. I surprised myself really. But one of the challenges was an absolute disaster and I still laugh about it now.”

* The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C, Sunday, 7.40pm, Channel 4.

Nicola Methven