Tracking Great British Bake Off Rumors: Mary and Paul Out, Jamie Oliver In?

As if Brexit wasn’t bad enough, the UK is now suffering through a major shakeup of one of its most cherished television shows.

Following this week’s news that the Great British Bake Off will abandon the BBC next season for Channel 4 in pursuit of a bigger payday, things quickly began to fall apart: Yesterday, co-hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who have been with GBBO since the beginning, announced they won’t be following the show to its new home.

Now, the gossip mill is churning fast and furious as fans try to cope: According to The Sun, judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood may also be exiting stage left. The paper says Berry and Hollywood credit much of the show’s success to Mel and Sue and could be “on the verge of quitting the show” following the co-hosts’ exit.

Adding insult to injury, TV chef and sometimes-Hobbit Jamie Oliver has stepped up to say he’d love to be a judge on the new GBBO. He tells celebrity gossip mag Now he was previously asked to be a judge on the U.S. version (which ran for just one season) and regrettably had to turn down the opportunity. Please, no.

• Is This the End of Bake Off? [The Sun]
• Jamie Oliver: ‘I’d Love to Be the New Great British Bake Off Judge!’ [Now]
• Mel and Sue Leave the Great British Bake Off: What Does It All Mean? [E]