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The Great British Bake Off with Nigella Lawson as judge beats Strictly Come Dancing in ratings
The crème de la crème of reality competitions are still rising to the top of TV ratings.
Channel 4/Patch Dolan
- Tilly Pearce
Published: Wednesday, 28 October 2026 at 12:01 pm
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The Great British Bake Off has whipped up another ratings hit for Channel 4 – and is even pulling in more viewers than Strictly Come Dancing.
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The wholesome TV favourite kickstarted its 17th season in September with chef Nigella Lawson making her debut as a judge alongside Paul Hollywood.
Taking over from Prue Leith, who had starred alongside Hollywood for nine years before bowing out earlier this year, Nigella admitted she was “hesitant” to step into the beloved star’s shoes on the flagship show.
But she needn’t have worried – as according to figures from Barb, the show has continued to fare well with viewers.
Her first episode, which aired on 22 September, saw 7.1 million people tune in to see her at work during Cake Week in the first seven days after transmission.
It means that the show pulled in more viewers than fellow entertainment juggernaut Strictly, which saw 6.4 million people watch its launch show in the same week.
Josh Widdicombe, Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe on Strictly Come Dancing. BBC/Guy Levy
Since then, Bake Off's seven-day consolidated ratings have continued to stay ahead of Strictly, which had its own line-up turnover this year with the introduction of new hosts Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe.
While Strictly's Saturday live shows have traditionally attracted more viewers than Bake Off, it's not the first time the cooking show has beaten the ballroom dancing competition.
Bake Off was getting mammoth ratings in its later seasons on the BBC, with its 2015 and 2016 finals becoming the most watched programmes of their respective years.
Bake Off's opening episode last year also beat Strictly's 2025 launch show viewing figures, although its live shows all finished ahead of Bake Off's subsequent episodes in the weekly viewing charts.
In fact, Bake Off's first episode this year was slightly down on its own seven-day figure from last year, but all episodes since then have been up.
This year's Bake Off cast, hosts and judges. Channel 4 / Patch Dolan
Nigella's debut in the tent has gone down well with viewers and co-stars, with hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond praising her fresh take on judging this year’s contestants.
"The way that Nigella words things is very beautiful, and I think that's very new to the tent," Fielding previously told Radio Times and other press. "It's a great babble, you know? There's been some very surreal poetic descriptions, which I think is a new thing, isn't it? And they're amazing.
"Nigella's a writer, so they were like a little explosion. I think that you know everyone's tuned into that, and the bakers are tuned into that, and I feel like [Nigella and Paul] complement each other really well."
"You're lovely," Hammond also said to Lawson. "You give a lot of advice to the bakers, and they love that. You both do, but I've noticed in particular you do give them a lot of love."
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The Great British Bake Off airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4. Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Authors
Tilly PearceFreelance Writer
Tilly Pearce is a freelance TV journalist whose coverage ranges from reality shows like Love Is Blind to sci-fi shows like Fallout. She is an NCTJ Gold Standard accredited journalist, who has previously worked as Deputy TV Editor (maternity cover) at Digital Spy, and Deputy TV & Showbiz Editor at Daily Express US.
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