Former Sussex Great British Bake Off contestants in shock over show's changes

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!"

"We love it just as it is. We get on really well and our aim is to make a good programme", she said.

The hosts did not even enter negotiations with Channel 4 over a possible contract, instead announcing their departures as soon as the new arrangements were confirmed.

"Bake Off risked coming off free to air television altogether", Hunt explained.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Mary and Paul have always stressed they would stand by Mel and Sue as they see them as family".

Meanwhile, Channel 4 bosses are said to be furious after Mel and Sue issued a carefully worded (and puntastic) statement revealing they wouldn't be defecting to Channel 4 when the show moves.

The 50-year-old silverfox - who has featured on the programme for six years - is not ready to wave goodbye to the cooking show yet and will follow it across to Channel 4 when it leaves the BBC later this year because he's employed by Love Productions - the company behind the popular series - rather than the broadcaster.

So now there's a gaping ring doughnut shaped hole in the baking show as we know it.

'They are offering them big money, more input into the show, the works. It's suitably goofy, but it also speaks to a certain protectiveness and desire for narrative restraint that will likely be hard to maintain under a new regime.

The first full Bake Off series on Channel 4 is not expected to begin until 2018 due to contractual restrictions surrounding the format.

Recently, there's been obvious tension between the budget-eviscerated BBC and the U.K.'s private channels; the government that emptied the BBC's coffers is making much of whether the BBC is "worth saving"' based on the shows they're able to retain.

September 15, 2016 by hellomagazine.com Jamie Oliver has emerged as a frontrunner for the role as a judge should Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood decide to step down. Producers will have to hope audiences' fondness for the formula overrides their investment in the show's trademark dynamics.

What is your favourite Mel and Sue moment?