by Our Plagiarism Staff Kat Koppy
1 BBC executives leapt to the defence of their new programme "Strictly Come Baking" yesterday, insisting it was in no way similar to their previous show "The Great British Bake Off" for which Channel 4 paid millions for exclusive rights last year.
2 "For a start, it's got a completely different presenter," said one executive. "Her name is Mary Berry and she's a whole year older than the one who presented the original show that this one is nothing like."
3 He added, "This new show is a cooking show, which has nothing to do with baking cakes, except when the cooking task involves the baking of cakes. Oh, and by the way, the contestants in "Strictly Come Baking" are members of the public who are totally different from the members of the public who were in the original show. The presenter is Claudia Winkleman, a witty female Cambridge graduate who is entirely different from Mel and Sue, who are two witty female Cambridge graduates."
4 The BBC has just announced a spin-off show called "An Extra Spice", which will analyse the highlights of the cooking show in a totally amusing and different way with a comedic cooking enthusiast, possibly Katy Brand, or maybe Jo Caulfield, or some combination of the two.
5 Channel 4 is outraged by the attempts to copy the "Bake Off" format. Said a furious executive, "Why can't the BBC come up with an original idea for a programme instead of just copying the one we bought off them?"
Private Eye, 2017