Yahoo News Great British Bake Off Host Matt Lucas Opens Up About Weight Loss
Matt Lucas at the launch of ABBA Voyage in May 2022 (Photo: Dave J Hogan via Getty Images)
Great British Bake Off host Matt Lucas has spoken out about his dramatic weight loss in a new interview.
The former Little Britain performer told Gabby Logan on her podcast the Mid Point that he made the decision to try and slim down for health reasons, after gaining weight during the pandemic.
“My dad died when he was 52, very suddenly. His dad died, I think, at 56, so I was looking at the law of averages here,” explained Matt, who turned 48 earlier this year.
“I was very big and I was getting bigger in the pandemic. Sort of not being very active, not really going out, not seeing people, just eating a lot. I was so big I couldn’t really fit on screen any more.”
He insisted: “I’m not skinny by any means. I’ve just lost some weight. I’ve gone from maybe a double-XL, sometimes triple-XL, down to a medium.”
Matt Lucas on the set of Who Do You Think You Are? earlier this year (Photo: BBC/Wall to Wall Media Ltd/Stephen Perry)
Matt added that he is not depriving himself completely, pointing out: “The thing is, I don’t do any drugs and I don’t smoke and I hardly ever drink. So it’s just the food really.
“I just don’t eat as much, but I eat sweets still.”
After rising to fame in the early 2000s in sketch comedies Rock Profile, Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, Matt joined the Bake Off family in 2019, taking over from departing host Sandi Toksvig.
Matt with his Bake Off co-stars in 2020 (Photo: via PA Features Archive/Press Association Images)
He recently returned to the Bake Off tent for his third series at the helm, which began airing on Channel 4 earlier this week.
Listen to his full interview on the Mid Point podcast here.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
