ITV turned down ‘The Great British Bake Off’ because Love Productions couldn't guarantee the stars

ITV have revealed that they were all set to buy The Great British Bake Off from Love Productions last month, but opted out when they realised that the stars of the show weren’t guaranteed to move with the programme.

The channel’s boss, Kevin Lygo, has opened up about his decision to reject the popular baking show as he was wary of buying Bake Off without hosts, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, and judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

Speaking to Broadcast magazine, Lygo explained: “You really are buying some sort of baking powder and a tent. I said, ‘If you can’t guarantee it [that the judges would sign up for the series], then no, it’s not for us, thank you very much.’”

Fans of the show were left stunned when the news broke that Channel 4 had bought Bake Off from the production company for a whopping £75million in a three-year deal.

The programme originally shot to fame on the BBC, which has aired the cooking series since 2010.

According to Kevin, Channel 4 made a huge mistake by snapping up the show, continuing: “It’s just a really weird screw up. It will be studied by television sociologists in years to come, I suspect, about what the f**k went on with that show.

"The BBC should think why did they lose it really. They should ask themselves that pretty closely.”

Of the four BBC Bake Off stars, only Paul Hollywood moved across to Channel 4 - Mel and Sue quit the show out of “loyalty” to the BBC and Mary decided that it was time for how to bow out of the show.