Sue Perkins says she quit the Great British Bake Off 'in a heartbeat'

If you had visions of former Bake Off host Sue Perkins taking a long and agonising amount of time to decide to quit the show a few months back, think again.

Opening up for the first time about her big decision not to end up squished between endless commercials over on Channel 4, Sue admitted that she made the decision “in a heartbeat”.

“We made the decision that felt right for us, and it was made in a heartbeat, really,” she told BBC Radio 5.

“For us the show was best at its original home and we made no secret of the fact that that’s where we wanted it to stay, and whilst I respect that it’s moved on, it was easy… well I say easy, of course it’s very sad to say goodbye to something you love, but it’s definitely the right decision for us.”

47-year-old Sue also admitted she was more than a little bit baffled about why GBBO had to move to Channel 4 in the first place.

“Ultimately I’m not a business person and business people make business decisions,” she said. “‘I am somebody who wants to play and be silly and that’s not my world, so whilst it’s painful and whilst I don’t fully understand it, you have to respect the people that do business.”

“I was delighted to be part of it,” she concluded. “Certainly in my career it’s the most extraordinary thing that I was gifted with… it was a very special, very unique, sort of mercurial show that had a sort of alchemy at its heart.”

Viewers can get one last dose of the dream team in action when the Christmas special airs at 4.45pm on Christmas Day.