New Mary Berry cookery show labelled the 'Great British Rip-Off'
Bake Off presenter joins Claudia Winkleman for BBC's Britain's Best Cook
She's no longer on the Great British Bake Off, but Mary Berry fans have cause to rejoice after the BBC announced she is to return with a new cookery show.
What's the show?
According to Radio Times, the former Bake Off judge is "returning to her first love" with a new food competition called Britain's Best Cook, which will be broadcast on BBC1 next year.
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The show will "test the real-life expertise of truly great home cooks" and "celebrate the food people make for their loved ones every single day".
Ten contestants will start the eight-part series and be tasked with creating dishes that "define modern British home cooking", alongside "well-loved classics", so expect versions of pork crackling, chicken pie and chocolate pudding.
Who's in it?
Strictly Come Dancing star Claudia Winkleman will host and Berry will be lead judge. The search is still on for someone to join her testing the chef's offerings.
"I am never more at home than when I have my judging hat on," Berry told the BBC, saying the show would "encourage proper home cooking, which I have always championed and I cannot wait to start". Having Winkleman by her side was "the icing on the cake", she said.
In response, the new host said she was "over the moon" to be part of the show. She added that she was "slightly obsessed" with Berry and would "follow her around with my own moussaka for most of the filming. Apologies in advance."
What's Berry been doing since Bake Off?
Bake Off was the most-watched programme of 2016, but Berry decided not to follow fellow judge Paul Hollywood to Channel 4 when the programme snapped up the show's rights in a £75m deal last year.
She has been well rewarded for her decision to stick with the Beep, The Independent says.
This year, the veteran cook has presented the BBC2 show Mary Berry Everyday and she'll soon be seen on BBC1 in Mary Berry's Secrets from Britain's Great Houses.
But how will Britain's Best Cook compare to Bake Off?
According to The Sun, Britain's Best Cook has already come under fire - and it's not even started.
"People are calling it The Great British Rip-Off," a source at Channel 4's Bake Off told the paper.
There are similarities, adds the Sun. Both shows feature amateurs cooks facing different food challenges every week and like Bake Off, Britain's Best Cook will also have two judges, although there will be no cooking inside a tent.
Nevertheless, the Bake Off "insiders" told the tabloid the similarities "haven't gone unnoticed" and that they will be "watching very closely" when the BBC show airs.
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