Comedian Tom Walker plans to honour the late Cal Wilson as he joins Great Australian Bake Off as new co-host

News.com.au

11 hours ago

There's a new co-host in the mix on the new season of Great Australian Bake Off, but just don't expect him to whip up anything but laughs.
'I like to cook but I am pathetically scared of my oven,' comedian Tom Walker tells news.com.au, ahead of tonight's Season 8 premiere on Foxtel and BINGE.
'Bakers have all of my admiration for being brave enough to shut something away in the oven and just walk away, trusting that it'll keep up its end of the bargain and become all lovely and crunchy and browned. I can't do that. I'd crack under pressure.'
While he loves 'to fry an egg', Walker is leaving the culinary creations to the 12 'incredible' amateur bakers selected this season, among them a pastor, hairdresser and nurse.
'I was so happy to see the diversity of people all brought together and bonding over baking – all different careers, ages, backgrounds, eagerly discussing their shared passion. All of them with different wonderful reveals too,' he says.
'There's 12 bakers and I'd watch 10 hours on each of them.'
Stream Great Australian Bake Off Season 8 on Foxtel and BINGE, available on Hubbl.
However, joining the long-running series has been bittersweet for Walker, who takes over the co-hosting gig two years after the sudden death of beloved comedian and co-host Cal Wilson, who at the time had just filmed the first four episodes of Season 7.
The comic admits he was a little worried taking on the role, given Wilson left a massive void in the series when she passed away from a sudden illness in 2023.
'I worry about everything, but in this case taking over the role a friend had, when that friend is loved by all. Yeah, I think – I hope – that I'm different enough from Cal. It's clear I'm not trying to replace her. No one could,' he says.
'In the end all I can do is do a good enough job that she'd be happy to hear about it. I wish I could text her that I was doing the show. She'd get a kick out of it.'
And Walker has fond memories of his fellow comedian too, remembering Wilson for her kindness and warmth, and how 'the brightest person in any room' helped him when he was an emerging comic on the circuit. He is now on a mission to honour her memory on the show.
'If there's a way to honour Cal on Bake Off, I think it boils down to: be warm, and truly care. Not just on camera, but off,' he says.
'Like all of us, Cal loved this job. It's important to me to genuinely care about the people on set, the bakers who are trusting us to present them in the brightest and best light and the talented crew who make the impossible happen.'
'More important to me is how to honour Cal in real life. She was an inspiration in how she magically seemed to have enough time for everyone, and enough space in that whirring fast magical mind of hers to keep everything about the people she cared about fixed and sparkling and detailed. Love you Cal.'
The stand-up comic, who has won fans over in recent years thanks to his infectious charm on shows such as W hose Line Is It Anyway? Australia and Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, will share hosting duties with existing host Natalie Tran.
'Natalie and I get on great! She rocks and I'm really happy to have made a friend. We've been texting and yapping and organising catch-ups,' Walker says. 'She was so helpful coming in to the weird world of watching people bake – we work great together and it's so fun to hang out and make each other laugh.'
'Oh, also, just in case she reads this, she insists that she 'throws parties', but if you press her on it you find out that the party is like 6 people from her family and her husband. That's not a party, it's a gathering, and I will continue to fight her on this.'
Returning judges, British culinary icon Rachel Khoo and Aussie pastry king Darren Purchese, have also welcomed Walker into the famous baking shed with open arms.
'On set everyone's always laughing and Rachel and Darren are very patient with me when I ask something truly humiliating like, 'What's ganache for?'' he says.