The Great British Bake Off has been through its fair share of host swaps over the years, and this year, they've added Matt Lucas to their hosting roster. While all iterations of hosting duos have been delightful in their own, special way, viewers are downright giddy with this season's newest change. Matt Lucas, who replaced Sandi Toksvig, is delighting fans with his elegantly simple comedy.
His childlike wonder and simple but downright funny jokes are the perfect compliment to veteran host Noel Fielding's darker, surreal brand of comedy. Bald and bespectacled, Matt is also the perfect visual compliment to the tall, dark-haired goth. But, although Matt's baldness is indeed a wonderful visual complement, its roots (pardon the pun) are deep and have shaped his life. Although Matt's body, which he calls his "blotchy, dumpy vessel," is a bit of a trademark for him, he says that his body has always betrayed him and held him back. As a child he wanted to be as carefree as he could be, but was limited by many illnesses like asthma. So with physical limitations, all that carefree goodness came bursting out through his personality. Early on he learned to entertain with jokes and songs.
He learned something else early on, too: the word "alopecia." At the age of six, all of Matt's hair fell out. After many visits to various doctors, they came to the conclusion that the hair loss was a delayed response to his traumatic experience of having been run over by a car two years earlier. When Matt was four, he and his family took a trip to Portugal. One day on their trip, little Matt, who was easily distracted by the grandeur of the world, accidentally got separated from his parents. When he finally spotted them waving at him from across the street, he ran to them. Unfortunately, as he stepped off the sidewalk, a car hit him. His father rushed to his side and saved him. They did everything they could to convince his hair to return, and it did for a brief, thin minute. But then it fell out again. At age seven, Matt accepted that the hair was never coming back. The ordeal has shaped the entirety of his life. As reported by The Guardian, he was "never allowed to forget for one moment that [he] was bald." And while no one would let him forget, Matt put his baldness to work and grew an entire career out of it. His big break came when he got hired to play a baby on the gameshow, Shooting Stars.
Learning to live without hair was trying for Matt, but nothing could compare to the pain he faced when he lost his father at age 22. The hero who'd saved his life died unexpected at age 52. And while the two were close, Matt hadn't yet been able to work up the courage to come out to his father as openly gay. He deeply mourned the fact that wasn't able to tell him while he was still alive. His aunt, however, told Matt that his father had figured it out on his own and was very much okay with it. Though not quite as good as being able to tell his father on his own, his aunt's words were a comfort to Matt.
As if Matt's exceptional life weren't exceptional enough, the manner in which he got the gig as Noel Fielding's co-host of The Great British Bake Off is perhaps the most exceptional thing of all. Turns out Noel had a dream that Matt was the new co-host. Leaving out the dream bit, Noel casually told the producers that he thought Matt would make a good replacement for Sandi. The producers gave Matt an audition, and well, the rest is history. Noel's dream-turned-reality has made all our GBBO dreams come true! We are looking forward to all Matt & Noel have in store this season.
The Great British Bake Off airs Sundays on Netflix.
Sources: TheGuardian, Mashed