Great British Bake Off: London YouTuber Amelia Dimoldenberg among favourites to host new season of GBBO

Amelia Dimoldenberg, the creator of popular London based YouTube series Chicken Shop Date, has emerged as one of the bookies favourites to host the next season of Channel 4’s popular reality contest series, The Great British Bake Off. The show is currently looking to fill the void left by Matt Lucas  after announcing he’d be stepping away from the role.

Lucas made his shock announcement earlier this week on Twitter, saying he couldn’t dedicate enough time to presenting and hosting both The Great British Bake Off and the revival of Fantasy Football League, currently airing on Sky Max. Noel Fielding, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith remain on the show.

Betting odds have been published by bookies Ladbrokes after news broke of Lucas’ departure from the series, with the City of Westminster born presenter and writer the third favourite to take over hosting duties at 5/1. Bookmakers believe Dimoldenberg’s inclusion in the favourites list stems from both the popularity of her YouTube show and her potential to start drawing in a “younger audience”, according to OLBG.

Dimoldenberg has described her persona in Chicken Shop Date as "an exaggerated version of myself" adding that "in the edit is where the character comes through, we chop and cut things, we make it more awkward." She more recently hosted a web shorts series titled Celebrity Rebrand for Channel 4, with the comedy programme featuring Dimoldenberg as a "celebrity brand visionary" attempting to assist various Channel 4 stars in rebranding their image.

She is only bested by GBBO 2015 winner Nadiya Hussein (4/1) and bookies favourite Joe Lycett at 7/1, while two alumni of BBC’s reality dancing contest series Strictly Come Dancing are the remaining two favourites, with Ellie Taylor at 6/1 and Bristol comedian Jayde Adams at 7/1.