Great Australian Bakeoff debuts strongly for Foxtel as 800 Words see audience climb

Foxtel brought back The Great Australian Bakeoff last night two years after Nine ditched the show after just one season after it failed to find a strong audience.

The show, which sees Maggie Beer and Matt Moran put contestants through a series of cake and bread based challenges was the most-watched thing on pay-TV last night with an audience of 104,000 tuning in nationally to Lifestyle Food at 8.30pm.

Foxtel appears to have stuck more closely to the formula which has made The Great British Bakeoff one of the most popular shows for the BBC in the UK, including introducing quirky comedians Mel Buttle and Claire Hooper as the hosts.

On free-to-air TV Channel Channel Seven’s Erik Thomson drama 800 Words actually saw a slight lift in its audience to 1.082m from last week’s 1.057m at 8.40pm according to OzTam overnight metro ratings.