I'd rather strip on TV than bake for PAUL AND PRUE!'

Loose Women favourite Coleen Nolan reveals why, in spite of herself, she couldn't say no to The Great Celebrity Bake Off

- KATHERINE HASSELL

Coleen Nolan has done some scary things in her time. She’s sung in public since she was a toddler. She’s broadcast live for 23 years on Loose Women. She’s survived two stays in the Big Brother house. She has also braved the frozen dangers of Dancing on Ice – and she’s even dared to bare all in The Real Full Monty. Surely baking a cake holds no fears?

Coleen might have donned her apron for the new series of The Great Celebrity Bake Off in aid of Stand Up To Cancer, but the 58-year-old admits, ‘It terrified me. Leading up to it, I woke up having the worst nightmares. I don’t bake. I don’t really cook. I burn toast by looking at it.’

‘I got bullied into it by my family. Baking is safer than ice skating, though. I thought, “Well, I won’t break a limb, at least.”

‘My daughter is the cook, and my daughter-in-law Maddie is the baker,’ says the mum-of-three to Shane, 34, Jake, 30, and Ciara, 21.

‘Maddie loves baking. She’s very good. She’s even applied for Bake Off. Ciara does all the cooking. She had never cooked in her life, but we went vegan and she started during lockdown. She loves it. She’s learnt from YouTube and Instagram, and she’s bought loads of books.

‘One day I made vegan spaghetti bolognese out of her cookbook. It was gorgeous. She said, “Did you enjoy making it?” I said, “No! You cook it and I’ll eat it.” I’m not saying I can’t cook, I just don’t like it. Before I was vegan, I could do a Sunday dinner.’