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The Great British Bake Off 2016: Fans furious after 'well-endowed' squirrel swapped for 'pleasant' pheasant

'It appears the Bake Off squirrel has been replaced by a pheasant. Scandal'

Jack Shepherd
Sunday 28 August 2016 12:30 BST
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Midway through last year’s series of The Great British Bake Off, there was a rather obtrusive shot of a ‘well-endowed’ squirrel, as some commentators described it.

Viewers seemingly became very fond of the rodent, yet it wasn’t enough to keep him on the air: this year, a pheasant features in his place, thus becoming the new animal face of Bake Off.

Understandably, this has driven some Tweeters nuts, many of whom have been angered by the mascot’s replacement by the BBC.

“What’s with the pheasant? Bring back the bake off squirrel!” wrote one viewer, while another noted: “It appears the Bake Off squirrel has been replaced by a pheasant. Scandal.”

An insider reportedly told The Sun: “We simply work with whatever nature gives us, and this year it gave us pheasants.” Something tells us this ‘scandal’ won’t drive away too many of the show’s fans.

Meanwhile, viewing figures for this year’s Bake-Off debut were at an all-time high for the show, topping the 10 million mark.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for The X Factor which saw ratings fall to a ten year low.

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