Episode one of the Great British Bake Off has only just screened, but already rumours of this year’s winner are swirling around the ether.
Ladbrokes has suspended betting to 'assess the situation' after one contestant picked up a rather large percentage of bets on becoming this year's baking King or Queen.
(Nick Ansell/PA)
They had a flurry of bets for the contestant, whose odds started at 12/1 and were reduced to 6/1, 3/1 and then evens.
Anyone spotted a winner yet? #GBBO (oh, too early to call?)
— SORTEDfood (@sortedfood) August 5, 2015
A spokesman from Ladbrokes said: “When you see a run of bets like this for one contestant at the expense of everyone else that can be a sign to suspend betting for a bit to assess the situation and that’s exactly what we did.”
(Mark Bourdillon/PA)
We know how passionate fans are about Bake Off, and we don’t want to ruin everyone’s fun, so we’re not going to reveal the name of the contestant whose popularity has sparked the rumours.
Many of the bets were placed in shops around Ipswich, although the contestant is not known to have links to the town.
Right, I think I've picked my #GBBO winner for the series…
— David Barton (@davidbartonmus) August 5, 2015
Ladbrokes said that several customers came in and asked to place the highest bet possible on one contestant which raised suspicion.
They took 90 per cent of stakes on the contestant in question – several of which were the maximum bet the bookies take for Bake Off.
But if you’ve already been betting don’t worry – the suspension won’t affect bets already placed.
