A Lot of Dough

I admire Mary Berry very much and have done for years. She must be contributing to the public funds by paying a lot of tax if that really is the sort of money she commands for the programme!  My daughter was a tennant on the estate where the Bake Off was held - the mind boggles at the production costs of that marquee alone! 

Given the money the BBC have made from selling the concept overseas I would have though the two presenters are worth every penny of the money they get paid. It should be remembered that the individules concerned probably don't get anywhere near the figures mention because of agent fees and tax.

David

Whilst that may be true, David, one can't deny that the "dent" in their gross income is more than offset by the gazillions of their books that are being sold and their individual TV programmes made on the back of Bake Off success. 

£600,00 to burn the cakes, the BBC should get their act together and sign up for Sports coverage, any sports coverage, the BBC were the leaders and now we have to view crap programmes like Bake off, Cash in the Attic and other useless programmes that that pillock Timmy Wanalot, he who has no presentation skills whatsoever and gets paid a fortune  Grrrrrrr

Admiral 

Given the money the BBC have made from selling the concept overseas I would have though the two presenters are worth every penny of the money they get paid. It should be remembered that the individules concerned probably don't get anywhere near the figures mention because of agent fees and tax.

David

Whilst I do not wish to associate myself with those who criticise the BBC for paying what supply and demand requires, I have to play Devil's advocate to this argument.

The fact that these presenters have to pay tax and agent's fees on these salaries is totally beside the point.

Tax is something we all pay on our income; evaluations have to be made gross of any tax or the comparison is worthless. Nor does it matter that some pay proportionately more tax because they move into higher or additional rates. It would be quite wrong to allow that to distort the judgement being made.

The same is true of agent's fee because all presenters will pay them; so comparing presenter's income must be made gross of their agents' fees.    

All I am pointing out is that the headline figures might not be as impressive as they first seem once you take the things I mentioned into account. The BBC clearly has a very successful product with the Bakeoff series and want to protect their investment by paying the people who create that success enough money to keep them at the BBC.

David

It's the production companies that are making the money, not sure how accurate the reporting is on the wages of the presenters? I've enjoyed some of the bake-off programmes and also Mary Berry's cookery programmes. At 80 she has worked hard over the years to promote cookery and baking.

Write your comments here...Dont forget, many of the production companies are owned by presenters!