KEVIN KING: It seems I am able to keep a Great British secret...

Especially when you know it’s going to be a piece of gossip or, even worse, when you are made aware that something unpleasant is planned, such as company cutbacks, and your burden is exacerbated by having to carry on smiling as if nothing was happening.

Before you ask, thankfully I’m gossip free and I’ll always shun anyone who’s about to unload some of their guilt.

The secret that we were lumbered with this week was knowing who was going to be leaving the Great British Bake Off tent before anyone else.

So how did we come by this red hot nugget of news? Simple. Last Sunday, Jane and I were invited to the London Television Studios to watch the recording of this week’s ‘Extra Slice’ – and for those who haven’t seen the show, it’s a comedy spin-off where a well-known chef gets together with a celebrity fan of the show along with a comedian and discusses the contestants’ bakes, all linked together and hosted by the very lovely and incredibly funny Jo Brand.

To give you a little behind-the-scenes insight, we arrived with about 300 other eager audience members and were ushered into an ante room to be greeted by the production team who handed out non-disclosure forms.

These are legally binding documents that, when signed, ensured that we didn’t tell anyone about what we were about to see.

This was simply because, to facilitate the audience being up to speed on what was about to be discussed, we were privy to a viewing of this week’s Bake Off three days before anyone else.

Thankfully, as this newspaper is published after the show’s broadcast, I am now able to wax lyrically about it.

Except that I won’t.

I know from hosting the Breakfast Show that many of you have it recorded and are yet to watch, so I’d rather not issue a spoiler alert.

Suffice to say it was a great night which I would heartily recommend – but only if you can keep a secret!