{"id":697607,"date":"2026-07-18T01:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/697607\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T01:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:11:20","slug":"viral-manchester-bakery-owner-slams-the-voice-uk-producers-after-exposure-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/697607\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral Manchester bakery owner slams The Voice UK producers after ‘exposure’ request"},"content":{"rendered":"

TV producers have apologised after saying they were ‘unable to offer anything monetary or otherwise’ in exchange for free food\"Viral<\/p>\n

Viral bakery Get Baked was met with huge queues when it opened in Manchester last year(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Producers behind The Voice UK have apologised to a Manchester bakery owner after he was contacted to see if he’d like to provide free food in exchange for exposure.<\/p>\n

Rich Myers, who is the owner of Get Baked, posted on social media on Thursday evening (July 17) after being approached by producers of the ITV<\/a> singing competition, which has filmed its blind auditions and battle rounds within Salford’s MediaCity complex since 2013.<\/p>\n

In screenshots shared on Instagram, a member of staff reached out to Rich, who founded Get Baked with a store in Leeds five years ago and also opened a branch in the Northern Quarter in March last year,<\/a> to say they were looking for ‘amazing products’ during production of the upcoming season. The request suggested the products would be filled in the talent dressing rooms and green rooms for the celebrity coaches, presenters and contestants.<\/p>\n

Click here <\/a>for the latest on Manchester’s food & drink scene, gigs and more in our CityLife newsletter<\/p>\n

In one screenshot, the staff member said they were ‘unable to offer anything monetary or otherwise in return’, but it would lead to ‘exposure to our highly influential coaches and presenters’.<\/p>\n

In response to the email on social media, Rich, who is behind Get Baked\u2019s viral 24-layer Matilda cake, said he had \u2018actually thought this was a wind-up\u2019, before realising it was \u2018totally real\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Rich<\/p>\n

Rich Myers, the founder of Get Baked, said he initially thought the request from the TV show was a ‘wind-up'(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Citing the TV channel and the production company behind the popular reality series, Rich added: \u201cITV and Lifted Entertainment, you\u2019re a total disgrace. Honestly, how did we get here? Stop whatever this is because I wanna get off.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a follow-up comment, he added: \u201c\u2018Exposure to their highly influential coaches and presenters\u2019. Who do they think I am, Gregg Wallace?” He also said he ‘in no way blame the person that sent this email’ and said the brunt of his frustration was held with their bosses.<\/p>\n

The post was met with a response from a number of celebrity chefs and TV personalities, including Jak Malone who wrote: \u201cWe can\u2019t pay you, but rest assured the people who eat your stuff will be really talented!\u201d Chef Andi Oliver said: \u201cMonetary or otherwise is wild chat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Major<\/p>\n

Major parts of The Voice UK have been filmed at MediaCity, in Salford, since 2013(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n

In a statement issued to the Manchester Evening News on Friday afternoon (July 17), producers behind The Voice UK apologised to Rich and said it would ensure \u2018this type of request\u2019 is not made again.<\/p>\n

A Lifted Entertainment spokesperson said: “We apologise for any upset this has caused and are reaching out to Rich Myers directly. Immediate steps have been taken to ensure this type of request is never made again.”<\/p>\n

Since launching in 2012, The Voice UK has featured a number of celebrity coaches including Kylie Minogue, Olly Murs, Paloma Faith, Boy George, and Danny O’Donoghue from The Script. The most recent series, which aired in 2024, featured coaches will.i.am, LeAnn Rimes, Sir Tom Jones, and Tom Fletcher & Danny Jones from McFly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TV producers have apologised after saying they were ‘unable to offer anything monetary or otherwise’ in exchange for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,347,46999,3969,11374,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-697607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-itv","tag-manchester-cafes","tag-northern-quarter","tag-the-voice","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}