Blackpool actress Nicola Thorp wades in on Corrie colleague Catherine Tyldesley's ‘cakegate’ saga on The Talk

What is the cakegate saga?

Rebecca Severs, founder of Three Little Birds Bakery from Keighley, says she was left aghast when a party planning firm seemingly reached out to request cakes for a 40th birthday party in September in return for social media clicks.

Rebecca wrote: “This poor celebrity apparently can't afford to pay people for their products and services. Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women.”

The celebrity in question was later revealed to be former Coronation Street actress Catherine Tyldesley.

Leeds-based NVRLND PR denied asking for free cakes and said it would never expect a collaborating business to be "out of pocket". Meanwhile, Catherine claimed she had "no idea" the emails were sent and called the situation "utterly bizarre".

What did Nicola say?

Speaking to fellow panellists Penny Smith, Kevin O’Sullivan, JJ Anisiobi and Isabel Oakeshott during a fiery episode of the show on TalkTV, Nicola - who appeared alongside Catherine in the soap until 2018 - said: “I feel sorry first and foremost for the cake woman. She’s brilliant. What she said is so clever. She was like, ‘I can’t pay my staff with heart emojis on Instagram’. She’s absolutely right. She runs a business. Why on earth should it be expected? Because this PR company are making money somehow. So they are getting money, they are just choosing not to pass it on to her.

“But it’s also not Cath’s fault, Catherine, because she wasn’t aware of it and I believe that because this is just the way these PR companies work. I agree, that video was not well-advised at all. She shouldn’t have been shooting down another woman. I believe strongly in this. It’s a woman’s business… It happens all the time and I don’t think that’s a good thing and I’m sick of it. Because what Cath went on to say in that video, was you know, ‘I use this company all the time and they have provided performers for me’ etc, etc. Well, it’s your duty as the person who is having the party done for you, to know that everybody who turns up is being paid. That’s a moral duty and also from a PR perspective, you would want to make sure that this kind of thing wasn’t happening.”

The 34-year-old presenter went on to say: “PR companies are so bad for it, they will reach out to everyone and say, ‘This is my client’… it’s so common. I don’t mind it if you are approaching a big hotel chain and you’re saying, ‘Have you got a free night for my client?’, but it’s an individual’s business.

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