Kevin McCloud eats cronuts in front of naked man statue on Grand Designs

Grand Designs fans were left amused after the camera zoomed in on a naked man statue behind Kevin McCloud as he stuffed a cronut into his mouth. 

The curious scene, which culminated with McCloud saying "It's delicious" with his mouth full, happened as the much-loved presenter was extolling the virtues of the half-croissant and half-donut pastry creation during episode 3 for the show's House of the Year series.

The series, which is in its seventh year, features incredible homes from across the UK that are longlisted for RIBA's designs awards. While the scene did perhaps give Grand Designs viewers a humorous insight into McCloud's eating habits, the bizarre shot had a rather tenuous link to architectural design, making the whole segment funny but a bit random.

Why was there a naked statue behind McCloud?

No explanation was given for the naked man statue behind McCloud. The life-size naked man statue was never commented or mentioned in the programme, it was just lingering in the background behind the presenter. There was no reason given for the camera zooming in on the naked figurine either.

Some joked that it looked like a naked man had accidentally got caught in the shot, perhaps wandering in from the wrong show (Channel 4's Naked Attraction dating show springs to mind), but in truth the nude figure was quite clearly a statue of some sort due to the lack of movement.  

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One viewer tweeted: "Why is there a naked man stood in the background behind Kevin McCloud as he’s talking about Cronuts!!?"

Meanwhile media outlets relished in the sighting too, with several reporting that a 'naked man' was spotted on Grand Designs.

You can see the full cronuts clip in all its naked statue glory on Channel4.com in series 7, episode at 03.17 mins into the show.

OK, no explanation for the nude. But why cronuts?

McCloud was using the cronuts, which are half croissant and half donut, to make a point about combining different home design "ingredients" to create something new and wonderful.

“Have you tried a cronut?" McCloud asks the viewer as he stands in a kitchen in front of a plate of the pastries. 

"They're half-croissant, half-donut. They're actually a delicious invention. It was pioneered by a New York pastry chef. Soon copied around the world," he continues, as the camera begins to zoom in on the nude figure behind him. “Just goes to show that some of the best new ideas come from combining the things we already know and love."

At this point McCloud stuffs the cronut into his mouth and mumbles with his mouth full: "Mmmmmmm! Oh it's delicious".

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The programme then cuts to Surbiton Springs, a new-build, two-storey detached house on a suburban street in Surbiton, near London, where he explains that this home is a combination of mock tudor and industrial aesthetics. The link to the cronuts being a slightly tenuous but amusing nod to innovation through combination.

“The house successfully blends vernacular mock-Tudor and industrial aesthetics into a unique and appropriate hybrid," The Royal Institute of British Architects describes the design.

“With its traditional A-frame elevation the house borrows the language of the suburban mock-Tudor, ubiquitous to its locality, and turns it on its head by expressing it in a steel frame – the materiality of modernity.”

However, while watching the show it's hard to put the image of McCloud eating cronuts aside to appreciate the home's architecture in full.