Great British Bake Off host Paul Hollywood has provided an insight into what goes into judging the show’s contestants as the number of bakers reduces over the course of the series.
Paul, 58, who has hosted the Channel 4 programme since it started on the BBC nearly 15 years ago, now hosts with Prue Leith, 84, alongside Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond.
As the show moves into slightly more autumnal themes, Paul and Prue discussed with the TV Times the perils of judging the ever-improving bakers as more and more of them leave the show.
Bake Off has been one of the UK’s most iconic shows in recent years spawning a generational shift in interest in baking that has seen thousands apply to join each new series of potential baking masters.
On the budging process, Paul said: “It gets harder as you go through, as there’s so little between the bakers. We used to worry over whether enough good people would apply for the show, but now we think, ‘How are we going to judge them?’ as they’re so good from the start.”
Paul also praised his working dynamic with Prue with whom he said he shared a degree of “telepathy”. He explained: “It’s just so easy. There’s a certain amount of telepathy between us and I always know where Prue’s coming from.
“There’s often a ‘look’ – particularly when we’re picking the winner after judging the Showstoppers – and we know straight away who we’re choosing!”
Prue reciprocated: “Paul and I get on so well, and he’s just really good at judging. When you consider that he’s been doing it from the start of Bake Off you’d think there’s only so many times you say a cake is soggy! But he’s always in the moment and the support is genuine – it never feels like he’s on a treadmill.”
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Whilst Paul may remain on the show for a few more years, Prue has made it clear she may not be part of the hosting team forever reported BristolLive. On her Bake Off future she said: “One of these fine days I’ll have to give it up and I will really miss it.
“Paul [Hollywood] and I don’t see each other when we’re not on Bake Off because he lives wildly the other side of London, it’s just too difficult. But we do see each other a lot obviously during Bake Off, we will do things together, he’ll come to my house, I’ll come to his house. But I know that when I leave Bake Off – if I leave before him – we probably won’t see each other.”
On what she does during filming, Prue said she spends a lot of it waiting and writing, remarking: “I’m mostly sitting around waiting for the bakers. So I usually do something else, I’ve written a lot of books during my time on Bake Off.”
