Paul Hollywood Just Threw Major Shade At His GBBO Costars
"Great British Bake Off" has been praised by audiences for being much more lighthearted than the cutthroat cooking competitions that dominate American channels. Cutthroat may sound like an exaggeration, but there's literally a show on Food Network called "Cutthroat Kitchen," so we rest our case. By comparison "Great British Bake Off" is much less stressful to watch, even when the judges are a bit harsh on the competitors.
Paul Hollywood, who has been a judge on the show since the beginning, is notorious for his insensitive comments. He once called a dessert "diabetes on a plate" and brushed off a contestant crying over his criticism. To balance out this harsh criticism, former judge Mary Berry admitted to Food & Wine that she would hold her tongue when she really didn't like something to spare the baker's feelings.
She thought that Hollywood was a bit too harsh and that instead of berating them, he should instead give tips on how they could improve. Since the blue-eyed baker is not afraid to make harsh comments to the bakers' faces, it's no surprise that he had no problem throwing shade at his costars recently.
Paul Hollywood made digs at Prue Leith and his former costar Mary Berry
Mary Berry left "The Great British Bake Off" in 2017 when the show moved from BBC to Channel 4 (via Good Housekeeping) and Prue Leith took her place. Last year, the novelist was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth for "services to food, broadcasting, and charity," (via BBC). When Paul Hollywood was promoting his book at a concert hall in New York City, he told the audience that Leith's damehood has gone to her head, especially when it comes to her tea (via Birmingham Mail).
"We take the runners to show them how to make tea," said Hollywood. "You can't squeeze the bag against the teacup as she knows. She is a dame now, so you can't do that to her." Instead of promoting his book, his appearance in NYC turned into the roast of his costars, because he went after Mary Berry next. "When you look back on history like Pompeii ... Mary Berry used to have a bakery there," said Hollywood (via Birmingham Mail). For the history buffs out there, the baker was not in fact around in Pompeii, as she was born in 1935 (via The Sun).