Yahoo Finance Paul Hollywood has received death threats over 'Bake Off' decisions
Paul Hollywood has revealed that he has had death threats over his decisions on The Great British Bake Off.
The celebrity baker, 53, has been dishing out critiques – and sought after handshakes – to hopeful contestants on the hit show since 2010.
During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, the TV star admitted that not everybody has been impressed with the choices he has made about who to cut from the competition.
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Host Ross asked whether Hollywood ever got any stick from viewers, following Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas’ admission that she had received death threats online.
Hollywood confessed: “I’ve had something similar so I understand.”
He also told a story of how a man of around 6ft 6” once approached him in Liverpool, joking that he thought he was “dead”.
Hollywood said: “I was looking at him and I thought, ‘I’m dead’ so I just said, ‘In your world mate, all I do is judge fairy cakes, if that makes me hard…’
“He said, ‘You’re right you mate, do you want a pint?’”
Hollywood – who judges the bakes alongside Prue Leith – also pointed out that people watching the programme at home have to make their decisions based on what the food looks like.
He said: “I get a lot of people offering me a lot of advice on who should have stayed and who should have gone.”
Defending his decisions, he said: “There are two senses that the people who watch don’t lock on to. We’ve got taste and smell and they are critical when you’re baking...
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“On camera you look at the colours and the pretty pictures and you go ‘That must taste good’ when it tastes like rubber or too salty or too sweet.”
The Jonathan Ross Show is on Saturday at 10.10pm on ITV.
