Paul Hollywood has admitted his feelings were hurt by a comment his former colleagues Mel and Sue made when the Great British Bake Off moved over to Channel 4.
Back in 2016, Paul was famously the only member of the original Bake Off team to stay with the show after it made the jump from the BBC to Channel 4.
At the time, the pair said in a joint statement that they’d been “shocked and saddened” to hear that Bake Off would no longer be a BBC venture, having “made no secret of our desire for the show to remain where it was”.
“We’ve had the most amazing time on Bake Off, and have loved seeing it rise and rise like a pair of yeasted Latvian baps,” they said.
“We’re not going with the dough. We wish all the future bakers every success.”
Reflecting on this during an interview with The Guardian, Paul admitted: “When Mel and Sue came out with: ‘We’re not going with the dough’, that hurt me a little bit, because that felt like a direct dig at me.”
Around the time of Mel, Sue and Mary Berry’s exits, Paul maintained in the press he was still on good terms with his former colleagues, referring to the group as a “dysfunctional family”.
However, in 2020, Sue Perkins opened up about what she described as a “painful” fall-out with the long-serving Bake Off judge.
Sue said: “When we were there, Paul was really good fun – and stuff happened that made us incredibly sad and incredibly hurt.
“But he was always like family for years and years and years, and it’s painful when those things end, especially in the way that they did end.”
She continued: “I’m devastated about what happened, about lots of it.”
Bake Off will return to Channel 4 for its 14th season next week, with new host Alison Hammond joining the fold after Matt Lucas’ exit.