Paul Hollywood speaks out on 'annoying' Great British Bake Off change

Inflation is a problem for all of us, it seems, but Great British Bake Off stalwart Paul Hollywood has expressed his frustration that it’s affecting the long-running baking contest. It’s not so much that the price of ingredients is going up, Paul says. It’s the standard of baking.

“The standard has got better, and based on that alone, that’s why you’ll probably find more handshakes,” the Cheshire-born celebrity baker told Netflix. “Every year they get better and better and better, and every year I end up giving out more and more handshakes, which is a little bit annoying, because they keep on moving the bar up.”

He’s even added a consolation prize – the “Paul Pat” – which goes to bakers who haven’t quite reached the standard for the coveted handshake.

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The new award was given for the first time during Bread Week this year when Carmarthenshire competitor Georgie impressed with her Chelsea buns.

Paul explains: "When I saw Dylan's, then that was the benchmark that I was looking for. She was close. I knew, I glanced across, and I did see Dylan's coming, and I was like, 'Oh God, no, this is close but no biscuit.'"

Paul looks back fondly on other bakes from season past. Apart from Dylan’s showstopping gochujang buns this season, Paul still rates Ryan’s key lime pie in Season 3 and he also recalls with pleasure the moment in Bake Off’s eighth season, when Hermine’s salmon quiche stopped him in his tracks: “I was really hungry, and I tried it and went, ‘Oh wow, I’ve got to have it. No one touch that. That’s my lunch.’ ”

Amazingly, there were no Hollywood Handshakes in the show’s first two seasons – the first came in episode seven of the show’s third series – with Ryan Chong being the lucky recipient. There was just one in Season Four, two in Season Five, and then the numbers stared creeping up.

Three handshakes were awarded the following season, four in season Seven and then the floodgates really burst after the show moved to Channel 4. There were seven Hollywood Handshakes for Season Eight and a dizzying 12 the following year.

Where will it end? No-one, except perhaps Paul, can say.