Are these Paul Hollywood’s best Bake Off put downs?

Sophie Maden — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:53:22 +0000

Those piercing blue eyes have been known to strike fear into many a new baker on the The Great British Bake Off. But a look back over past GBBO series proves judge Paul Hollywood’s tongue can be pretty sharp too...

Here are some of our favourite Paul put-downs:

1: “It looks like a rough plasterer's job.”

Said to contestant Mark Onley (a kitchen fitter and carpenter) about his first bake in series four, Paul showed his hatred of poor presentation.

Mark's first signature bake starts with an oven disaster

2: “It looks straight from the 1970s.”

Also said to Mark (poor Mark!). It turns out Paul is a man of more sophisticated taste.

3: “The custard is very slack.”

Said to – you guessed it – Mark. Paul coined a new way of describing the sweet sauce that rippled through homes across the country. Just avoid saying it in a posh restaurant, we can’t imagine that would go down too well…

4: “You’re miles away from the flavour point.”

Series four winner Frances Quinn proved even she felt the mire of Paul’s wit on occasion, when he accused her of focussing too much on the presentation of her hot air balloon peach pie.

Now what on earth is a flavour point, and how do we go about finding it?

The pie challenges that touched a nerve for Paul

5. “Everything else is hideous, but the biscuit is beautiful.”

Said to actor Michael Sheen in this year’s The Great Comic Relief Bake Off. Even Michael admitted he’d made a bit of a mess of the challenge, presenting only five out of the required 24 biscuits to the judges.

6. “How the mighty have fallen."

Paul delivered this deep blow when a series five favourite, builder Richard Burr, failed to deliver on two of the final baking challenges, despite winning star baker five times during the series. We’re still not quite over it to be honest…

Richard starts to slip-up in the series five final

7. "It's like chewing wallpaper.”

Displaying his love of the interiors world once more, Paul disapproved of 2015 baker Ian’s first bake: a simple sponge which was bound together with too much coconut. Here’s hoping he’s not this year’s Mark…

8. The Paul Hollywood trademark silent stare…

Because sometimes Paul says it best when he says nothing at all.

The Great British Bake Off, series six continues on Wednesday, 27 August at 8pm on BBC One. Each episode will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

The final image is from Paul's appearance on Who Do You Think You Are?

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

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Are these Paul Hollywood’s best Bake Off put downs?