Watch: Great British Bake Off’s Nigella Lawson Sets the Record Straight on Paul Hollywood Feud Rumors
For Paul Hollywood and Nigella Lawson, getting acquainted as colleagues was a piece of cake.
After all, Lawson—who is stepping into The Great British Bake Off as a judge for season 17 following Prue Leith’s exit—addressed online speculation that she and Hollywood have already whisked up some bad blood.
“We chatted for 10 minutes and had a great time. I knew instantly it was going to work,” Lawson told The Guardian of her first interaction with Hollywood in an interview published Sept. 18. “It surprised even us, I think, how well we hit it off.”
She continued, “It was lucky that we did get on. Can you imagine if we didn’t? I bet Paul would have said so!”
In January, Leith announced she’d be saying farewell to her post as judge on the competition series following her nine-year run. (She had previously joined the show following Mary Berry’s departure.)
“Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life,” she wrote in her Jan. 21 Instagram post, noting she’ll miss working alongside Hollywood as well as hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding. “But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do, not least spend summers enjoying my garden.”
Soon after, it was confirmed that Lawson would be stepping into the role.
As for how she got on her colleagues’ sweet side?
Photo by Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images for Channel 4
“I decided to meet everyone properly before we started,” Lawson continued to The Guardian, noting she invited Hollywood over for drinks to break the ice. “I didn’t want the first time we hung out together to be on set.”
But she drew the line at one hosting duty.
“I wasn’t going to bake for him,” she said. “That would be madness.”
But despite the lack of baked goods, she and Hollywood made fast friends. And that’s partly because the 60-year-old isn’t nearly as tough as he seems on TV.
“One of the many lovely things about Paul is that he’s good at being teased. I called him ‘Professor Precision’, then he teased me back and suddenly it all relaxed,” she quipped. “He’s much more playful than he looks on camera.”
Photo by Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images
“He often acts bad cop and does that laser stare but he’s always himself, which encourages other people to be themselves, too.” Lawson added, “We complement each other. He gets straight to the point and, as you can tell, I’m a witterer. I love talking about food and sometimes can’t stop.”
And while that skill has certainly served her well, she admitted she was “apprehensive at first” to fill Leith’s shoes.
“I wasn’t sure whether I was even qualified and mindful that it was a risk, both for me and the show,” she explained. “I had a big meeting with the producers and said, ‘Look, these are the things I can’t do.’ They said, ‘That’s OK, that’s what Paul does.’”
“I didn’t want them to go to the wrong shop, as it were,” she added. “I’m not a scientist, a technician or a professional baker but what I can do is talk about food, its taste, texture and why I like it.”
Great British Bake Off season 17 premieres on the U.K.’s Channel 4 on Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. BST and on Netflix in the U.S. Sept. 25. Until then, read on for more exciting TV premiere dates…
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