Paul Hollywood is stripping off his leathers as he settles down to
discuss the forthcoming sixth series of The Great British Bake Off.

‘Discussion’ is a generous term, though – he’s not about to give away
any of the particulars of the show any time soon.

“This year the contestants have all been exceptionally good from the
off,” Hollywood says, as he loosens a leg from his motorbike trousers.

“They didn’t bond like some of the other groups did right from the
beginning, but from week three or four they did. They were so into their
work and very professional in the way they attacked everything. Even
coming down to the final, it’s going to be a real game changer.”

Fans of the cosy baking series, which moved to BBC One last year, will
be familiar with the way the 49-year-old can reduce contestants – even
the “very professional” ones – to jelly-like jitters when he and fellow
judge Mary Berry assess their efforts.

Despite the steely glares and his tough judging style though, Hollywood
isn’t without a sense of humour about himself, and chuckles when his
leather striptease – after peeling off his bike gear, he’s left sporting
sensible jeans and a shirt – is brought up in a later conversation.

“My sense of humour’s good,” notes the master baker, who lives in Kent
with his cookery author wife Alex and their teenage son Joshua.

“I’m from the North West and that’s where my sense of humour comes
from,” adds the Wallasey-born foodie. “You’ve got to have a sense of
humour doing TV. If you haven’t, there’s something not quite right with
you.”

Hailing from a long line of bakers, Hollywood relies on that sense of
humour when he finds himself being bombarded with questions about the
colour of his eyes.

“They’re blue, you know what I mean?” he says, batting away references
to his heart-throb status. “Some people say if you had brown eyes,
would you be a different person? What kind of ridiculous question is
that?!

“I mean, you are what you are. Mary’s actually got the same colour eyes
as me. It is something that runs through both judges.”

Now in its sixth year, last year’s Bake Off final attracted an
impressive 12 million viewers. The show also has a string of famous
fans, including Claudia Winkleman, Damon Hill and Gemma Arterton. The
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have also revealed they like to tune in.

“Keira Knightley said when she found out the final was on the same night
as her premiere, she didn’t want to go to it,” adds Hollywood, who found
it “hilarious” to stumble across an episode while on holiday in Italy
and discover himself “speaking fluent Italian”.

All seems rosy on the work and home front now, but Hollywood had a rocky
time when news of his affair with Marcela Valladolid – his co-star on
the short-lived US version of Bake Off – broke in 2013.

While the Hollywoods reunited after a few months and the negative
attention died down shortly afterwards, the level of interest in the
famous baker’s life remains.

“People will come up and say, ‘Can you judge that?’,” he reveals, joking
that he tends to get “nervous” whenever he sets foot in a bakery. “I get
that in petrol stations, in pubs. I try not to go to supermarkets now.”

Much as he loves having “a giggle” in “innuendo city” with Berry and
pun-loving hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, Hollywood has enjoyed
having the chance to leave the Bake Off tent and “do something
different” recently.

A self-confessed adrenaline junkie (“100%”), his hat was never in the
ring for the Top Gear presenting gig (“Top Gear is Chris’ [Evans], he’ll
be great at it”), but he has just wrapped on a “top secret” BBC project
which will come out later this year.

“I’m not shy on camera as much as I used to be,” explains the keen
racing driver. “I’m in a very comfortable place and I don’t mind it now.
I’m really quite happy doing it.”

He’s “comfortable” too about his big birthday next year. “I know… 40!”
he teases (he’ll be turning 50 next March). “I’m looking forward to it.
I’m in a great place.”

And he wants to do something special for fellow judge Berry’s next
milestone birthday, in nine-and-a-half years’ time.

“Mary sat on one of my bikes last year, but she hasn’t been on a ride on
it,” he says. “She did say she’d go on the back of one of them, so maybe
that’s one for the future… Maybe for her 90th, I’ll stick her on the
back!”

Hollywood was back on the road recently – albeit without Berry – to
discover more about his roots for an episode of BBC One’s Who Do You
Think You Are? dedicated to the baker.

One of three boys, Hollywood’s parents divorced when he was 10, and he,
his mum and brothers went to live with his maternal grandparents.

Travelling to Tunisia, Italy and Scotland for the genealogy series, he
discovers more about his granddad Norman, who served as anti-aircraft
gunner during World War Two.

“It was emotional,” says Hollywood, who went to art college and had
ambitions to become a sculptor before following in his baker dad’s
footsteps.

“I did break down in Anzio [Italy] because it touched a nerve with me.
My granddad had post-traumatic [stress disorder]. That got to me,
because I didn’t realise, I didn’t recognise.”

Although he hasn’t thought about how he’d like to be remembered by his
descendants, he does have one wish for future Hollywoods.

“I’ve put a couple of books out, so if I get them baking, I’ve done my
job,” he concludes with a laugh.

:: The Great British Bake Off returns to BBC One on Wednesday, August 5

:: Paul Hollywood’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? airs on BBC One
on Thursday, August 13

By Keeley Bolger