Prue Leith has revealed Paul Hollywood caused a few "meltdowns" on the upcoming series of ‘The Great British Bake Off’.
The 78-year-old star – who is feeling more settled in her second season on the Channel 4 show – admitted her fellow judge doesn’t always realise how harsh he is being, but added that hosts Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig give support to the contestants.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Old blue eyes has no idea he’s upsetting anybody. There’s been the odd meltdown, but Sandi and Noel are very good at comforting. They can see a mile away when somebody is getting upset."
It’s not just the judges turning up the heat in the upcoming series – the second run since the show made the jump from BBC – with the weather and even an accidental blaze taking things up a notch.
Sandi said: "There was a fire. We realised how calm we all were. I just watched."
Prue herself explained how the melting cakes added to the pressure as the contestants faced a real race against time to get their tasty treats in a presentable state.
She added: "Because of the heat they’d get their showstoppers ready for us to judge, we judged them and then they started falling apart.
"I kept saying to the cameraman, ‘I hope you’ve got that’, because it was a slow-motion collapse. We were putting them under huge pressure. Well, God was putting them under pressure with too much heat."
‘The Great British Bake Off’ returns to Channel 4 on August 28.
Prue Leith promises Great British Bake Off meltdowns
