Nigella Lawson Opens Up About Working With Paul Hollywood On Bake Off

Nigella Lawson has shut down the rumours of tension on the set of Great British Bake Off.

The TV cook, who will replace Prue Leith as a judge on the upcoming season of the Channel 4 baking show, joined Paul Hollywood, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding at an exclusive screening of her episode earlier this week.

At the event, she denied there was a rift between her and Paul, insisting: “It’s such a lovely atmosphere, and the four of us get on very well.”

Paul also squashed any rumours, saying: “By the time the main series started, it just felt quite natural. It does feel like we’d all been working together for years and Nigella just fitted in beautifully.”

Alison told the audience at the event that Nigella had taken quickly to her role as a judge and “didn’t need any advice” at all.

“She literally went in front of those amazing bakers [and] the only way I can describe it is she’s magical, isn’t she?” Alison enthused. “When she’s put the camera, she’s just magical. She’s Nigella. She’s iconic. She’s our queen.”

Back in July, the Daily Mail reported that Paul and Nigella were “not really getting on too well” behind the scenes of Bake Off’s new season.

The article claimed that Nigella found Paul’s somewhat ostentatious behaviour – including him supposedly arriving to set in a helicopter – “rather cringe”.

At last month’s Edinburgh TV Festival, Channel 4 exec Kiran Nataraja also denied the rumours of any feud.

“We’re really excited to have her on the show. Contrary to ‘the Sidebar of Shame’, [she] and Paul are not arguing about helicopters the whole time.”

Meanwhile, Nigella recently told The Times that it was a “treat” to work in a team on Bake Off, in comparison to her BBC specials where she appears alone on screen.

“I’ve spent a lot of my professional life alone in a room, writing or pacing around thinking,” she shared, adding, “It’s actually really lovely to be with lots of people. For me, it’s a sort of treat.”

Nigella concluded: “I love solitude, I need solitude, but it’s really good to have a working life that feels companionable.”

She added: “What will people say of us on the programme? I feel that half will go, ‘Oh, there’s clearly something going on with them,’ and the other half will say, ‘Oh, clearly they don’t like each other at all.’ And I feel like that’s fine.”

Earlier this week, Great British Bake Off revealed the ecclectic 12 bakers who will be competing for a Hollywood handshake this time around, which includes a Bhangra-dancing paediatric doctor, an aspiring competitive sprinter and a drag king.

The new series of Great British Bake Off airs on Tuesday nights from 22 September on Channel 4.