Paul Hollywood gushes over love of Christmas and shares his favourite things about the holidays
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His beard may not be big and bushy, – in fact, nothing like a Claus shave – but Paul ho-ho-Hollywood points to his trim white whiskers and declares: “I am looking very Santa.”. He is chatting about giving Bake Off fans the gift of a Christmas special, which this year, for the first time ever, has an all-soap star cast of contestants.
Natalie Cassidy and Dean Gaffney of EastEnders, Chris Bisson and Sheree Murphy from Emmerdale, and Corrie favourite Shobna Gulati will all battle it out to be star baker. Paloma Faith will belt out a Christmas classic . It is the one part of the show 58-year-old Paul really dislikes – because of the dad dancing he has to do. He says: “Paloma’s great. We had a really good time. But do you know what? It’s cringe-fest for me. I have to stand there… bopping around. Oh, God! I feel so cringey.” And his fellow judge, Prue Leith and hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond know it.
Paul says: “I said to Prue on the way to the stage where Paloma was, ‘God, I hate this. I really do not like this’. And she said, ‘I know’. Of course, all the crew love the fact I don’t like it and wind me up constantly. They say, ‘Can we get a bit more movement, Paul?’ I go, ‘Oh, stop it! Stop it.”.
He may not be mad on dancing, but he’s crackers about Christmas. He says: “I have two trees and the fire on. I get very festive. I bought a snow machine, one of those little cannon things, and coated the front of the house on Christmas Eve. That’s how bad it is for me. It’s just like a soapy thing and it dissolves, but it’s quite effective.”.
