Anyone watching Paul Hollywood hurtling around the streets of Tokyo in a go-kart while dressed as a ninja turtle last week will have realised that his latest C4 series, Paul Hollywood Eats Japan, is not your regular food show.
Nor is Paul his usual steely-eyed, stern self: having cast off the (dare we say) grumpy persona he displays as a judge on The Great British Bake Off, he’s throwing himself with gusto into the eye-opening, quirky and, well, bonkers culinary world of Japan.
‘I think people are seeing a different side to me in this series,’ smiles Paul, 54, who, of course, filmed the three-parter before the coronavirus pandemic.
‘It features the real me, rather than the person viewers see on Bake Off, who has to be opinionated and give constructive feedback to bakers. In this, I’m like a kid again, trying to learn new things and having fun. I hope that comes across.’
In last week’s opener, highlights included him eating Michelin-starred pot noodles, dining alone in a ‘flavour-enhancement’ booth and taking a hairy wrestler dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl to dine in a puppy-themed cafe.
And there are plenty more adventures to come in the rest of the series. Here, Paul tells us what else is on the menu…
This story is from the May 02, 2020 edition of TV Times.
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This story is from the May 02, 2020 edition of TV Times.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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