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LAUREN TAYLOR chats to The Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood about criticism, handshakes and his beginner baking tips

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THE Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood, known for his icy stares and no-nonsense feedback of contestants' masterpieces, says he’s his own biggest critic too.

“I'll always be critical, because nothing's ever really perfect, even the stuff I make - nothing is perfect,” says the 59-year-old.

Merseyside-born Paul, who is releasing his latest cookbook, Celebrate, has been the only mainstay on the popular baking show since its conception on the BBC in 2010, before it moved to Channel 4 seven years later.

Running the family bakery at 20, his on-screen persona certainly hasn't been created for TV. “I've always been like that [at the] bakery, with the lads I was working with. My dad [John] was like that with me - so I’m just passing the buck.

“I am very critical, but I think it's healthy. It's not a destructive criticism. It's constructive because you get better and better.”

Sometimes his more balanced comments don’t make the edit on the programme, he says. “I'll say, ‘That's terrible’ and then they'll go, “That's the cut!”

His own family, apparently, don’t even like baking for him. “I was at a party a couple of years ago and someone made something and wanted me to tell them what my thoughts were. I thought it was pretty good but they pushed me to give a proper Bake Off response, so I did and they were a little bit upset,” he reveals.

He's also become strangely famous for his handshakes - given to contestants he deems to have done a great bake in the tent.

People come up to him on the street “all the time” asking for a Hollywood handshake. “It’s charming,” he insists, “but I normally say, ‘Where’s my cake??

“It’s been 13-odd years and anywhere in the world people will offer me a handshake. It’s quite strange.”