The Great British Baking Show's judge Paul Hollywood was told to "shut up" by contestant Henry Bird. The jittery contestant gave the famous judge the dressing down of his life on national TV - though it wasn't quite as bad as it seems.
The popular British baking show includes 12 passionate bakers as they compete against one another for the title of the best baker in Britain. Each week, the judges develop three challenges to test each baker’s innovation and talent. There is a technical bake, which shows off the competitor experience, a showstopper bake, which lets bakers get creative, and signature bake. At the end of the rounds, the judges get to nibble on the samples and choose a winner.
Paul Hollywood is an icon among fans of The Great British Baking Show, known to be the hard judge that would never fail to bring down the hammer on an average Victoria sponge cake. Sophie Faldo, who was a former winner of the competition show, accused Hollywood of having unattainable standards to which he holds the bakers. Now, the famed bread maker got a taste of his own medicine on "festival week" by contestant Henry Bird.
While the hosts of the show - Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig - delivered the multifaceted challenge, which included yeast buns inspired by holidays from all over the world, the contestants were starting to stress about how exactly they would complete the challenge. Bird, a student, decided to make Kardemummabullar, which is a classic Swedish bun often served with coffee at holiday parties. Bird, is was known to be a young man full of nerves when he performs in the tent, had a humorous reaction when Hollywood complimented him. After tasting the holiday bread, he was so impressed that he offered Bird one of his famous handshakes. However, the anxious baker was in total disbelieve and reacted by yelling, “No, shut up!”
The hosts and judge quickly laughed off the humorous interaction and said that they were sure that no one should tell one of the judges to shut up. Once Bird regained his wits, he told cameras that he could go home now, as the handshake was more than he ever thought he would get.
Evidently, telling the head judge to shut up while filing a nationally televised show can work in your favor as Bird won Star Baker of the week. Having checked "Tell Hollywood to shut up" off of his bucket list, Bird was over the moon for the entire episode, letting his treat speaks for him instead of his accidentally sassy mouth. While Hollywood graciously laughed off the encounter, viewers can expect that the judge to be just as hard on competitors as usual in the future.
Source: The Great British Baking Show