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Just weeks ahead of The Great British Bake Off' s 2025 finale, scheduled to broadcast on Tuesday evening, Paul Hollywood has responded to a damning assessment of the programme penned by a former colleague. Ruby Tandoh, 33, recently looked back on her time as a competitor in the 2013 series of Bake Off for The New Yorker, highlighting what she termed "the essential hypocrisy of Bake Off". The baker, who made it to the final but lost out to champion Frances Quinn, penned: "No show does so much to hide its true nature: namely, that it is a competition people desperately want to win. "This is the essential hypocrisy of 'Bake Off,' and it remains the most British thing about it." Ruby proceeded to admit that despite claiming she had only entered Bake Off because she "just really, really loved baking", rather than to chase any professional goals, one of her co-contestants, Glenn, pointed out that she'd "been talking about writing a cookbook since the moment we entered the tent." Paul was offered a chance to address Ruby's accusations during an October interview on The Sporkful podcast, presented by Dan Pashman. Dan raised the criticism by saying to Paul: "I want to read this quote to you to get your take. Ruby Tandoh, who was a contestant who did quite well on the show back in 2013, I think she made it to the final round..." "That's right, she did," Paul interrupted, before revealing he had already read Ruby's piece. Addressing the "hypocrisy" accusations levelled at the programme, Dan admitted he was "intrigued" to get Paul's perspective on the matter, with the judge acknowledging that whilst the show remains "very pleasant", it's fundamentally still a contest. Paul chuckled and responded: "Yeah, Bake Off is what it is. It's a very gentle, it's a very nice programme, but it's a competition. It's a competition, and if you want to win, you have to do well. "You can be nice and do well, or you can be horrible and do well because I don't care what personality you are. What I care about is what's on the plate, and so there lies the competition, it's not the people, it's actually the bake itself that's important to me." The American podcast presenter offered his take on the controversy surrounding Ruby's critique, observing: "I did think it's interesting the way she says this is something very British, because I lived in London for a time, and of course I wouldn't pretend to know British culture as well as you do, but there is something puritanical in the culture that says that striving is somehow uncouth." Paul concurred: "Hmm... I think, yeah, I think Americans celebrate success more than Brits do." The Great British Bake Off: The Final airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4.
