Paul Hollywood says Prue Leith reminds him of his mother-in-law.

Paul Hollywood

Paul Hollywood

The 51-year-old baker - who has 15-year-old son Josh with wife Alexandra - has hit it off with his new 'Great British Bake Off' co-judge and thinks they will get on well when they start filming the new series of the show.

He said: "Prue, obviously shes got this huge professional background and I've got nothing but respect for her, I'm really looking forward to it.

"We've met and had a chat, there's something there, she reminds me of my mother-in-law in a fantastic way, and I think we'll get on great."

Last week, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig were announced as the new hosts of the show and Paul - who was kept in the dark about their appointment - is "really excited" about the line-up for the series.

Speaking on 'Loose Women', he said: "I'm really excited because obviously it's a big thing, the 'Bake Off', and when I heard the names read out, I was really excited.

I did know about Prue but I didn't know about the others at all but its perfect, I'm really, really excited.

"At the end of the day, most people were in the dark, it's kept very quiet for obvious reasons."

And Paul admits he was stunned by the huge outcry that followed the news the show was moving to Channel 4 and his fellow judge Mary Berry and presenters Mel & Sue had chosen to leave.

He said: "I was [surprised], there's some bad stuff going on on the planet, I'm sure we can move on from this."

Paul couldn't understand why people were so outraged he'd chosen to stay on the programme because he loves it so much so he never felt walking away was an option.

He said: "They were loyal in their arenas of what they want to do. I'm a different stage of my career and it's my job, I love doing 'Bake Off'.

"When it moved channels, my job was always there and I didn't want to lose it. They gave me a shot seven years ago, why would I let it go

"Mary said, 'If I was in your shoes I'd have done the same thing.' "

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