Paul Hollywood will judge the US version of Bake Off - but Mary's nowhere to be seen

Telegraph Reporters
Updated
Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry together on The Great British Bake Off, 2015 - BBC
Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry together on The Great British Bake Off, 2015 - BBC

With the Great British Bake Off continuing to lure in viewers on Channel 4 after leaving the BBC last year, judge Paul Hollywood has proved that there is life after Mary Berry, with whom he originally judged the programme.

Hollywood now gives contestants a grilling with Prue Leith, while Berry, who chose to abandon Bake Off and stick with the BBC alongside original hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, rather than move to the rival channel, continues to work on new shows.

But now Hollywood will appear as a judge on the US equivalent of Bake Off,  The Great American Baking Show, which Berry failed to help make a success when it aired on network ABC last year.

Paul Hollywood on Paul Hollywood's Big Continental Road Trip, which aired in May - Credit:  Nathaniel Bullen
Paul Hollywood on Paul Hollywood's Big Continental Road Trip, which aired in May Credit: Nathaniel Bullen

Berry judged alongside Johnny Iuzzini for the show's first season, but will not be returning. Instead, Hollywood will join the US pastry chef in what is being seen as an attempt to break America. 

Berry was invited to appear as a guest judge on the US competition, but there wasn't time in her current filming schedule.

Hollywood has tried to entice an American audience before, when he co-hosted The American Baking Competition with Marcela Valladolid, with whom he had an extra-marital affair.  

The US has proved receptive to certain brusque British TV chefs. Gordon Ramsay, for instance, successfully took his show Kitchen Nightmares across the pond. 

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