Channel 4 Plays Down Report Of ‘Bake Off’ Rift Between Nigella Lawson And Paul Hollywood

It’s all smiles in the tent – at least according to the team behind The Great British Bake Off.

A story in the Daily Mail from last month that reported new judge Nigella Lawson and Paul Hollywood were clashing, with a source telling the paper they were “not getting on too well.” However, British broadcaster Channel 4 has now gone public saying all is well between the pair.

Today at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Channel 4’s Director of Streaming & Content Strategy, Kiran Nataraja, paid tribute to Lawson, saying: “We’re really excited to have her on the show. Contrary to ‘the Sidebar of Shame,’ her and Paul are not arguing about helicopters the whole time.”

The ‘Sidebar of Shame’ references the famous list of celebrity-focused stories on the Daily Mail website. The story also reported that Lawson, who is the daughter of former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel, found it “ghastly” that Hollywood reportedly travels to filming on a private helicopter.

This came before Nataraja played delegates the trailer of The Great British Bake Off‘s seventeenth season, which is due to launch in coming weeks.

It will be the first of the UK baking competition show, which is from Love Productions, to feature celebrity chef Lawson, who has replaced Prue Leith. Hollywood has been a judge since the series debuted on the BBC in 2010, with Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond are the presenters.

The show will launch next month. Channel 4 has broadcasted the format since 2017.