Paul Hollywood admits he’s considering ‘toning down’ his brutal onscreen persona

His brutal comments have reduced many to tears.

But Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood has revealed he is considering ‘softening’ his signature critiquing style.

The master baker, 54, admitted in a new interview: ‘Maybe my choice of words has been wrong in the past but my overall judgment I still stand by. Maybe I need to soften the way I say it.’

The chef is known for pulling no punches with contestants and is quick to describe their efforts as ‘hideous’ or ‘awful’ on the competition series.

Despite his new outlook, the media personality still defended the intention behind his criticism.

Speaking to Radio 5 Live, he said: ‘My job is to judge. You can’t sit there on every single bake and say ”it’s really good” or ”it’s really nice”.’ 

The presenter, who has a new Channel 4 show called Paul Hollywood Eats Japan, confessed a friend snubbed him for six months after he criticised a cake they had baked for tasting like vinegar.

Earlier this month, ex Great British Bake Off host Sue Perkins told of a ‘painful’ fallout with judge Paul when she and co-presenter Mel Giedroyc decided to quit the series.

The broadcaster said the pair were ‘incredibly hurt’ by their quarrel with Hollywood after they left the hit BBC show in 2016 with judge Mary Berry. 

Comedian Sue, 50, did not go into detail, but said the culinary expert had previously been ‘like family for years and years’ and said she was ‘sad.’ 

‘When we were there [on the show] he was really good fun,’ she told the Table Manners podcast. ‘And things happened that made us sad and incredibly hurt – he was always like family, for years and years and years. 

‘And it’s painful when those things end…I’m devastated about what happened but I feel talking about it is just uncool and you start pointing the finger.’ 

Sue has also claimed that the TV and celebrity baker passed off bread made by her as his own. 

She said he would often use her mornings off from filming to craft the ‘hero bakes’ that Paul would then claim to have made himself.

Sue explained: ‘I made a lot of bread – I was quite good at making bread. A few of the Paul Hollywood hero bakes were made by me, actually, and my mates in the prep kitchen at the back.’