Bake Off's Paul Hollywood admits judging role has 'downside' and 'damaged' him

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood reckons being a judge on the hit TV show has "damaged" him.The baking supremo opened up on the "downside" to his role in a radio chat, and admitted he'd "think very very carefully" about signing up if he had his time again.Paul rocketed to fame back in 2010 when the baking competition first hit screens on the BBC.He told Scala Radio host Mark Forrest that it's the "best job he's ever done" but he'd be "reticent" about doing it again now he knows what he knows.Paul said: "That's a loaded question...

obviously I love the programme, love it. It is one of the best jobs I've ever done."You are watched under a microscope, unfairly so in a sense of I'm not a politician, I'm not a judge, I judge sponges on it.

I find that really difficult because I'm quite a private person anyway...so would I have done it, I would think very very carefully, I would be very reticent."Paul, 56, said he'd never been comfy in the public eye and he prefers to spend time at his rural Kent home, the Mirror reports.He also revealed how he believes the job has "changed" him."I tend to get very nervous going into cities with lots of people and I think it has made me that way now, he explained."I never used to be like that but now I have become very insular, sort of looking over my glasses, wearing a beanie, keeping my head down."I tend to keep to myself to myself nowadays and I think that is the downside and it has changed me from that perspective."Speaking about the negative reaction he received when Bake Off moved from the BBC to Channel 4, Paul said: "I mean I have grown quite a thick skin now and I sort of brush it off and go, 'whatever it is fine', but it did affect me, yeah for sure and it probably has