PAUL SET TO EARN A CRUST OF £1.5M Bread giants tempt star

PAUL Hollywood has been offered more than £1million to star in ads for Warburtons bread, Hot TV can reveal.

The Bake Off judge was last night in “advanced talks” and is poised to sign a deal within days.

An industry insider said: “An offer worth £1.1million was tabled. Paul’s team considered it and have asked for £1.5million as well as agency fees. “Negotiations are ongoing but things are looking positive. Execs at Warburtons are confident they’ll be able to strike a deal.”

If a deal is signed, Paul will be the face of the food giant’s next big campaign in the spring.

The marketing team plan to make it “tongue in cheek”.

The source added: “Paul is one of the biggest names on telly and obviously known for his baking skills and love for bread. Warburtons bosses reckon he’d be the perfect brand ambassador for them. They want to make the ads very funny. They won’t be too serious. “The company is celebrating its 143rd anniversary this year, but it faces challenges keeping momentum going.

“The number of people becoming more health-conscious and wanting to cut out bread consumption is on the rise.”

Paul, who in July divorced his wife of 19 years Alex, is thought to be worth £10million.

His new job would see him following in the footsteps of movie royalty. Stars including Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro have netted big-money deals to be in Warburtons’ ads in recent years.

Our source said: “The marketing team usually splash the cash for A-listers. They don’t usually go for TV stars. But Paul is synonymous with bread so they’re making an exception. They think he’ll be worth every penny.”

Paul has helped Bake Off become one of TV’s biggest shows.

It pulled in more than 15million viewers during its years on the BBC and since moving to Channel 4 it is still pulling in big ratings.

The opening episode current series broke

C4 records after getting 9.4million viewers. of the