BACK OFF WISE PAUL
A SCHOOLBOY aged six was rescued by firefighters after getting stuck up a 40ft tree hunting for conkers in Newbury, Berks. HEDGEHOG Stitch, whose spikes were cut off by a garden strimmer, is fighting fit after months of care from vet Sam Burnell in Skipton, Yorkshire. GREGG Wallace is right behind Paul Hollywood’s Bake Off move to Channel 4 for more bread.
The cook who hosts MasterChef on BBC, which lost the hit series, said: “Paul’s doing what any father with a family would. He’s going for the money. If they offered me enough to do it, I’d say ‘yes’.”
Paul, 50, was blasted by the show’s fans last month for accepting undisclosed big bucks to stay with makers Love Productions after Channel 4 landed The Great British Bake Off.
Fellow judge Mary Berry, and hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins refused to switch.
But Gregg, 52, said Paul did the right thing. “It’s like a footballer leaving a club. Supporters will hate him, but he’s not going to miss an opportunity for more money.” Gregg, who hosts a new run of MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC2 on Tuesday, reckons Bake Off may have to be “a very different show” to survive.
The presenter, who has a new cookbook out called Cooks & Kids 3, married fourth wife Anne-Marie Sterpini, 30, in August. He has two children, Tom, 22, and Libby, 19, but is planning more.
He said: “I’m looking forward to a baby. It’ll be someone close to my wife’s age for her to talk to.” He said he could not wait to move his in-laws in, describing Anne-Marie’s Italian mum Rina as “amazing”.