Paul Hollywood has opened up about the latest series of Great British Bake Off, and has confirmed a major change to the series – he's getting rid of his famous Hollywood Handshake (except in VERY special circumstances). Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show about how he has had some criticism for how many handshakes he has been dishing out throughout the series, he explained: "I've taken a bit of flack over [it]. The handshake came from when [bakes] looked very professional and they almost cross that line from being amateur to professional. Every year the standard has got better and better and better and this year has been phenomenal. Some of the flavours they are bringing out. Rahul's stuff has been incredible."
Paul will stop his Hollywood handshakes
Speaking about bringing them to a stop, he continued: "You will see it happen, the handshakes almost stop. Because what I've done is I've realised they are all moving up in standard so I've got to move my barrier up so that's exactly what I do, I raise the bar and then no one gets over the top of it." Paul recently took to Twitter to defend his handshakes after one fan worked out how inflation rate of the handshakes since season one, writing: "What you're forgetting which is crucial is the general standard of baking/bakers has risen year on year... this is reflected in any praise given."
READ: Paul Hollywood reveals why he cried watching the latest Bake Off episode
Fans of the show regularly take to Twitter to joke about the famous 'Hollywood handshake', which Paul gives out during exceptionally excellent bakes, with one writing: "Just seen Paul Hollywood's handshake on eBay for 50p. #GBBO," while another added: "Paul: YOU GET A HANDSHAKE, YOU GET A HANDSHAKE, YOU GET A HANDSHAKE, EVERYONE GETS A HANDSHAKE."