{"id":300702,"date":"2026-01-24T04:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T04:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/300702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T04:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T04:42:10","slug":"paul-has-an-ego-the-size-of-neptune-nigella-will-turn-it-all-around-inside-nigella-lawsons-shock-bake-off-move-the-significant-salary-shes-set-to-be-offered-and-why-it-could-spell-trouble-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/300702\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Paul has an ego the size of Neptune. Nigella will turn it all around’: Inside Nigella Lawson’s shock Bake Off ‘move’, the ‘significant’ salary she’s set to be offered and why it could spell trouble for Paul Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

One can almost imagine the high-level conversations that have been going on at Channel 4<\/a> about who might take over from Prue Leith<\/a>, who this week announced she\u2019s stepping down as a judge on The Great British Bake Off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What ingredients would make the perfect replacement? Female, ideally \u2013 to balance out co-judge Paul Hollywood<\/a>\u2019s macho posing.<\/p>\n

Familiar and comforting to viewers, certainly \u2013 one doesn\u2019t watch Bake Off to be anything but reassured by life.<\/p>\n

Being British, too, would be perfect \u2013 following in the footsteps of Prue, who although born in Cape Town has become a British institution, and the genteel Mary Berry<\/a> before her.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one candidate who has all this \u2013 along with a dollop of pure unadulterated sexiness that puts ladies\u2019 man Paul Hollywood in the shade.<\/p>\n

Yes, Nigella Lawson<\/a>, the original domestic goddess, hailed for putting the sauce and spice into cooking, is reportedly on the cusp of returning to mainstream British TV, six years after her last BBC<\/a> series.<\/p>\n

Sources say her salary for the role would be \u2018significant\u2019 and that Channel 4 are \u2018beyond excited\u2019 at the prospect of luring the 66-year-old to the baking tent.<\/p>\n

Because the reality is that coquettish Nigella could be the sultry shot in the arm Bake Off so desperately needs.<\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

This week Prue Leith announced she\u2019s stepping down as a judge on The Great British Bake Off<\/p>\n

\"Nigella <\/p>\n

Nigella Lawson, the original domestic goddess, hailed for putting the sauce and spice into cooking, is reportedly on the cusp of returning to mainstream British TV<\/p>\n

Channel 4 bosses believe her purring innuendoes, finger-licking and \u2018come hither\u2019 gaze \u2013 combined with her baking know-how \u2013 are the perfect combination to boost their falling ratings.<\/p>\n

A television insider tells me: \u2018It all felt a little lacklustre and like it needed a boost. There was every chance the ratings would get worse this year, so they needed to find a way to give it a bit of a zhuzh, a bit of a make-over.<\/p>\n

\u2018Someone needs to save the show and keep those ratings up. Viewers need something new.\u2019<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one potential fly in the ointment: how will the king of innuendo, Paul Hollywood, cope with such a seismic change in personnel?<\/p>\n

On the plus side, Nigella\u2019s arrival will certainly bring the opportunity for him to spark off her wit and sex appeal.<\/p>\n

Paul is, to put it plainly, known to like women who are easy on the eye and Nigella is certainly that.<\/p>\n

But Paul \u2013 turning 60 in March \u2013 has been used to having far older sidekicks: Mary Berry is now 90, and Prue, 85. He has always dominated the show with his persona \u2013 the \u2018judge to impress\u2019.<\/p>\n

Indeed, those who know him suggest he might not be over the moon at sharing the show\u2019s stage with such a popular co-presenter. Because if Nigella does sign on the dotted line, she will be the show\u2019s biggest star, no question.<\/p>\n

\u2018Paul has got an ego the size of Neptune,\u2019 says an associate of his. \u2018He absolutely loves himself and revels in being top dog on Bake Off. Mary and Prue have been happy for him to stand out and make all the jokes.<\/p>\n

\u2018He pretends he doesn\u2019t like the attention or the Press, but really he does. But if Nigella arrives, that could all very well change. She\u2019s a star, everyone loves her, she\u2019s beautiful and she is very, very funny.\u2019<\/p>\n

Indeed, Paul\u2019s famous \u2018soggy bottom\u2019 phrase looks set to be blown out of the water by mother-of-two Nigella.<\/p>\n

The term \u2013 coined by Paul and Mary in 2010 to describe an undercooked base of a pie or a filling which is too moist \u2013 will be tame based on Nigella\u2019s past form.<\/p>\n

Once the deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times before she became a foodie, Oxford-educated Nigella combines a fierce intellect with a wicked \u2013 some might say filthy \u2013 sense of humour.<\/p>\n

\"Once <\/p>\n

Once the deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times before she became a foodie, Oxford-educated Nigella combines a fierce intellect with a wicked sense of humour<\/p>\n

\"Paul <\/p>\n

Paul \u2013 turning 60 in March \u2013 has been used to having far older sidekicks: Mary Berry is now 90, and Prue, 85. He has always dominated the show with his persona \u2013 the ‘judge to impress’<\/p>\n

Take her description of custard, which, she said, should be \u2018firm but not immobile… When you press it with your fingers, it should have a little wobble still within. Soft, warm and voluptuous \u2013 like an 18th-century courtesan\u2019s inner thigh.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Nigella will turn the show around,\u2019 says an insider. \u2018She will have the viewers in stitches.\u2019<\/p>\n

She\u2019s much more than a kind of \u2018Carry on Baking\u2019 host though. Forensic in her attention to detail, her recipes are thorough, clear and lively. And on one detail she has always been emphatic: she is a cook, not a chef.<\/p>\n

Indeed, in 2014, she told how she thought she would be a failure if she went on Bake Off, saying: \u2018I don\u2019t even think I\u2019d pass the audition. I love baking, and I bake a lot… I love what I do bake, but just the words \u201cuniformity of size and shape\u201d make me quake.\u2019<\/p>\n

So far, Nigella\u2019s spokesman has refused to comment on her joining Bake Off but, tellingly, also made no denial. Channel 4 also refused to deny she was joining, while the show\u2019s producers, Love Productions, similarly declined to say the star was not signing, but did issue a statement to say that Prue\u2019s replacement would be announced in \u2018due course\u2019.<\/p>\n

While Prue has made it clear that at 85 it\u2019s time to step back a bit, why is now the time to step forward for Nigella?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sense among her circle that she has finally recovered from her annus horribilis in 2013, which began when her then husband, art dealer Charles Saatchi, was seen with his hands around her throat outside Mayfair restaurant Scott\u2019s. Saatchi \u2013 whom Nigella married in 2003, two years after the death of her first husband \u2013 received a caution for the assault and the pair later split.<\/p>\n

More upset was to come during the fraud trial of two sisters, Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, who worked as personal assistants for Nigella and Charles.<\/p>\n

During the trial, they devastatingly claimed Nigella allowed them to spend \u00a3685,000 on company credit cards to cover up her cocaine use. They were eventually found not guilty.<\/p>\n

Nigella told the court she had taken cocaine a handful of times but denied having a drug problem. She said she was \u2018not proud\u2019 but would rather be \u2018honest and ashamed\u2019 about what she has done, than lie about it.<\/p>\n

After that, her UK television appearances dwindled. She appeared on The Taste in the US, and then signed to Masterchef Australia as a guest judge in 2016, for which she did three series.<\/p>\n

Her last appearance in a UK TV series was Nigella\u2019s Cook, Eat, Repeat on BBC Two in 2020. Since then she has again judged on Masterchef Australia and delivered a few Christmas specials.<\/p>\n

Television sources suggest Nigella \u2018now thinks it might be time\u2019 to return to our British screens, as she thinks Bake Off is \u2018an amazing opportunity\u2019.<\/p>\n

As for matters of the heart, Nigella hasn\u2019t confirmed another relationship since Saatchi.<\/p>\n

At least if she joins the Bake Off team, she may at least enjoy Paul Hollywood\u2019s flirtatious winks \u2013 while matching some of his saucy quips with plenty of her own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One can almost imagine the high-level conversations that have been going on at Channel 4 about who might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[6016,118,18,117,84678,19,17,95823,25574,29199,148530,148529,438],"class_list":{"0":"post-300702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-channel-4","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-great-british-bake-off","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-mary-berry","16":"tag-neptune","17":"tag-nigella-lawson","18":"tag-paul-hollywood","19":"tag-prue-leith","20":"tag-tvshowbiz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115948247193987939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}