Paul Hollywood returns to The Great British Bake Off tonight. But how did he get famous, what’s his net worth and who is he dating?
Okay, so we all love the cake competition and Paul’s role as a judge.
But he’s had his fair share of headlines about his love life since the show started in 2010.
Paul has been on the show from the beginning.
So what’s his background?
How did Paul Hollywood become a baker?
Paul Hollywood was born in Wallasey, Cheshire to bakery owner John Hollywood and mum Gillian.
After leaving school he studied sculpture at the Wallasey School of Art, but left to work for his dad’s ‘Bread Winner’ bakery business.
Paul worked at the chain’s headquarters in York and later left to set out to earn a crust on his own. (Sorry!)
He worked as head baker in hotels including The Dorchester and the Clivedon Hotel.
How did Paul end up on Bake Off?
Paul Hollywood’s first TV appearance was on Carlton Food Network and Taste in 2002, when he co-presented two TV series with James Martin.
He landed work as a celebrity baker on This Morning and then The Alan Titchmarsh Show.
Paul also appeared on BBC1’s Heaven and Earth show as a guest.
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When the first series of The Great British Bake Off hit our screens in 2010 on BBC2, Paul instantly became a household name.
Three years later, in 2013, Hollywood came knocking for Hollywood.
American TV giant CBS wanted to emulate the success of Bake Off, including Paul as a judge.
But it failed to gain the same success and was axed after only one series, and Paul headed back to Blighty.
What else has Paul Hollywood appeared on?
Paul’s popularity as judge, once described as ‘the antidote to Simon Cowell’s Mr Nasty’, earned him a string of other TV opportunities.
In 2013 he made two TV series, Paul Hollywood’s Bread and Paul Hollywood’s Puds and Pies.
And he went on to make travel cookery shows, visiting countries across the world.
They included Paul Hollywood’s Big continental Road Trip and Hollywood’s City Bakes.
What is Paul Hollywood’s net worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Paul is worth £11.5 million.
Paul, 55, also reportedly owns around £8million of assets in his company called HJP Media LLP.
someone else rips everything up and it wakes you up to who you are
Then there’s the avid racer’s pricey car collection including a £135,000 Aston Martin DB9.
He lives in a £1.45million mansion in Kent which is set in over 10 acres of land.
What’s happened in his love life?
Paul met his wife Alexandra, when he lived in Cyprus.
They both worked for a five star hotel in a beach resort, him as a baker and Alexandra as a scuba-diving intructor.
The couple married in a beach ceremony in 1998 and had a son, Josh, now 20.
After shooting to fame on GBBO, Paul had a brief affair with US Bake Off co-host Marcela Valladolid in 2013.
Paul called it “the biggest mistake of my life” and convinced Alexandra to give their marriage another go.
But things didn’t work out and the couple split for good in 2017.
Hello magazine reported how she later said: “When you get married and have children, it’s easy to lose yourself. I’m not complaining because I was happy.
“But then someone else rips everything up and it wakes you up to who you are and what you have become and what sacrifices you’ve made.”
Alexandra went on to write her own cookery books under the name Alex Hollywood, and has spoken openly about her split from Paul.
Eyebrows were raised when it emerged Paul Hollywood was dating Summer Monteys-Fullam very soon after the split.
They met in a pub he’d hired out for Alex’s birthday in 2017, where Summer, then 22, worked as a barmaid.
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They split in 2019 after Paul reportedly asked Summer to sign an NDA (nondisclosure agreement).
Then, three months later, Paul met Melissa Spalding, who worked at The Chequers Inn, Kent.
Melissa reportedly lives with Paul at his home in Kent.
When is the Great British Bake Off on TV?
Meet the new 12 contestants and catch up with judges Paul, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas tonight at 8pm and every Tuesday.
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