Mel Giedroyc recalls time Mary Berry pranked Paul Hollywood by defacing his car... with indelible ink

‘As for Paul’s anger level, he took it to 11,’ said former ‘Bake Off’ judge

Mel Giedroyc has recalled an unfortunate incident that occurred while filming The Great British Bake Off with Dame Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

In a new interview, the comedian, who presented the baking show from 2010 to 2016, explained that she was left “helpless with laughter” when Berry mischievously tried to prank her co-judge Hollywood.

Berry thought it’d be a laugh to deface Hollywood’s beloved car with a marker pen, but she quickly realised she had drawn in indelible ink.

Giedroyc said she was laughing so much that she thought she was going to have an “accident”.

“Oh, my God. It was just the three of us. I’m afraid to say there was a moment where I had to run behind a tree, because I thought I was going to have an accident,” Giedroyc told The Telegraph.

Hollywood, meanwhile, was infuriated with Berry. He is an amateur racing driver and competes in motor races driving Aston Martins, which he collects.

However, Giedroyc said he could only be cross at Berry for so long.

“I can’t tell you what a great moment that was. As for Paul’s anger level, he took it to 11, but you can never really be cross with Mary Berry, can you? And Paul had a real twinkle, but his car is a big part of him.”

Giedroyc said that the best moments filming the series were when she was “helpless with laughter – when you’re just crying and you can’t get a word out”.

Paul Hollywood, Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc, and Mary Berry on ‘Bake Off’ (PA)

After its seventh series, the producers of Bake Off signed a three-year deal with Channel 4 to produce the series for the broadcaster. Berry, Giedroyc and her hosting partner Sue Perkins decided not to continue with the show when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4.

The hosting duo declared at the time: “We’ve had the most amazing time on Bake Off, and have loved seeing it rise and rise like a pair of yeasted Latvian baps. We’re not going with the dough.”

They say they quit Bake Off in 2016 after finding out via a television news bulletin that the programme was being poached by Channel 4.

“There’s no antagonism there. I just think, ‘If you’re going to let us find out that way [from TV], then we’re not really a team, are we?’” Perkins toldThe Radio Times afterwards.

Meanwhile, Hollywood did go to Channel 4, starting a successful judging partnership with Prue Leith.