Paul Hollywood has insisted he remains on very good terms with his former ‘Great British Bake Off’ colleagues Mary Berry and Mel and Sue.
Paul is the only original member of the ‘Bake Off’ team who is moving with the show to its new home on Channel 4.
Judge Mary and presenting duo Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins announced they would be quitting the show after it was sold by its makers Love Productions to Channel 4 for £75 million earlier this year.
During an appearance on the Christmas special of ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, Paul admitted he would miss his TV mum and sisters.
He said: “I was with Mary last weekend and we did a couple of demos up in Birmingham and the press like to cover the story that we’ve somehow fallen out.
“We’ll always be mates, I was with her last weekend, we had such a giggle. Why would it, how could it [affect our relationship?]
“[Mary] will always be my TV mother, and Mel and Sue will be my sisters, we are like a dysfunctional family.”
The 50-year-old baker explained the reason he stayed with the show, which has seen his salary doubled, was because he “didn’t want to lose his job”.
“I think ultimately I love The Great British Bake Off,” he explained. “I love doing my job, I really do and if anyone can put their hand on their heart and say you would actually leave your job if someone was going to pay you a little bit more money to move on, and do the same job in the same tent, I had to stay.
“I’ve got a family and I’m just coming to the end of my career I suppose, I’m 50 odd, I haven’t got long left. I’m not going to last like Mary at 81.”
He added that his decision to stay with ‘Bake Off’ was given the seal of approval by Mary.
“I think ultimately it was our own decisions,” he said. “We’re all at a different point in our own careers.
“I think ultimately when I told Mary I was going to stay with the show, she said ‘Listen, if I was your age, I would do exactly the same thing.’”
‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, Saturday 10 December, 10.05pm on ITV.