‘Great British Bake Off’ judge Paul Hollywood doesn’t wear colored contacts

‘Great British Bake Off’ judge Paul Hollywood doesn’t wear colored contacts

Ol’ Blue Eyes is back.

Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are returning for another eagerly awaited season of “The Great British Bake Off,” and even after all these years, people only seem to want to ask Leith about Hollywood’s piercingly blue peepers.

“We want to give a quite serious talk to a bunch of people about women’s issues or business or cooking, and the first question is always, ‘Are Paul Hollywood’s eyes real?'” Leith, 81, exclusively told Page Six with a laugh. “I’m tempted to say, ‘Sometimes he puts in his blue lenses, sometimes he puts in his brown ones.'”

For the record, Hollywood’s eyes are real and courtesy of his grandfather.

The new 12th season of the Netflix hit was filmed under lockdown (as was its predecessor), which Hollywood, 55, admitted was not an easy feat. However, he is glad producers were still able to pull it off because the show “puts a smile on people’s faces and gets them into the kitchen and baking” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is a comforting element to ‘Bake Off,’ and I think if you’re sitting there in your dressing gown and your slippers and watching ‘Bake Off,’ I think it’s quite a cozy thing to watch,” he added.

Noel, Prue and Paul on a new season of Noel Fielding, Prue Leith and Hollywood chat with one of the contestants on the new season of “The Great British Bake Off.”Mark Bourdillon/Love Productions

However, gorging on cakes for weeks at a time seems to have left Leith with a somewhat complicated relationship with desserts.

“I’m quite greedy, and I do like it,” she confessed before adding, “But yes, obviously eating a lot of very sweet things is tiring, [though] it doesn’t mean I don’t gobble them down with a great deal of pleasure, [but] I do feel guilty afterward.

“I have a slightly less sweet tooth than Paul,” she continued. “Paul loves very sweet things, but I think we both find it a relief when we’re going to judge something which is savory.”

And as for the coveted Hollywood handshake that is met with oohs and aahs by contestants, Hollywood sounds a little bewildered by the attention it has attracted.

“I am always honest with them,” he simply explained. “So if something’s very good, they get a handshake.”

“The Great British Bake Off” Season 12 hits Netflix Friday.