Kelly Brook receives a rare Paul Hollywood handshake on The Great Celebrity Bake Off

"I'm speechless," said the model and actress after making her winning biscuits
Kelly Brook on The Great Celebrity Bake Off
Channel 4
George Fenwick7 April 2020

Kelly Brook was this week’s lucky recipient of that infamous Paul Hollywood handshake on The Great Celebrity Bake Off.

On Tuesday, April 7’s episode of Bake Off's Stand Up to Cancer series, Kelly surprised even herself when she received the honour after making a perfect biscuit.

“I’m speechless,” said the model and actress, who previously said she found Paul "terrifying".

Kelly's batch of perfect-looking egg muffin biscuits were what won Paul over.

Across the board, this week’s episode - which was Sandi Toksvig’s last as host - saw perhaps a few more failures than normal.

Sandi kept the viewers in stitches as usual, revealing one of Bake Off's more painful hidden truths to Rob Rinder:

“I’m gonna be honest, you were not a promising quartet,” Sandi told the four celebrities - Kelly, Carol Vorderman, Rob Rinder and Mo Gilligan - and we’re not surprised why.

Comedian Mo Gilligan seemed far too relaxed while making his biscuits - waiting a while to put them in the oven - which resulted in a poor score from the judges.

After Kelly’s triumph in the biscuit challenge, the stars were then asked to make ice buns - which inevitably lead to an overwhelming number of sexual innuendos involving buns.

After Carol came out on top of the buns challenge, the quartet were asked to make “guilty pleasure” cakes for the showstopper finale.

Rob went for a cake that represented his trashy taste in novels, while Mo made a shoe cake to represent his shoe addiction.

Kelly’s was a bubble bath cake, while Carol’s was broader - a bath of many pleasures.

While Mo’s cake didn’t quite end up resembling a trainer - “it looks like a train as opposed to a trainer,” said Paul - the flavour won the judges over.

While he said it “looks hideous,” Paul agreed it was “a delicious cake”.

Carol’s bath got top marks, with the judges and hosts all enjoying a sip of champagne from the actual bath she’d created out of fondant.

Meanwhile, Rob summed up our feelings as he slaved away: “I’m not upset, it’s stressed indifference," he said as he assembled his rather unpresentable book cake.

Prue noted it was true to his trashy book taste: “it looks like trash,” she said.

While the judges said it was “a beautifully made cake,” they agreed he was “a hopeless decorator”.

Kelly’s sponge failed after she put too much champagne in the actual mixture, but the presentation of her bubble bath blew the judges away.

“It is still a magnificent achievement,” said Prue.

And despite Sandi’s misgivings about the four stars at the start, the judges ended up impressed. They crowned Carol the winner, which surprised no one but Carol herself.

Kelly noted that if Carol can fly a plane, she can probably bake pretty well.

However, Carol punctuated her win by saying she'll probably never bake again.

Matt Lucas is replacing Sandi on Bake Off following tonight's finale of Celebrity Bake Off, with the series set to return later this year.

Filming has been halted due to coronavirus, with Matt saying: "whenever they say it’s safe to make it, we’ll make it".