Paul Hollywood has said that he "cried" over the nasty backlash he received after Bake Off moved homes from the BBC to Channel 4.
The 56-year-old is the only original member of the judging and presenting team after the show moved channels back in 2017.
Mary Berry and hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins decided to quit after the move was announced, but Paul stayed on.
Since series eight, he has been joined by Prue Leith to judge. Noel Fielding joined the show to host in 2017 with Sandi Toksvig, the latter of whom was replaced by Matt Lucas in 2020.
Some fans were not happy about the show's move to Channel 4 at the time and let rip on social media.
Opening up about the effect on him, Paul said that "it hurt [him]
"After a while, though, I got tough. I just thought 'OK, I’ll be your bad guy'," he told The Times. "Oh, I was called every name under the sun. It was so horrendous, I actually cried."
It comes after the Mirror revealed that Paul would be joined by Prue on the US version of Bake Off.
The veteran cook, who has proved a firm favourite on the UK version since 2017, will film the six-part series, plus a celebrity special later this year.
The show has not aired in the US since before the pandemic, with the last episode shown in January 2020. Now it is moving stations from ABC to streaming service The Roku Channel. Prue will be replacing former judge, chef Sherry Yard, 58.
The news came as a surprise as Prue had recently indicated she was planning to slow down a bit, spending more time in the garden and with her grandchildren, plus travelling with her husband John Playfair.
