The Hollywood Handshake is ruining Bake Off

It took just two episodes for The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood to hand out his first handshake of series 16. The lucky recipient was 31-year-old “creative entrepreneur” Tom, whose showstopper “biscuit time capsule” (me neither) was exquisitely decorated as a “granny’s cottage” with sugary pink walls, a mossy roof, ivy creeping up the walls and intricate brickwork. With the clasping of Hollywood’s leather-tanned hand, Tom’s spot as “Star Baker” was secured.

The so-called Hollywood Handshake has become a highly anticipated feature of any Bake Off episode, to be expected alongside the bunting and innuendos. But over the past 15 years, it has lost any real meaning – it is, in fact, making the show worse.

The first time Hollywood shook someone’s hand was in series three, when the baking competition was still on the BBC and Mary Berry was by his side. Back then, it was a surprising sign of respect, though not one that meant anything other than a non-verbal “well done”. If you need an indication of just how much gravitas the handshake has gained since that very first one in 2012, the baker who was on the receiving end of that one was later chucked out of the competition that very same episode.

But Tom’s Biscuit Week handshake was the 60th time Hollywood has doled out a handshake in the show’s 15-year history, and over time it’s become a gimmick and – worse – an in-show spoiler. He went on to win Star Baker that week – proof that the Hollywood Handshake has become a pre-judging confirmation that you’re top of the class.

I spent the entirety of tonight’s episode in anticipation of Hollywood stretching out his hand. Rather than judging the bakes on their aesthetics myself or listening intently to Paul and Prue Leith’s expert analyses, I waited instead for the ultimate shorthand for “good job” to be given out. And yet it never was.

Am I to deduce, then, that Bread Week was a write-off? It certainly didn’t seem it – Aaron’s decadent, floral sweet bread, made in tribute to his late friends, was certainly as good as Tom’s biscuit house a week previously. Others’ creations were called “faultless” and “delicious” by Hollywood’s co-judge Leith, yet still no handshake was forthcoming.

Ah, Leith. I always wonder if she resents Hollywood for having his own stunt. I would if I were her. Why should he – a man who would lick himself were he made of chocolate – have the ultimate say on the quality of a bake? The Hollywood Handshake undermines Leith’s expertise and status as a judge, diminishing her words to meaningless noise in the shadow of a performative gesture – just as it undermined Berry before her.

As the series has gone on, Hollywood has thankfully reined in his handshakes slightly. The height of the ridiculousness arrived in series nine, when he shook the bakers’ hands a whopping 12 times – three of those were in just one episode. Since then, the number of handshakes has dwindled, but their significance has remained the same.

If we want Bake Off to resume its early years greatness, then it has to be taken back to basics – and that means no more Hollywood Handshakes. Without them, the competition once again becomes an even playing field. And best of all, Paul Hollywood would be knocked down a peg or two.

‘The Great British Bake Off’ continues next Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4