Great British Bake Off smut? It's just a bit of banter, says Paul Hollywood

Viewers should giggle at the innuendo in the Great British Bake Off instead of being offended, according to Paul Hollywood, who said the show is continuing the spirit of the Carry On films.

Fans of the BBC One show have complained that it is being ruined by smutty remarks.

But Hollywood, who judges the programme alongside Mary Berry, said their “banter” was the modern equivalent of seaside postcards.

He also accused over-sensitive viewers of imagining innuendo where there is none.

“It’s just banter and our whole culture has always been based on it. Carry On films did it for 30 years and then there were cheeky beach picture postcards,” said Hollywood.

“It’s in our DNA to giggle at ourselves but, having said that, there’s a lot of stuff on the programme where there’s no innuendo intended.

“Because baking is very physical, you’re talking about how it feels in your hand and people read something completely different into that.

“I think those people should take a very close look at themselves before they start pointing the finger at us,” he told Scotland’s Sunday Post.

According to viewers, the main culprits are the presenters, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. Where once there was the occasional mention of a “soggy bottom”, now every episode is sprinkled with double entendres.

^{Presenters Mel and Sue (BBC)}

Their instructions to “stand away from your hot baps”, “stop touching your dough balls” and “keep your biscuits erect” have upset some viewers.

In one episode, Perkins told contestants attempting to recreate Berry’s cherry cake recipe: “You have got two hours to pop Mary’s cherry [pause] in the oven, and bring it out again.”

In a recent edition of the BBC’s feedback programme Points of View, a number of Bake Off fans registered their disapproval.

^{Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (BBC)}

One couple said they were “tired of the constant smutty remarks of the two hosts” while another viewer wrote: “They get smuttier and smuttier, and it is totally unnecessary. Mary Berry looked quite embarrassed on the first programme of this series, and so were we as a family.”

Even Berry’s dialogue has been interpreted as risqué, such as the moment when she described the contestants’ biscuits as having had “a good forking”.

The grand final of the baking contest takes place this week, with builder Richard Burr favourite to take the crown. The builder from north London will compete against Luis Troyano and Nancy Birtwhistle.