Paul Hollywood And Prue Leith Answer Our Piping Hot Baking Show Questions, Preview Roku's U.S. Celebrity Special

Great British Baking Show judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are packing up the tent and bringing it across the pond. (Well, actually, the tent is still in the UK. We'll explain.)

The beloved baking experts are lending their finely honed palates to a new incarnation of The Great American Baking Show for the Roku Channel, with Kimmy Schmidt's Ellie Kemper and Severance's Zach Cherry joining them as hosts. The series kicks off this Friday with the Celebrity Holiday Special, with stars like The Good Place's D'Arcy Carden and SNL's Chloe Fineman (and NFL superstar Marshawn Lynch, somehow) entering the tent to show off their skills with sweet holiday treats. American Baking Show will then premiere next year with a fresh slate of amateur U.S. bakers, and Roku is also offering past seasons of British and American Baking Shows to stream for free.

With its friendly, low-stakes competition, The Great British Baking Show has become warm and cozy comfort food to many Americans (including us), so we jumped at the chance to chat with Hollywood and Leith about their new venture, as well as all things British Baking Show. Read on to get their take on the differences between American baking and British baking, their dream celebrity bakers and the origins of the coveted "Hollywood Handshake."

TVLINE | So you're both now judging the American version of Baking Show as well as the British version. Are there differences between American baking and British baking, or is baking sort of a universal language that crosses all cultures?

PAUL | There is certainly cause for an international [Baking Show] to happen at some point. They're very similar in a lot of things. I think there are a lot of crossovers. A lot of the American baking has changed slightly over the last couple of hundred years, but it's basically very similar, and it will find its home back somewhere in Europe. That's the sort of global baking idea: All over the world, you could pick one fruitcake or one basic sponge, and you'll see it everywhere. Australia, South America, Canada, America, you'll see it everywhere. And it's amazing where it came from. I love all that history side of things.

PRUE | I always think the biggest obvious example of that is apple pie. You have Danish apple cake. You have American apple pie, which is generally an open pie. You have our apple pie, which is generally a closed one. Every single country has an apple pie. If they have apples, they have an apple pie.

TVLINE | But we Americans do sometimes get lost in the British terminology. I wanted to ask you: What exactly is the difference between claggy and stodgy?

PRUE | Claggy is actually sticky. Stodgy is just firm. It doesn't have to be sticky. Claggy is definitely... you know like peanut butter? That's claggy.

PAUL | Yeah, that's not stodgy. That's claggy. Anything that sticks to the roof of your mouth, even close, is being claggy.

TVLINE | And stodgy is more thick?

PAUL | Well, yeah. A porridge can be stodgy.

PRUE | Or a heavy cake can be stodgy. And then of course, we get into that whole debate about what is a cookie and what is a biscuit.

PAUL | There is no debate! We know what a biscuit is!

PRUE | But the Americans don't.

TVLINE | Yes, we're still learning.

PAUL | When you say cookie, everyone in the UK now thinks America. I think a biscuit for me snaps, and a cookie bends. If you think in those loose terms, that works for most.

TVLINE | In this new American version, you also have a new set of hosts with you in Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry. How do they compare to Noel and Matt?

PAUL | Brilliant. I thought Ellie and Zach did a great job. They must have been nervous. I mean, if you look historically, stepping into the tent as a baker [can make you] nervous, but stepping into the tent as a host would be daunting, because they set the tone. They're the ones that start the whole thing. And I thought they did a really great job, Ellie and Zach. They really got into the role very, very quickly. Zach is quite dry and funny. You don't realize what he's said. It's sort of a double take, but then you're like, "I like that." Ellie's more out there. But Zach is very dry, and I love his sense of humor.

PRUE | They are absolutely delightful. They're very, very different from the Brits. I mean, Matt and Noel are just completely mad. Zany, crazy. I mean, half the time, I don't even understand half of their jokes, but that's because I'm old, and I'm just... I'm lost. I love them both to death. They're lovely guys. But Ellie and Zach, I understand better, really. [Laughs]

TVLINE | A quick technical question: Where is the tent located for the American version? Or is it still in the UK?

PAUL | Yeah, Pinewood Studios, right next to the James Bond set. We didn't want to change it too much. Because you can get accused of, "Oh, it's not like it's not like the British one." Obviously, America likes the British [Baking Show], so you didn't want to change it too much. You want to keep it as clean and as honest to the original as possible. So [except for] having American bakers and American hosts, it is pretty much the same as the British one.

PRUE | It is interesting because the Americans do love the British [Baking Show], and they all watch the British [Baking Show], and I think it would be crazy to have the American one radically different. Because this is the first time that I have judged the American Baking Show, but Paul's done it before COVID. Do you think it's changed since then?

PAUL | Yeah, I think the standard of American baking is improved dramatically. Both on the main series, which will be on Roku, and also the celebrity edition. I was surprised how much of a jump [it was]. On this particular episode, the bakers have achieved some amazing things, and it was lovely to see. Because I think we struggled at the beginning, and [the Americans] weren't quite on par with the British. But now they certainly would hold a candle to the British, and I think that there is room for an international one. I think we need to do it.

TVLINE | That's interesting. So do you credit that improvement to COVID, and people being stuck at home and practicing baking?

PRUE | I think that had a lot to do with it. The British standard has risen. Paul has said over the last two years, in both shows, this is much better than before. And I think that is because people have been at home practicing. So it'll be interesting to see what happens next year, when they haven't got time to practice. [Laughs]

PAUL | I think the British [Baking Show] has been watched a lot more now in the U.S., and I think off the back of that, it's opening up to other bakers who think, "I could do that." Whereas that wouldn't have been the case possibly three, four years ago, and I think now it's more open to everybody.

TVLINE | So I've seen the celebrity holiday special, and like you said, it's pretty much keeping all the stuff that we love about the British version, but bringing in these American celebrities. So that was really fun to watch.

PAUL | Yeah, it was great for us, because I didn't know a few of them, to be honest. "Who are these people?" It was quite weird, initially, but we got to know them very well. They're fantastic. Really good. Marshawn [Lynch], he's a real character.

PRUE | He was so funny, and such a lovely guy. But yes, if you don't watch American television, you wouldn't know them. I don't watch much British television, so I didn't know any of them. Except, funnily enough, Marshawn, who I'd heard of, although I don't watch football, [or even] English football. So how I knew about him, I don't know. But he was an absolute delight.

TVLINE | Had he baked before at all?

PAUL | Well, if you've seen what he did, you must be joking. Definitely not! [Laughs]

PRUE | He started off really well. We don't want to give too much away. But if you just take his journey in the tent in those two days, he started off really well. And then things went a bit pear-shaped, and I won't tell you the rest.

TVLINE | You guys have done British celebrity versions as well. Do you grade on a curve with celebrity bakers and give them a bit more slack?

PAUL | We've had John Lithgow. Richard Dreyfuss has been in the tent. Teri Hatcher has been in the tent. We've had Star Wars main actresses coming into the tent. We've had some big names. And if you get an American coming over to the UK to do the [Baking Show], you know they don't come over there to waste time. Although Richard Dreyfuss, I would question. [Laughs] It was pretty bad. But you know they're going to be decent bakers, and I've been really surprised by the standard of the celebrities in the UK. But some of them have been bloody awful. I mean, really bad.

PRUE | But do we give them a bit more slack? Yes, we do. In the main show, we wouldn't dream of helping anybody at all, because we can't. We're not allowed to. And it would be deeply unfair if we did. But these celebrities are there because they love the show. They're flattered to be asked, and they think it would be a bit of fun. So certainly at the beginning, they don't think that winning is important. But what happens in the tent is, quite quickly, they start to want to win. They become competitive as the days go on. But if we see them going violently wrong, we will step in and help them.

PAUL | I helped someone out this year, actually, in the UK. I can't say who it was, but he is very famous in America as well. I did go and help him out.

TVLINE | We'll keep an eye out for that one. You guys have met a lot of big celebrities through this. Do you have a dream celebrity baker that you would love to come into the tent and see what they can do?

PAUL | Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. I'm a massive fan. I tried to get Nick Mason in from Pink Floyd. He's a good friend. That's the problem: He's a friend of mine, so it'd be very difficult for me not to help him. But I know he's a good baker. He's a good cook. So I don't think he'd need my help. But some of the rock bands, I'd like to see the lead singers coming in. That'd be amazing.

PRUE | I suppose this is because I'm an old lady, so I'm invested in old ladies, but I'd love to see Judi Dench come in.

PAUL | You could have a Bond one. Have Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig come in.

TVLINE | And finally, we know the Hollywood Handshake is such a coveted award on the show. Paul, can you put into words what the criteria are for achieving the handshake? And Prue, did you ever consider your own version, like the Prue Pat on the Back, or something like that?

PRUE | No, because I actually think that the Hollywood Handshake is so special, and it would be ridiculous of me to try to muscle in there. The handshake came out completely spontaneously. Paul never planned it. He just put his hand up one day because he wanted to congratulate one of the bakers. And what is so wonderful is to watch the bakers' faces when they get a handshake. It's magic to them, and it's so special. So no, I don't want to interfere with that.

PAUL | It started, I think, in [Season] 2. I just went to shake someone's hand and say "well done." I always think of it as: Is this something I could sell in a shop? Would I be happy to put my name to this, and would it sell? Is it different? Is it unique? Is it special? Is it perfect? And if it ticks these boxes, you know, it's a Hollywood Handshake. I mean, it's ridiculous. It's grown into something that's massive. Globally, wherever I am, people approach me to shake my hand. To me, it's weird.

PRUE | He never lets them.

PAUL | Blake Lively made a cake on Instagram, and then she put on the bottom: "If I don't get a handshake from Paul Hollywood for this, I give up." My agent phoned me up and said, "Have you seen this?" And I went, "Oh wow." So I put a little note in there with an emoji of a handshake, and then she threw it out there on her story, sent it out to everybody, and she's really happy, and I thought, "Wow, it's got to somewhere, hasn't it?"