Paul Hollywood said one contestant’s Chelsea buns looked like “diabetes on a plate”
Paul Hollywood has apologised for a “thoughtless” joke about diabetes made on The Great British Bake Off.
Some fans of the Channel 4 show took to social media to voice their upset when the judge made the comment about one contestant’s Chelsea buns.
When commenting on the sticky creations, Hollywood said they looked like “diabetes on a plate”.
He later took to Instagram to voice his regret, saying he had “meant no harm”.
He wrote: “A sweet treat, Chelsea buns … a remark re:- diabetes I made on tonight’s show was thoughtless and I meant no harm, as both my grandad and my own mother suffer/ suffered from diabetes … apologies X.”
Tuesday night’s episode was patisserie week and also the show’s semi-final.
Misunderstanding about the causes of diabetes comes from the fact that there are two very different types.
Fans complained about the remark because they believed it showed Hollywood to be “uneducated” about the condition, claiming it reinforced false beliefs that it comes from eating too much sugar.
Diabetes
There are two main types of diabetes:
- Type 1 – where the pancreas does not produce any insulin
- Type 2 – where the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react to insulin
Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, but usually appears before the age of 40, particularly in childhood.
About 10% of all diabetes is type 1, but it is the most common type of childhood diabetes, so it is sometimes called juvenile diabetes or early onset diabetes
Type 2 diabetes tends to develop later in life and is linked to lifestyle and being overweight.
Source: NHS Choices
Viewers of the show were keen to set Hollywood straight, with various tweets and comments objecting to his comment.
An NHS consultant also said he’d be willing to talk Hollywood through the facts about diabetes, type 1 and 2.
The three contestants left to battle for the Bake Off crown are Steph Blackwell, David Atherton and Alice Fevronia after Rosie Brandreth-Poynter was sent home.
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