The two celebrities took a tour of James Martin’s home when they appeared on his show and stumbled upon a hilarious joke directed at Paul Hollywood.
James and Paul are two of the UK’s most famous chefs. James Martin’s Saturday Morning and The Great British Pie attract loyal fans.
Even though the pair are firm friends (and James is even godfather to Paul’s son, Joshua), that still seems to leave room for a little professional rivalry.
That’s what actors Ralf Little and Will Mellor captured when they appeared on James’ show, which is filmed at the chef’s home in Hampshire.
The couple, who appeared together in Two Pints of Lager and a Bag of Crisps, were given a tour of his home where they claimed to have noticed a taunt directed at Paul.
James Martin playfully poked fun at Paul Hollywood. Photo: Getty Images Europe
He said, “He has a poster, he sold 30,000 tickets and did his tour, and one of his posters says, ‘26 shows, 26 standing ovations, 26,000 more tickets sold than Paul Hollywood.’ I thought that was really cool.”
The joke is very similar to mockery, since the friendship of the famous chefs goes back decades. They first worked together on a show called Use Your Loaf, which aired on the Carlton Network back in 2000.
This was before any of them achieved mainstream success. Paul’s son with his ex-wife Alexandra arrived the following year.
James Martin. Photo credit: Getty Images
Despite their close connection, fellow celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott suggested back in 2017 that there was some tension over Paul’s rapid rise to fame on the Great British Bake Off, but it was never supported by either party.
When Paul went through a stormy, public split from his ex-wife in 2013, James was among a close circle of friends who reportedly supported him during that period.
Ralph, 46, and Will, 50, who spoke about their experience on The Two Pints podcast, were impressed by James’ tour of the house.
Will said: “It was a great experience, it was nice to carry on and talk, of course, about the capsule and how interested he is. But also how well he handles the tours. He runs the tour.”
Ralf Little and Will Mellor – Photo: ITV
Ralph, who also starred in The Royle Family and Death in Paradise, went on to explain that one aspect of the experience surprised them.
The actor said, “Well, he’s touring. And it’s really funny because Will and I often say about our tour, “We don’t just walk around and just talk. We’re trying to put on a little show and do something.”
“It turns out that what we do takes little time. He’s going on tour, he’s a chef, people expect him to cook. He has a couple of kitchen sets on stage, but from the looks of it, this is a rock concert. He comes out and cries to the guitar, there’s a whole lot of music there, they have a bigger setup.”