The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood has helped a pilot who had crashed his light plane in a field.
Hollywood can now add 'rescuer' to his resume after he sprinted to check on the pilot — who luckily didn't sustain any serious injuries — after a crash.
The TV chef was on a flying lesson when he and his instructor were the first to answer a mayday call issued by the pilot. Guided by his trainer, Hollywood landed in the field and the two rushed to help the man, named Iain Stingemore.
"I'd just climbed out of the plane after crash-landing and noticed someone walking over towards me," Stingemore told MailOnline of the encounter.
"As he got closer, I realised who it was and thought to myself, 'Oh god, it's Paul Hollywood,'" the pilot continued, saying the chef and baker asked him if he was okay.
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"He stayed with me for about half an hour checking over me and asking me if I needed anything. I was really grateful for that."
During their brief meeting, Stingemore told Hollywood it was nice to meet him "despite the circumstances".
"I even joked it was a shame he didn't bring any cakes," the pilot said. "He was a great bloke, I couldn't have asked for any more."
Fortunately, Stingemore managed to perform a "clean" landing and only reported a grazed leg and a bruised rib before Hollywood and his instructor went to check on him.
Related: Bake Off's Prue Leith breaks silence on her replacement
"I was lucky I didn't panic because it took a couple of seconds to register what happened but I did all I could to get the plane into the wind and kept it as flat and level as I could to land," Stingemore said.
In other Hollywood news, just last month, the TV star weighed in on his co-star Prue Leith exiting the celebrity series and being replaced by Caroline Waldegrave. The new judge made her Bake Off debut on The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer in March, with Hollywood praising her "unsurpassable" knowledge.
"It's quite daunting," he told Channel 4 of joining such a well-oiled machine with a close cast. "But Caroline's knowledge is unsurpassable. Within the first couple of hours, she'd settled right in," Hollywood continued.
"We're all pretty open and get on with everybody in the tent whoever joins us. There's a sort of collective hug."
The Great British Bake Off and its spin-off Bake Off: An Extra Slice both air on Channel 4 in the UK. In the US, it's known as The Great British Baking Show, and streams on Netflix.
Read more Great British Bake Off news on our dedicated homepage
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
