BBC News said Paul is a judge only on 4.

That's how I feel about it as well. I can't be too hard on Paul for deciding to stay, its not his fault the show is moving to C4, he just wants to keep his job at the end of the day. Granted it doesn't look the best when the others have come out with their dignified statements.

Now Mary is going, I won't feel bad about not watching on C4, I don't want adverts and it really isn't Bake off anymore.

I do think Jay Hunt's on very unsteady ground now. They might give her until the first special but I can't see her lasting any longer than that. She's essentially forked out 75m for a tent and the least popular judge.

The worst thing is they're tied into a 3 year contract now, so if it does flop it's going to be a huge white elephant for them having to stick with it for the entire contract. From what I've been told, Love Productions have been guaranteed a primetime slot too, so there's not even the chance of moving it to daytime if it flops.

I bet they threw money at him. It's easy for us to criticise him, but what would you do in his place? Honestly, not on a high horse.

The only person who'll be pleased about this Bake Off drama is CJ de Mooi off Eggheads, seeing as he's just been arrested at Heathrow for Murder. At least that won't be the main headline on the news!

For him to not realise, like the Musketeers, he's stronger with the other three speaks volumes about the man. Has he been swayed by an extra £100-200k per year to be the face of an ersatz version? Is that all it took? Bought cheaply if that's the case....

The rumours were that he was close to sticking with the BBC when they offered 4x what he's currently paid now, so I expect that Channel 4 have bested that by quite some margin. I think he's tarnished his reputation now though. If Mary had gone, at least people might have had the notion he wanted to stick with Mary. Now it looks like he thinks he's the show and it looks like he's followed the money.

Paul isn't living on the breadline. He is a millionaire. He, like I would have done in his place, could have shown integrity. The three ladies managed it quite well.

Shocking business isn't it? It is like if a rubbish apprentice team was tasked to do TV contract negotiations.

Depends how loaded I already was and what else the BBC could offer in terms of programming. It seems other programmes might've been in the pipeline so his desertion to Ch4 looks like nothing but pure greed.

From Broadcast:
2.04m (20.4%)

Exactly, media isn't real life. In real life, you would be applauded for taking the better paying job. But in media, when you're already being paid £900,000 for 10 weeks work a year, I think a lot of people would find it hard to sympathise with someone wanting even more money than that.

Sky News now picking up on Paul not thanking Mary in his statement. Will this now become a thing in its own right? More fumbling the ball in this story.

C4 were desperate to try to salvage anything from this utter disaster, so he could play hard ball and get a lot more cash.

Jay Hunt will find it's too little too late, she will be on her way out.

He would probably have retained his existing programmes on the BBC, and by some report, have added host on Top Gear plus any new replacement Bake Off programme.

Disloyal, lacking in integrity, and going for the money - that's how it now comes across.

Paul's just this minute tweeted:

"I'm staying in the tent with the bakers where I belong. I want to thank Mary. I'll miss her but she has made the right decision for her." https://twitter.com/PaulHollywood/st...07656039854080

He knows he's ballsed up his statement, and is doing damage control as fast as possible. Bit late though - someone should have bloody proofread the statement!

Exactly, he was an extremely well paid man already and there's very much an element of greed about it.

If they'd all moved fair enough but I think in the circumstances it would have been a lot more credible to follow the lead of his co-stars and accept the very fair offer the BBC had made.

It's a lifeline for C4 but I'm not convinced it's going to be enough.

Well, there is no denying that lol. I'm trying to be kind, but it really doesn't look the best.

Tweet sounds a bit mardy. His true character leaking out it seems.

Oh dear, he's made a mess of that at the worst possible time. How could he forget Mary? Even if he didn't like her thats a huge blunder.

That tweet says it all. His PR team will have been working in overdrive to try and kill any rumours about Paul and Mary falling out or Paul's ego. Too little, too late.

He got it out far too quick, it didn't follow the recipe and had a bit of a soggy bottom...

Tasted bitter too.

There's all the talk about how if Mary, Mel and Sue make a BBC baking challenge show they may get sued, but clarkson etc left TG and almost immediately made a series about fast cars, trips going fast abroad and general mayhem, even used the same initials GT, yet there's been no hint of suing them.

Clause there prevented them from doing another TV show too similar and too soon but as it's internet that gets around that restriction is my layman's understanding.