Prue Leith’s replacement on the forthcoming special of Great British Bake Off has been revealed.
The restaurateur, 84, has been a part of the much-loved baking programme since its move from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017, replacing the expert role formerly held by Mary Berry.
Last year, Leith said she realised Bake Off’s filming schedule had become too intense when she was forced to sacrifice time off and seeing her family in order to keep up with the show’s demands.
Her longtime friend, Caroline Waldegrave OBE, will step in for her. Waldegrave is the former managing director and co-owner of Leiths School of Food and Wine.
She will join co-hosts Noel Fielding, Alison Hammond, and Paul Hollywood for the show’s special edition, Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer.
Although Leith was adamant she has not quit the show for good in an interview on This Morning last year, she said she found it difficult to keep up with its challenging schedule.
“These things are filmed back-to-back all the way through summer from April to August so you don't get any time off,” she said. “I'm getting quite old and there's places I want to see. So I'm not doing this year's.”
She shut down rumours she was quitting, saying: “It's absolutely not true at all!. What I'm not doing this year is the celebrity one.”
Twenty famous faces will take part in the contest including Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, property presenter Sarah Beeny, Loose Women panelist Gloria Hunniford, radio host Roman Kemp, and Dinnerladies star Maxine Peake.
Last year, Leith confessed she didn’t actually watch the show she presented.
“I mostly don’t watch. I’m too vain,” she told The Times, admitting that she cannot bear to watch more than a couple of episodes at most.
“I just think, ‘Oh my God, why do they always have me eating?’ Which is a very ugly thing to be doing. And never Paul [Hollywood, her fellow judge].
“I may be imagining this. I think, ‘Oh my God, I wish the cameraman wasn’t going round the back and taking photographs of my fat places. And my profile is awful.”
