Prue Leith has announced she will leave her role as a judge on The Great British Bake Off after nine series on the baking competition. The 86-year-old will hand over her duties to a new judge, with Channel 4 confirming a replacement will be named later.
Leith said: “Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years, I have genuinely loved it and I’m sure I’ll miss working with my fellow judge Paul, Alison and Noel and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4. But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do – not least spend summers enjoying my garden.”
Leith joined the show when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017, replacing Mary Berry. Her tenure included a notable controversy when she accidentally revealed the winner early on Twitter, a mistake she blamed on a time zone misunderstanding while in Bhutan.
Love Productions praised Leith as “a brilliant judge” and “a much-loved presence in the tent for nearly a decade”. Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz added: “Prue has been a joyous presence, pairing absolute culinary authority with great generosity and empathy for the bakers.”
Channel 4 has confirmed another series of Bake Off will air later this year. Leith’s other recent projects include the documentary Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip with her son, MP Danny Kruger.
