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Prue Leith reveals she tried to quit The Great British Bake Off after the filming schedule became too intense By Laura Parkin For Mailonline Published: 00:41, 17 September 2024 | Updated: 00:44, 17 September 2024 e-mail View comments Prue Leith has revealed she tried to quit The Great British Bake Off but was talked into staying by the show's producers. The restaurateur, 84, has been a judge on the cooking competition since she replaced Mary Berry 2016. And as the show gears up to return for its fifteenth series next week , Prue admitted she almost didn't come back after the intense filming schedule got too much.
She recalled how tired she became after being on set from April until the end of August with no weekends off. Speaking in an interview with The Mirror , Prue explained: 'I was in a new house and I hardly saw the garden, I hardly saw my family and I never had a summer holiday.' Prue Leith has revealed she tried to quit The Great British Bake Off but was talked into staying by the show's producers (pictured in April) The restaurateur, 84, has been a judge on the cooking competition since she replaced Mary Berry 2016 (pictured with Paul Hollywood, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding) In a bid to get her to stay the shows producers agreed to change the filming, allowing her to have more time off.
'So, I got what I wanted, which is to do less. I'm so grateful to Love Productions because they've been very accommodating,' she added. Prue previously admitted that she almost didn't apply to replace Mary Berry on the Great British Bake Off as she feared she wouldn't tick the 'diversity boxes'.
She told the Sliding Doors podcast with Jennie Becker: 'I just jumped at it. I had begun to think about it, once I knew Mary Berry was not going to go on. I thought: "Oh, I’d love that job", but I dismissed the thought.
'I thought: "They’ll get someone younger, someone more . . .
probably a young Asian chef or something, that would tick all the diversity boxes and stuff’. But no, they chose me." 'If you think about my past career, I’d had 11 years sitting at the Great British Menu as a judge and every plate has about ten tastes on it - it makes Bake Off look really simple.
'With cake, with one spoonful, you can get the icing, the filling and the crumb. I knew all the top chefs, I had a Michelin restaurant of my own so I knew that level of cooking very well.' The connection to baking specialist Maty extends to Prue's own husband, fashion designer John Playfair, 77, who frequently uses it to his advantage while commenting on his wife's cooking.
As the show gears up to return for its fifteenth series next week, Prue admitted she almost didn't come back after the intense filming schedule got too much (pictured in May) 'I won’t bake cakes since we are both too fat, so he taunts me with, "I wish I’d married Mary Berry,"' she said. The Great British Bake Off returns with its fifteenth series this month with Prue, her co-judge Paul Hollywood, and presenters Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond. A fun new trailer for the hotly-anticipated next instalment launched on Channel 4 on Friday ahead of the show thought to be returning on Tuesday September 24.
In the first look clip as the trailer viewers are invited into an animated world which reflects the warmth and inspiration that The Great British Bake Off brings to its army of fans. Mary Berry Great British Bake Off Prue Leith Share or comment on this article: Prue Leith reveals she tried to quit The Great British Bake Off after the filming schedule became too intense e-mail Add comment.
