‘I met Prue Leith before she quit Bake Off – she shared true feelings over Paul Hollywood’
As rumours swirl over her potential replacement, Dame Prue Leith has opened up on her relationship with Great British Bake Off stalwart Paul Hollywood – and the one thing she wishes the cameras would never show

After nine seasons of The Great British Bake Off, Dame Prue Leith has quit the show, saying: “Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years, I have genuinely loved it.”

She insists that it is simply “the right time” to step down from her role as a judge on the ever-popular baking show: “I’m 86 for goodness’ sake!” she told The Times, explaining there is still a lot she wants to do in life, “not least spend summers enjoying my garden.”

Prue and husband John Playfair are huge fans of travel, venturing to off-the-beaten track destinations such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan With Bake Off taking up such a sizeable chunk of her summers, said quitting the show was the natural choice.

But Prue will miss fellow-judge Paul Hollywood, she says: “We’re very good friends,” she said, revealing that they tend to stay in the same hotel when they’re working on Bake Off or its US cousin,The Great American Baking Show

She explains: “We will normally have a drink together and then probably Paul will go off to watch football and I will just skip supper because we’ve been eating all day and I don’t really feel like it.”

However, Prue adds, there is one thing she doesn’t like about working on Bake Off with Paul. Whenever she watches the show – which is, she stresses, rarely – they show one thing she really doesn’t like: . “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.”

Whenever the camera cuts to Paul, Prue says, all viewers ever see is that memorable steely-eyed gaze: “Paul gets the sort of good stare, and he looks fantastic. But you don’t see Paul putting much food in his mouth.

Prue, who has judged 400 challenges across nine series of Bake Off, added: “I may be imagining this. I think, ‘I wish the cameraman wasn’t going round the back and taking photographs of my fat places.

“And my profile is awful,” she adds, “And why don’t I keep my chin up, and then my double chin wouldn’t show?’ It’s ridiculous because I am what I am. And everybody knows what I am. They seem to not mind. So why do I mind? But I do.”

There’s widespread speculation that Prue’s spot in the next series might be taken by someone who has already demonstrated an ability to combine culinary skills with the kind of Carry On innuendo that Bake Off is known for” “Nigella [Lawson] is recognised worldwide,” a source told The Sun.

“She’s got the cheeky banter down to a tee, with all her work laden with the fun innuendos and naughty patter that are synonymous with Bake Off. Prue has been wonderful but Nigella will be a sure-fire hit.”

Prue says she has no clue who will be replacing her: “Whoever joins the team, I’m sure they’ll love it as much as I have. I feel very lucky to have been part of it.”