“I’m 86 for God’s sake!” Prue Leith leaves The Great British Bake Off | Great British Bread

Prue Leith has announced that she is leaving The Great British Bake Off as one of its judges. After nine series of baking competition, she will hand over her duties to someone else.

Leith said: “Bake Off has been a wonderful part of my life for the last nine years, I have truly loved it and I am sure I will miss working with my fellow judges Paul, Alison and Noel and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4.”

“But now seems like a good time to step back (I’m 86 for God’s sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do – not least spend the summer enjoying my garden. Whoever joins the team, I’m sure will love it as much as I do. I feel very lucky to have been part of this.”

Leith joined Bake Off during its move from the BBC to Channel 4, as a replacement for original co-host Mary Berry – who chose not to leave the BBC, along with presenters Mel and Sue.

Leith’s stint as a baking competition presenter sparked controversy in 2017, when she mistakenly revealed the winner of the competition via Twitter (now X) – a mistake she blamed on the time difference between UK time and Bhutan, where she was when she tweeted.

“Once I thought ‘Oh my God’ and I went into a panic mode where I couldn’t get my phone to work and I didn’t know how to quickly delete it and I couldn’t think,” she told ITV’s This Morning the following year. “In the end, I just called my trusted personal assistant and said, ‘I already deleted the tweet,’ and that was 89 seconds after I did that, and it was too late, and it was retweeted.”

Other programs she has presented for Channel 4 since becoming one of its most prominent presenters include Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip, in which she debated the legality of euthanasia with her Tory (now Reform UK) MP son, Danny Kruger.

Love Productions said, “A huge thank you to Prue who has been a brilliant Bake Off judge and a much-loved presence in the tent for almost a decade. From her genuine experience and encouragement of the bakers to her ability to drop innocent innuendos that belittle the entire tent (and the audience at home) to tears of laughter, Prue will always have a piece of Bake Off’s heart.”

Ian Katz, Channel 4’s chief content officer, said: “Prue Leith has been a delightful presence in the tent, combining absolute culinary authority with great generosity and compassion for the bakers. We are grateful for her passion, wit, indescribable style and all the summers she has spent in the tent. She leaves an indelible mark on the show and all the bakers. We will miss her gentle judgment but look forward to working with her on new projects.”

Channel 4 has already confirmed that there will be another series of The Great British Bake Off later this year. They will announce Laith’s replacement at a later date.