Prue Leith has been replaced by one of her close friends on the Celebrity Great British Bake Off
Prue Leith has been replaced by one of her close friends on the Celebrity Great British Bake Off
As the Celebrity Great British Bake Off graces our screens this weekend, fans will be curious as to why Prue Leith isn’t joining Paul Hollywood in the judging line-up as per usual. The Stand Up To Cancer special’s first episode is set to air on Sunday 16th, featuring a stellar cast including presenters Amelia Dimoldenberg and Kate Garraway, actor Jim Howick, and comedian Adam Buxton.
Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond are back to host, with Paul Hollywood ready to dish out his coveted handshakes to the celeb contestants. However, Prue won’t be seen under the iconic tent this year.
Last year, it came to light that 84-year-old Prue had decided to concentrate on the main series, opting out of the celebrity specials. Her replacement will be Caroline Waldegrave OBE, who happens to be one of her dear friends.
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In a chat with This Morning last year, Prue confirmed she wasn’t leaving the show permanently but was finding the demanding filming schedule tough to keep up with, hence her decision to step down from the celebrity edition, reports the Mirror.
She shared: “These things are filmed back-to-back all the way through summer from April to August so you don’t get any time off. I’m getting quite old and there’s places I want to see. So I’m not doing this year’s.”
Prue Leith expressed her candid thoughts on aging earlier this year on Loose Women, stating, “old age stinks”. She elaborated, “It takes me 10 minutes to get myself out of bed in the morning. If I don’t do the exercises I can’t move. There’s all sorts of things that are wrong with old age.”
Taking over from Prue is Caroline, also known as Lady Waldegrave of North Hill, who co-founded Leith’s School of Food and Wine with Prue. Caroline has co-authored several cookbooks, including Leith’s Cookery Bible and Leith’s Seasonal Bible.
Caroline admitted to being “completely terrified” about stepping in for Prue but received a warm welcome with banners and flowers outside her shepherd’s hut. Prue’s advice to Caroline was to speak her mind and “be brave”, which Caroline took to heart, saying, “she is brave and says what she thinks and I think I got braver.”
In this season’s celebrity Bake Off, contestants will face challenges such as baking classic scones, an old-school favourite, and creating a cake that represents their career highlight.
Other contestants include Sarah Beeny, Scarlette and Stuart Douglas, Ellie Goldstein, Gloria Hunniford OBE, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Roman Kemp, Jamali Maddix, Maxine Peake, Chris and Rosie Ramsey, Self Esteem, Meera Syal, Tommy Tiernan, Phil Way, and Sophie Willan.
