The next season of The Great British Baking Show (or the Great British Bake Off in its home country) is going to feel very strange, as it'll mark the first season in nearly a decade without the iconic Prue Leith as a judge. The baking queen announced back in January that she would be leaving the show. For the upcoming episodes, Nigella Lawson is set to take over as judge alongside Paul Hollywood, who has been with the show since day one. New episodes will begin shooting this summer and, in the meantime, some may wonder why Prue is leaving in the first place.
Leith frequently makes me laugh when I’m enjoying The Great British Baking Show but, due to a recent appearance on the BBC’s The One Show, she almost had me crying. The media personality stated, pretty bluntly, why she made the decision to leave the show, and it ultimately comes down to the fact that she’s 86 years old, and understands that she doesn’t have a lot of time left. Still, she also had this to say…
I think I will miss them, I’ll miss the guys. I’ll miss the crew and everything. But you know, nine years is enough, and I’m running out of time. So I need more time to do other things I want to do.
Certainly, nobody is expecting Prue Leith to shuffle off this mortal coil anytime soon. She appears to be in remarkably good shape for an 86-year-old, but there is certainly less time in front of her. As unfortunate as it may be for fans to confront the fact that the restauranteur is getting up in age, Leith herself isn't shying away from it. She’s too old not to spend he remaining time doing what she wants to do with it.
The good news for fans is that Prue likely isn’t going to disappear from TV entirely. She also mentioned that pursuing other endeavors related to TV other than Bake Off are among the ways she wants to spend her remaining time. Yet she also clearly wants to work less and is looking forward to taking this summer off. Check out her full comments below.
While Bake Off has had many new hosts during its run, Prue Leith’s departure is only the second judging change the show has seen in its 16 seasons. Baker Mary Berry was the co-judge alongside Paul Hollywood during the show’s first seven seasons. When the series changed networks from BBC One to Channel Four, Berry left the show and was replaced by Leith.
Prue Leith will surely be missed by fans, though I wish her well in her future endeavors. All the while, something that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon is how someone can watch the show here in the United States. A Netflix subscription is required to watch old and new seasons of the show, as new episodes drop just days after they air in the UK. I'll certainly be watching this season to see how Nigella Lawson takes over from Leith.
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