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It’s only been a matter of days since former The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith announced she was leaving the Channel 4 baking competition.
Now it has already been revealed where Prue, 85, will be heading next – after jetting off to her native South Africa to film a brand new travelogue.
The TV chef announced she was waving goodbye to Bake Off last month, spurred on by ‘a desire to work less and play more’ in her career.
She will be joined by a very familiar face to the Bake Off brand on the new venture, former show host Sandi Toksvig, who left the programme in 2020 after three years.
An insider revealed to The Sun: ‘The two women cemented their friendship during the years on Bake Off.
‘Although Sandi left the tent six years ago, they’ve remained close pals and long talked about doing more telly work together.
‘Prue’s departure from Bake Off gave her more free time to explore other work she had to keep on the back burner.’
QI presenter Sandi, who hosted Bake Off with Noel Fielding from 2017, handed over the reins to Matt Lucas, who left the show in 2022, replaced by Alison Hammond.
Since leaving the series, Prue hasn’t wasted any time – as it’s thought the new travel series has already finished filming, and will air later this year on Channel 4.
It’s likely to hit screens around the same time as the upcoming 17th series of The Great British Bake Off in August, with Nigella Lawson stepping in to judge alongside Paul Hollywood after Prue’s departure.
Nigella, 66, was confirmed to be taking her place, and will join co-judge Paul when the new series begins filming in April ahead of airing later this year.
Last week, Prue explained why she decided to step down from the Channel 4 show, admitting she had been debating it for a while, but decided to pull the trigger because she wants the chance to work more in the winter months and ‘play in the summer’.
Speaking to The Spectator, she said: ‘I have been dithering for years about when to stop judging The Great British Bake Off.
‘When I joined nine years ago, I thought, since I was in my mid-seventies, that I’d be lucky to manage two years.
‘At that age, my mother was deaf as a post and away with the fairies, believing her son was her father and that her cat was the one she’d had 40 years before.
‘But my marbles stayed more or less in place and there seemed no good reason to give up a job I loved.
‘Finally, though, the desire to work less and play more got to me. Bake Off and its offshoots such as The Great American Baking Show and even the Christmas specials are all filmed in the summer, which has meant I could never have a summer holiday.’
Prue explained that a recent getaway to Madagascar was what finally convinced her that it was time to move on.
‘I suddenly realised that if I don’t give up Bake Off, I’ll never again have a holiday in the south of France, in Italy, in Spain, or even in Cornwall or Scotland,’ she said.
Expressing her desire to ‘reorganise my life a bit’, she went on: ‘I’ve made truly great friends. It has been a joy to work in such great company.
‘I find it irritating when businesses insist their staff are all just one happy family. But that tent does seem to create an atmosphere of enjoyment, friendship and mutual support.
‘But in the end, I persuaded myself that at 86, it was time I jumped before I was pushed.
‘In all my conversations over the past two years with the bosses of Love Productions, which makes the programme, they’ve always insisted I was doing a great job and could stay as long as I like.
‘And I know I’d enjoy it if I stayed. But I do want to reorganise my life a bit. Ideally, I’d like to work in winter and play in summer.’
But Prue said that there was so much she would miss about the show, particularly fellow judge Paul and the Bake Off presenters – the ‘unstoppable, loving, hilarious’ Alison Hammond and the ‘multi-talented, slightly crazy’ Noel Fielding.
She added that she ‘never had to learn lines, rehearse, go to meetings’ and instead just had to arrive on set and eat cake all day, as she declared: ‘There cannot be a better job in the world.’
She was also full of praise for her replacement, calling Nigella a ‘great baker’ and ‘also really nice, mighty glam and seriously bright, sexy and sassy’, adding: ‘I’m just glad she wasn’t in the running nine years ago.’
Nigella previously admitted being daunted by the big shoes she had to fill, following two ‘great dames’ in Prue and Mary.
She said in a statement: ‘I’m uncharacteristically rather lost for words right now. Of course it’s daunting to be following in the footsteps of Prue Leith and Mary Berry before her, great dames both, but I’m also bubbling with excitement.
‘The Great British Bake Off is more than a television programme, it’s a National Treasure – and it’s a huge honour to be entrusted with it.’
