'She's so loving...' Dame Prue Leith praises Alison Hammond for making 'huge difference' to Bake Off team
Dame Prue Leith has said Alison Hammond has made a "huge difference" to The Great British Bake Off team since she joined in September 2023.
Dame Prue Leith has praised Alison Hammond for making a "huge difference" to The Great British Bake Off team.
In September 2023, 50-year-old Alison comedian Matt Lucas, 51, as co-host of the hit Channel 4 reality TV show with comic Noel Fielding, 52.
And Prue, 85 - who judges the contestants' bakes alongside Paul Hollywood, 59 - said Alison has brought even more love and warmth to the iconic white tent.
She told Lorraine Kelly, 65, on Lorraine's eponymous ITV1 show on Friday (18.07.25): "I think Alison has made a huge difference to the team.
"She gets on with Noel and with all of us. And she's so loving. The bakers adore her."
In 2024, Prue - who replaced the judging role formerly held by Dame Mary Berry, 90, when The Great British Bake Off moved from BBC One to Channel 4 - announced she would be stepping down from her expert role in the celebrity edition for Stand Up to Cancer.
This was because the programme's filming schedule stopped the restaurateur from spending time with her family, as well as having a holiday.
Her long-time friend Caroline Waldegrave OBE, 72 - who was the managing director and co-owner of Leith's School of Food and Wine - stepped in for Prue for the star-studded version.
But Prue will not be hanging up her judging duties anytime soon because she loves working on The Great British Bake Off, and its American counterpart, The Great American Bake Off.
The star said: "I absolutely love it.
"I keep being asked, 'I hear you're leaving.' No, this is because I don't do the Stand Up to Cancer one anymore. I stopped doing that last year because I hadn't had a holiday for eight years.
"I just said, 'You know, I can't do it.'
"I've given up celebrity, but I still do The Great American Bake Off, and I still do The Great British Bake Off. I'm a lover of them all."
And Prue declared being a judge on the programmes because all she has to do is eat the bakes.
She said: "It's the best job in telly! I don't have to learn lines, I don't have to write a script, I don't have to rehearse.
"As you say, we all go and eat cake."
