Dame Prue Leith sometimes sleeps while filming The Great British Bake Off
Dame Prue Leith sometimes has a kip while shooting The Great British Bake Off because she and her co-judge, Paul Hollywood, have "hours" to relax when they are not eating the bakes.
Dame Prue Leith sometimes sleeps while filming The Great British Bake Off.
The 85-year-old food expert has plenty of time to relax when she and her 59-year-old co-judge, Paul Hollywood, are not munching on the baked goods inside the famed white tent.
Prue told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: "We just go in there, set the challenge, go off. I write a bit or have a snooze or something, and then turn up to do the judging.
"While I've been on Bake Off, I've written three cookbooks, two novels, countless articles, all because I have hours to spare."
And the star cannot believe how much money she earns by eating cake on The Great British Bake Off.
Prue admitted: "I shouldn't say this because they'll cut my pay in half, but it's such a piece of cake to do.
"It's so easy. All I have to do is walk on, eat cake, walk off and get paid. What could be easier or nicer?
"It's not an effort. Even at 5am, you don't feel, 'Oh, I've got to go to work.'
"It's not at all stressful."
With the job on the hit Channel 4 show being so easy for Prue, she is always in a good mood on set.
The restaurateur said: "When we're actually doing it, we're just having a good time. We're just having fun. We all like each other.
"I don't think I'm conscious at all that we have to keep this show nice."
However, Prue feels sorry for 50-year-old TV presenter Alison Hammond and 52-year-old comedian Noel Fielding - who both host The Great British Bake Off - because they have to work more than her and Paul.
She admitted: "I think it must be exhausting for Noel and Alison because they have to look after the bakers all the time, and keep up their energy, and keep them chirpy and cheerful.
"They have to mother them, if you like."
Prue - who joined Paul as a judge on The Great British Bake Off in March 2017, replacing Dame Mary Berry, 90, when the programme moved from the BBC to Channel 4 - has no intention of leaving the show any time soon, despite being 85.
However, when the time comes, she does not want to be "pushed" out of the job by an executive.
In August, Prue explained to My Weekly magazine: "I am loving it, I look forward to it, and it's a lovely job.
"But I want to go before I am pushed.
"I don't want some poor executive to have to come to me and say, 'Prue, I am just wondering, you are 87 or something, do you not think it's time you just stepped down?!'
"I am so proud of this show, I enjoy it so much."
