Dame Prue Leith says Bake Off 'doesn't really need a second judge'
Dame Prue Leith was a judge on The Great British Bake Off alongside Paul Hollywood from 2017 until 2025.
Dame Prue Leith thinks Paul Hollywood is capable of judging The Great British Bake Off on his own.
The 86-year-old food expert - who announced her exit as a critic on the Channel 4 show in January - believes he does not need a right-hand person casting their eye over the aspiring bakers with him as chef Paul, 59, can easily spot errors and successes.
Prue - who replaced chef Dame Mary Berry, 90, as judge in 2017 when The Great British Bake Off's move from the BBC to Channel 4 - told the Daily Star newspaper: "Paul is lovely, and he really knows his stuff, especially on bread.
"He's really good at his job, and he could, frankly, do the job without you. He doesn't really need a second judge because he knows it all and is excellent at it."
Food writer Nigella Lawson, 66, replaced Prue as the second judge on The Great British Bake Off, and the latter said "she'll be very different".
Prue added: "But she's a class act, she really knows what she's doing.
"She knows her onions - people will expect her to know about cake, which she certainly does, but what they won't expect is how clever she is, how sharp, witty - she's really erudite.
"She's a fantastically clever woman."
Prue has no regrets about quitting The Great British Bake Off to enjoy some downtime.
Appearing on ITV's Lorraine on Thursday (26.02.26), she said: "It's the right thing to do just because I'm getting on, and I don't have much time left.
"And I suddenly realised I will never again have a summer holiday in Europe, I'll never be able to go to France or Italy, or Greece or Spain, because I'll be filming. You film all summer.
"And I just thought I want to do that. And so, of course, I could have holidays in the winter if you go to South Africa, because I'm South African, so I love the sun.
"But I wanted a European holiday, so this year, I'm going to take the whole family to France for a week, and I could never do that before."
Prue added: "It was important to leave Bake Off while I still have enough energy to enjoy my life, and I must say, I do."
