Nigella Lawson speaks out on new role on The Great British Bake Off

Nigella Lawson will leave the “technical” judging to Paul Hollywood and focus on the “eating” on The Great British Bake Off.

After Dame Prue Leith, 85, left the beloved Channel 4 programme earlier this month, Nigella, 66, has stepped in to join Paul, 59, as his new co-judge, but the chef is planning to leave all of the scrutinising of contestants to “Mr. Technical” as she does not “look for fault”.

Speaking on Thursday's (29.01.26) episode of This Morning, she said: “I feel that I'm not someone who looks for fault. I look for pleasure as a basic. That is my basic - I wouldn’t say it's philosophy - my basic attitude in life.

“And I feel that Paul Hollywood is, you know, Mr. Technical. I'm all about the eating.

“You know, if I see my job as eating, I feel it's not so it's not too daunting. I can eat.”

When asked whether she would be a good contestant on Bake Off, Nigella admitted her clumsiness might prevent her from ever finding victory in the tent.

She said: “Well, I am the clumsiest person in the world, you know, so as long as I don't knock any of their cakes off a table, or a stand …”

Nigella added she “wouldn’t be very good” competing on Bake Off as she often “gets derailed” in the kitchen.

She explained: “Because I like just enjoying things, and I get derailed as I'm now chatting, but what I feel is, is that they're mixing the coziness of baking with this, if you like, this adrenaline of competition, and it is drama.

“And I feel that, in a way, it's what's important is not to lose either. And I think that's what people love about it.”

Even so, Nigella emphasised Bake Off was a very different beast when compared to simple home cooking.

She noted: “The thing is, all how you cook at home or how you bake them like, it's not the same as how you would bake in Bake Off, of course.

“So, it's this coming together, of the excitement of competition. I mean, I will be terrified.”

As well as Paul, Nigella will be joining presenters Noel Fielding, 52, and Alison Hammond, 50, and the How To Be A Domestic Goddess writer said she was “really looking forward” to being a part of the team.

She shared: “Well, I'm really looking forward to it. Listen, I think Prue is just fantastic, and Mary Berry was fantastic before.

“So if I think about it like that, I do, then I feel like, ‘Oh no’, you know, I get really frightened. So I've just got to say, you know, that they have given me the honour of offering me this, and I just want to do it as well as I can, and just, you know, become a part of it and enjoy it.

“I'm very excited about meeting all these new bakers to come. And that's it. It is very much about them [on] the show, and that's how that's what I love about it as well. You know, lots of competition programmes can be a bit hard edge, and it's [not that].”