Prue Leith explains why she doesn’t watch Great British Bake Off
‘I may be imagining this’ admitted the star as she explained the ‘ridiculous’ and ‘awful’ reasons
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Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has explained why she doesn’t watch the show.
It comes shortly after the star admitted that she had almost tried to quit after the recording schedule meant she was never seeing her family.
The restaurateur, 84, has been a part of the much-loved baking programme since its move from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017, replacing the expert role formerly held by Mary Berry.
“I mostly don’t watch. I’m too vain,” she told The Times, admitting that she cannot bear to watch more than a couple of episodes at most.
“I just think, ‘Oh my God, why do they always have me eating?’ Which is a very ugly thing to be doing. And never Paul [Hollywood, her fellow judge].
“Paul gets the sort of good stare, and he looks fantastic. But you don’t see Paul putting much food in his mouth.”
She said that she felt the filming and angles portrayed her in an unflattering light.
“I may be imagining this. I think, ‘Oh my God, I wish the cameraman wasn’t going round the back and taking photographs of my fat places. And my profile is awful.
“And why don’t I keep my chin up, and then my double chin wouldn’t show?’ It’s ridiculous, because I am what I am. And everybody knows what I am. They seem to not mind. So why do I mind? But I do. So I don’t watch it much. But I force myself to watch a couple, because I think I ought to.”
It comes shortly after Sandra Toksvig divided the internet after she admitted that she doesn’t watch the show, and doesn’t stay in touch with any of her co-stars other than Leith.
“It’s not for me. I walked away from the biggest paycheque of my life, but that’s fine. I’d never watched it. I still haven’t watched it. I didn’t understand it,” said Toksvig.
Going even further, she said: “Cakes are readily available in the shops. I didn’t enjoy the process. You stand at the end of a long table for hours when Prue and Paul taste everything and we literally didn’t speak or taste anything.”
Pointless presenter and author Richard Osman hit out at Toksvig as he commented on a post about the article, saying: “I honestly don’t think you should present shows you wouldn’t watch.”
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