Prue Leith has said she ‘didn’t want to overstay her welcome’ as she opened up about her decision to quit the Great British Bake Off.
The television personality, 85, announced she was stepping back from Bake Off in January and it has since been confirmed Nigella Lawson will take her place, and will join co-judge Paul Hollywood when the new series begins filming in April.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Prue said: ‘I’ve never wanted to overstay my welcome in anything.
‘Just like you don’t want to stay too long at a dinner party, I think it’s important to leave while you’re happy and enjoying it and people aren’t fed up with you.’
Prue also offered her advice to new host Nigella when asked what her pearls of wisdom are.
‘Just enjoy it, because you’ll never have a nicer job’, she added.
Prue Leith, 85, has said she ‘didn’t want to overstay her welcome’ as she opened up about her decision to quit the Great British Bake Off
It has since been confirmed Nigella Lawson will take her place, and will join co-judge Paul Hollywood when the new series begins filming in April
The TV chef, who replaced former show judge Mary Berry in 2017, explained her departure at the time in an interview with The Spectator.
She said: ‘I have been dithering for years about when to stop judging The Great British Bake Off.
‘When I joined nine years ago, I thought, since I was in my mid-seventies, that I’d be lucky to manage two years.
‘At that age, my mother was deaf as a post and away with the fairies, believing her son was her father and that her cat was the one she’d had 40 years before.
‘But my marbles stayed more or less in place and there seemed no good reason to give up a job I loved.
‘Finally, though, the desire to work less and play more got to me. Bake Off and its offshoots such as The Great American Baking Show and even the Christmas specials are all filmed in the summer, which has meant I could never have a summer holiday.’
Prue explained that a recent getaway to Madagascar was what finally convinced her that it was time to move on.
‘I suddenly realised that if I don’t give up Bake Off, I’ll never again have a holiday in the south of France, in Italy, in Spain, or even in Cornwall or Scotland,’ she said.
Prue said: ‘I’ve never wanted to overstay my welcome in anything. ‘Just like you don’t want to stay too long at a dinner party, I think it’s important to leave while you’re happy and enjoying it and people aren’t fed up with you’
Nigella will takeover from Prue and star alongside Paul Hollywood, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding
Expressing her desire to ‘reorganise my life a bit’, she went on: ‘I’ve made truly great friends. It has been a joy to work in such great company.
‘I find it irritating when businesses insist their staff are all just one happy family. But that tent does seem to create an atmosphere of enjoyment, friendship and mutual support.
‘But in the end, I persuaded myself that at 86, it was time I jumped before I was pushed.
‘In all my conversations over the past two years with the bosses of Love Productions, which makes the programme, they’ve always insisted I was doing a great job and could stay as long as I like.
‘And I know I’d enjoy it if I stayed. But I do want to reorganise my life a bit. Ideally, I’d like to work in winter and play in summer.’
Nigella previously admitted being daunted by the big shoes she had to fill, following two ‘great dames’ in Prue and Mary.
She said in a statement: ‘I’m uncharacteristically rather lost for words right now. Of course it’s daunting to be following in the footsteps of Prue Leith and Mary Berry before her, great dames both, but I’m also bubbling with excitement.
‘The Great British Bake Off is more than a television programme, it’s a National Treasure – and it’s a huge honour to be entrusted with it.’
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