Prue Leith won’t be tuning in to watch herself on ‘The Great British Bake Off’.
The 77-year-old TV chef has taken over from baking legend Mary Berry as a judge on the former BBC One show, which will make its debut on Channel 4 tonight (29.08.17) and, despite bosses being desperate for it to do well with ratings, Prue and new presenter Sandi Toksvig won’t be among the viewers because they can’t stand seeing themselves on screen.
Prue told the Daily Star newspaper: "I don’t watch myself. I can’t bear it. I’m saying: ‘Why is the cameraman taking shots of all my fat places’ and ‘Why isn’t he up here so I can’t see my double chin.’"
And Sandi, 59 – who is joined by comic Noel Fielding as the replacements for hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins for the revamped show – added: "I don’t watch myself on TV."
Meanwhile, Prue – who will be joined by original judge Paul Hollywood – has admitted she worried she was too old to land the gig when she first went for the judging role – despite Mary being in her 80s – because she thought rival Rachel Allen would be a more popular choice because she is in her 40s.
Speaking at the launch for the new series, she said: "That’s it. She’s half my age and a very good baker and so I didn’t think about it again."
The restauranteur also revealed that she had to audition for the role by judging a staged baking challenge in front of head judge Paul, which took her by surprise.
She said: "[It] turned out to be a full-scale audition with baking going on and people pretending to be the bakers and us having to do a judging session. I wasn’t expecting that."
However, the 51-year-old Liverpudlian was clearly impressed by her performance and Prue had to return to the kitchen to audition for a second time, before she got the call to say she could have the job.
She said: "I thought ‘Don’t they know now?’ I went down and we did the whole thing all over again.
"Then they rang up and said: ‘Do you want the job?’"
Prue Leith won’t watch Great British Bake Off
