Prue Leith shares 'worrying' update on Great British Bake Off future after missing series

Prue Leith has revealed she is thinking about leaving The Great British Bake Off.

The 85-year-old has been a judge on the much-loved Channel 4 baking show since 2017, when she took over from former judge Mary Berry. But eight years on, Prue has hinted the upcoming series of Bake Off - which will film from April to June before airing on TV in September- could be her last.

Though she still appears sprightly, octogenarian Prue - who doesn't look her age - has admitted she "definitely feels a bit older" these days and is "worried" about how she'll cope with the long hours it takes to film Bake Off, as well as the busy filming schedule which leaves her with little time off.

Determined to go out on a high, Prue said she is "very keen" to step away from the show before she was pushed by bosses - and "might stop next year". It comes after the TV chef and restauranteur stepped away from filming Bake Off specials last year.

At the time, she told This Morning: "These things are filmed back-to-back all the way through summer from April to August, so you don't get any time off. I'm getting quite old and there's places I want to see, so I'm not doing this year's." Instead her pal and fellow cookery expert Caroline Waldegrave stepped in to be a judge.

But in a new interview, Prue admitted she is weighing up leaving the show altogether. She told the Mail on Sunday: "I'm doing this year's Bake Off, and I don't know if this will be my last. I've got to stop some time, so I might stop next year.

"I thought I'd just see how I go this year, because I definitely feel a bit older this year than I did last year. Things like getting out of a chair takes me longer than it used to. I don't like big steps without a handrail.

"None of these things worried me two years ago – I could run upstairs – and so I'm very keen to leave Bake Off before I'm asked to leave. But on the other hand, I really enjoy it.'

Earlier this year, Prue declared that "old age stinks" during an appearance on ITV's Loose Women. As the audience and panel gasped and asked why, she shared: "It takes me 10 minutes to get myself out of bed in the morning. If I don't do the exercises I can't move.

"There's all sorts of things that are wrong with old age. You know, you are very conscious that this is nearly the end. We don't care what people think as much as we did, and to be honest I don't even really care if I'm cancelled."

But she isn't going anywhere just yet and Prue with be back on screens later this year alongside hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding and fellow judge Paul Hollywood for the 2025 series of Bake Off.

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