Prue says Paul is mean with amateurs
Modern art lover Prue Leith is a big fan of late Edinburgh weaver Archie Brennan and is lending a tapestry he made for her to the first major exhibition of his work.
Archie died last year, aged 88.
He made Prue a tapestry of herself.
Prue said: “It’s a window scene and
I’m standing behind a venetian blind staring through the slats. It is very strange as it always seems like I am keeping an eye on myself.”
The show at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios will also feature Roslin-born Archie’s famous Muhammad Ali tapestry.
The 80-year-old chef says her co-host is “mean” when it comes to shaking the hands of amateur cooks but doesn’t have such high standards when it comes to famous folk.
Prue, who will quarantine for six weeks with Paul, presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas and this year’s contestants to allow the Channel 4 series to go ahead, said: “Paul is very odd. He can be unbel ievably mean with his handshakes. “He is much nicer with the celebrities I have noticed – his standards drop with them.
“He thinks they are amateurs, so he hands mo re handshakes to t h em because they don’t have to do so well to gain his approval.
“If you are one of the amateur bakers – a real Bake Off contestant – you have to be damn good, near-on perfect to get a Hollywood handshake.”
Prue, who took over from Mary Berry on the cult baking show in 2017, said he’s never given her a handshake either.
She said: “During lockdown, I have been working hard on rectifying that.
“My ambition is to perfect his recipe for brioche a tete before I see him again – it’s