Prue ‘in a state’ after revealing Bake Off winner before show

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith said she was in a “state” last night after accidentally revealing the show’s winner ahead of the final episode while she was in a different time zone.

The latest series of the baking show, the first on Channel 4, came to an end with a hotlyanticipated finale last night, with former Army officer Sophie Faldo being crowned the winner.

Earlier yesterday, Leith, 77, who replaced Mary Berry when the TV hit left the BBC, revealed the winner on Twitter just seconds after confirming she had signed up for another series.

The tweet was later removed from Leith’s page but by then it had already been seen by some of the show’s army of fans.

After her error became clear, an upset-sounding Leith said she was in “a state”.

She is in Bhutan, which is six hours ahead of the UK.

“The time difference is massive. I thought that they got it six hours ago,” she said. “I’m in too much of a state to talk about it. It was a mistake. I f ***** up.”

She later tweeted: “I am so sorry to the fans of the show for my mistake this morning, I am in a different time zone and mortified by my error.”

Ms Faldo, 34, beat finalists Steven Carter-bailey and Kate Lyon to the top spot after stunning the judges for a tenth week with her culinary skills.

Her showstopper, a honey bee-themed version of a traditional entremet cake – a multi-layered dessert using different textures – saw her pull out all the stops as she created lemon curd, white chocolate and lavender mousse, set honey custard and hazelnut feuilletine (crispy flakes) from scratch, as well as edible bees and a marbled mirror glaze.

Leith described it as “stunning”, “beautiful” and “original”, while co-judge Paul Hollywood said that he “loved it”.

Presenter Sandi Toksvig held back tears as she announced Ms Faldo’s win during a prerecorded garden party attended by the season’s previous contestants and their families.

Commenting on her time in the tent, Ms Faldo said: “It was very surreal, and I hadn’t allowed myself to think that I could win it up to that moment in time when they said my name and then the enormity of it hit me.

“I do keep my emotions under control, so there wasn’t really a point in the tent that I would burst into tears. It wasn’t going to happen at the end of the final either, because if anything it was a relief.

Throughout the 30 bakes she has presented on the show, Ms Faldo was twice named star baker and received the coveted “Hollywood handshake”.

She said her favourite part of the show was patisserie week. Winner Sophie Faldo, above, was announced ahead of time accidentally by Prue Leith, left