Bake Off winner rules out replacing Prue Leith as a show judge
NADIYA HUSSAIN has dismissed rumours that she could be in line to take over from Prue Leith as judge on The Great British Bake Off.
The former show winner said she was enjoying her current projects too much. They have recently included presenting The Big Family Cooking Showdown,
hosting Nadiya’s British Food Adventure plus penning a novel and two cookery books. Asked on this week’s The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV about whether she would return to the show that first brought her fame, she announced: “No. I am really enjoying doing this right now and I enjoy doing what I love.
“I am not motivated by anything apart from if I like it and it makes me happy, then I’ll do it. I’m not motivated by money, I’m not motivated by travel, if I enjoy doing it, that’s what I’ll do.
“I love writing and I love cooking... it’s always been therapy for me to be able to do those things. I am really proud of some of the things that I have been able to do.”
Speculation about her future involvement on the show came amid Leith’s mishap last week, when she accidentally revealed this year’s Bake Off winner hours before the final was broadcast.
Full of sympathy for the television cookery pro, Hussain said: “I remember just that moment thinking, ‘Nobody in the world wants to be Prue right now’ and I felt so bad for her... It would have been okay if it had been week three or four, you could live with that. It’s horrible.”
Despite the unfortunate end, she said that she enjoyed watching this year’s season, which has moved from the BBC to Channel 4 and swapped previous presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins for Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig.
While the changes have divided viewer opinions, the mother of three said: “I love watching it, it’s not changed that much.
“Having Noel and Sandi there has changed the dynamic slightly. It feels different to me because Mel and Sue aren’t there. For me, they made the show.
“It’s also very different when you are in the show and you watch it back with other people in it because you feel quite defensive, you feel like it’s your tent. You become emotionally attached.”