Prue: Lockdown made Bake Off even better!
THE Great British Bake Off has risen to the challenge with a record audience on Channel 4, but at one stage this year judge Prue Leith feared she would not be part of it.
The series was postponed amid the coronavirus crisis and reports suggested Prue, who turned 80 in February, might not be on the show as bosses would struggle to get health insurance for her.
She said: “I began to feel guilty about being so old and then the Bake Off publicist said: ‘ Nonsense!’ So I didn’t worry about it, but I would have understood.”
The relief for Prue was huge as she loves being on the show, just as fans love watching – with Bake Off enjoying its best launch ratings on Channel 4, averaging 6.9 million viewers and peaking at 7.9 million.
Highlights from a dramatic opener saw contestant Sura knock fellow baker Dave’s pineapple upside- down cakes to the floor and a hilarious showstopper challenge where participants had to create three- dimensional busts of their celebrity heroes.
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They followed a sketch from new presenter Matt Lucas mocking Boris Johnson to launch the show.
Speaking about filming this year, Prue told how she enjoyed the new conditions that saw 130 cast and crew bubble up at Down Hall Hotel in Hatfield Heath, Essex.
It meant Prue Paul Hollywood and Matt, who has replaced Sandi Toksvig, and fellow host Noel Fielding couldn’t leave for six weeks – with contestants leaving one by one before the final.
“It was a little bit like being on a Butlin’s holiday camp,” she said. “We all socialised – more than I have ever done in my life. And it was extraordinary.
“You wouldn’t think you could do that in a socially-distanced Covid time. But it was partly because we were in this bubble.
I never felt safer.
“I had my two spaniels and went walking with them every day for an hour. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so much.
“They had walks through the woods because the site itself is 115 acres.
“That was great for Bake Off too, because they had space for the tent, exactly as it always is, and then we had Paul and Matt and Noel and I with little shepherds’ huts for green rooms.
“And then there were the makeup tents, the wardrobe, which were actually in big Winnebagos, and another whole set of kitchens – 12 for the bakers to practise in.”
The first show of the new series saw Prue and Co tucking into three rounds of 12 cakes but she had a clever way of not piling on weight. Prue said: “I didn’t put on any weight, but that may have been partly the dog walking. But I never ate lunch and would have yoghurt for breakfast.
“And the cake we eat would provide more calories than you need for breakfast and lunch. I would have supper. I was quite disciplined about it, but I put on some weight since coming home.”
Prue admits one of the baking contests was so close this time that she and Paul “had to go back and re- taste all the bakes” which is almost unprecedented.
She also says to watch out for a savoury bake that was so good she stole the recipe and has been making it at home.
The Great British Bake Off continues next Tuesday night on Channel 4.