The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has announced she is leaving Channel 4’s hit competition series.
“After judging nine series and over 400 challenges, I have decided to step down as a judge on The Great British Bake Off,” Rees wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
Rees replaced Mary Berry on the 2017 Baking Show as a judge alongside Paul Hollywood to judge contestants’ baking creations. The current hosts of The Great British Bake Off are Alison Hammond, who joined in 2023, and Noel Fielding, who has been hosting the show since 2017.
“Bake Off has been a wonderful part of my life for the last nine years and I love it dearly. I will definitely miss working with my fellow judges Paul, Alison and Noel, and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4,” Reese continued. “But now it feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86!). There’s so much I want to do, especially in the summer I want to enjoy my garden. Whoever joins the team, I know they’ll love this team as much as I do. I feel very lucky to be a part of it.”
In 2024, Rees left the celebrity version of The Great British Bake Off and was replaced by Caroline Waldegrave. A replacement for the commercial plane Bake Off has not yet been announced.
Former Bake Off winners and contestants took to the comments section of Reese’s post to pray for her soul.
2018 champion Rahul Mandal wrote, “I will miss you so much.” “It was a pleasure and an honor to be in the tent with you. You were kind, funny, passionate and always an inspiration to us.”
Last year’s winner Jasmine Mitchell added: “You are amazing. We miss you so much.”
