Prue Leith is joining Paul Hollywood on the US version of The Great British Bake Off, turning her into a TV star stateside aged 82.
The veteran cook, who has proved a firm favourite on the UK version since 2017, will film the six-part series, plus a celebrity special later this year.
The show has not aired in the US since before the pandemic, with the last episode shown in January 2020. Now it is moving stations from ABC to streaming service The Roku Channel. Prue will be replacing former judge, chef Sherry Yard, 58.
The news comes as a surprise after Prue had recently indicated she was planning to slow down a bit, spending more time in the garden and with her grandchildren, plus travelling with her husband John Playfair.
She has previously said that Americans find the show very quaint. “All their competition shows are aggressive and competitors diss each other and try to get ahead,” Prue explained.
“They can’t understand that Bake Off, or The Baking Show, has no prize apart from winning.”
The US series – called The Great American Baking Show – has always been filmed in the UK in the iconic tent. Paul, 56, has appeared in several US versions of the show including with co-judge Marcela Valladolid, 43 – with whom he had an affair – and the pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini, 47.
His former co-judge on Bake Off, Mary Berry, also appeared alongside Paul for two runs on the US version.
A spokeswoman for Love Productions, which makes the show for the American audience, said it will be sticking with the same format.
