Who is Bake Off judge Prue Leith and how long has she co-hosted the C4 baking show?

PRUE Leith is back on our TV screens to deliver her quick-witted critiques on The Great British Bake Off.

Co-hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding are ready to welcome a dozen new contestants to the 15th series of Channel 4's famous British baking competition.

Celeb chef

Prue Leith is a restaurateur, cookery writer and television presenter.

She was born in South Africa on February 18, 1940.

Prue said she was inspired to cook by a woman she worked for as an au pair in France.

The budding chef then decided to learn to cook at the Cordon Bleu in London.

Prue's long career has involved running her own business, books and obviously her TV work.

She is thought to have earned three times more than Mary Berry when she took over her position on the revamped Great British Bake Off in 2017.

The veteran telly cook was said to have signed a deal with Channel 4 worth around £200,000 per series.

It dwarfs the £70,000 both Mary and co-judge Paul Hollywood commanded for the show under the BBC.

The savvy TV personality is no stranger to a lucrative deal.

When she sold off her food interests in 1995, her culinary group’s turnover was £15million, according to

Despite taking a break from the celebrity edition show in March, she returns with Paul Hollywood to judge the contestants alongside bubbly co-hosts, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding.

Cooking her way to the top

Starting her career catering for high-class business lunches, Prue worked her way up to opening her own restaurant, Leith's, that was eventually awarded a Michelin star.

During her cooking career, she opened Leith's School of Food and Wine in 1974 - selling it almost 20 years later.

Prue has been recognised around the world for her contributions to the cooking world.

She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1989, and then a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2010.

The writer is good friends with former GBBO judge Mary Berry and she tried to pay tribute to her pal when she first joined the show, but producers didn't allow it.

In 2017, Prue signed on to become a judge on Channel 4's The Great British Bake Off, after it moved over from the BBC.

As well as receiving recognition for her culinary skills, Prue has won over many fans with her bright and bold eyewear.

In 2022, she even launched her own range of glasses in collaboration with MAC & PURE Eyewear, called Specs by Prue.

Her love of fashion continues, stunning her fans after she hit the catwalk at London Fashion Week in 2024 wearing a leather-look dress.

Judging it

Prue has been a judge on Great British Menu for a whopping 10 years (2006-2016) while also juggling the same position on My Kitchen Rules between 2014 and 2017.

Prue has also been a regular on ITV's This Morning where she's used the platform to educate people on a healthier diet and yummy cooking recipes.

In 2023 she took part in a documentary with her son Danny Kruger MP, called Prue And Danny's Death Road Trip.

Prue Leith's Cotswold Kitchen is an ITVX documentary that features Prue presenting in her own idyllic Cotswolds home kitchen alongside her husband John Playfair in 2024.

Love & Loss

Prue was married to author Rayne Kruger for 40 years before his death in 2002, and the pair had two children together.

But in her memoir, Relish: My Life On A Plate, Prue revealed that before they eventually wed, they had a 13-year affair, as Rayne was her mother’s best friend’s husband.

Speaking on This Morning about her decision to write an autobiography she said: “I thought long and hard about it. I knew there would be a bit in it that people thought were shocking.

"But I thought if I’m going to write it, it has to be true.

"If it was interesting, even if it was controversial, I would put it in. Most people remember things differently. I put what I remember.”

After marrying John Playfair in 2016, the TV chef said she "felt like a teenager again" due to her thriving sex life with her husband, seven years her junior.

Prue written

Prue has written a number of fiction and non-fiction books, all centred around cooking.

Her fiction includes The Food Of Love trilogy, as well as The Gardener.

Her cookbooks include Leith's How To Cook, Leith's Cookery Bible, and Leith's Techniques Bible.

One of her biggest achievements is simply maintaining her love for cooking.

On her website, Prue writes: "I love cooking, the doing of it... I still like experimenting and trying stuff and eating things I’ve never eaten before."