Great British Bake Off’s Prue Leith makes brutal gag at co-host Paul Hollywood – and it involves Mary Berry
THE Great British Bake Off is back home – and back to its best.
That means the lively banter between Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and pitching the famous tent in Welford Park, Berks, once more.
It had moved for two years to Down Hall in Essex due to Covid.
And now, without masks, tests and quarantining to worry about, the judges are able to concern themselves with more trivial matters, such as whether you should just “chuck” in all the ingredients when making a Victoria Sponge or make the cream first.
Prue, 82, told : “I think all-in-one is Mary Berry’s method . . . it’s a little heavier, a little more solid.”
Scenting just the slightest of sneers at her predecessor, Paul mischievously pipes up: “Mary hates Prue! Mary hates Prue!”
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But it backfires on him spectacularly when she responds: “I’ll tell you what, Paul Hollywood, I probably lift up Mary Berry’s cake book a little more than I do yours.”
Prue joined the show five years ago after it moved from the BBC to Channel 4, a move that saw Mary quit out of loyalty to the Beeb and hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc follow suit.
Just as the contest bedded in on its new channel, Prue quickly became part of the Bake Off furniture — and a perfect replacement partner for Paul.
Like Mary, she not only came to the show with decades of culinary experience, she also has a handy penchant for dropping accidental sexual innuendoes.
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Who could forget last year’s series when she left Paul and hosts Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas in stitches with a double entendre to rival the show’s famous “soggy bottoms”.
In a signature challenge to create chouxnuts, Prue suddenly piped up: “Quite often I need two holes that I can squirt. You squeeze the bag. When you meet that bit of resistance, it usually means it’s full.”
But the big difference between Mary and Prue is that the latter has gained a reputation for her colourful glasses and necklaces, some of which have been compared to marital aids.
She is also, dare we say it, even posher than Mary.
If proof were ever needed, she brings up a unique way of doing beans on toast as she chats with Paul.
Discussing her favourite bread, Prue reveals: “I’d say focaccia, because it’s so rich. It has a lot of olive oil in it. You can break it and eat it without butter or anything. You can put a poached egg on top — or a can of baked beans.”
That isn’t the only sign she is a classy lady.
She has become close pals with the Puxley family who own Welford Park, a stately home in extensive gardens that dates back centuries.
Paul also felt attached to the place, even if it wasn’t too gruelling when the show relocated to the luxurious Down Hall hotel, which allowed producers to create a “Covid bubble” where everyone could quarantine ahead of appearing on the show.
Mexican week
To viewers, little had changed as Bake Off still had the backdrop of the English countryside.
But for Paul, returning to Welford Park was a true home-coming and at a very apt time, as the show enters series 13 — a baker’s dozen.
He said: “I had a bit of a moment when I first went to see the tent again. I love filming at Welford. I sat on the grass, not far from the tents. It’s a very reflective place and Bake Off’s been a big part of my life for a while now.”
Though the show is quintessentially British, this year’s line-up of a dozen contestants is arguably the most international ever, as half of them were either born or raised abroad before coming to the UK.
Producers are even throwing in a new Mexican week this year, a million miles from scones and Victoria sponges.
Despite several international versions of the Bake Off — including the US version that Paul also stars on — he maintains Britain is still the greatest baking nation in the world.
Insisting we do everything fantastically well now, he said: “There are some amazing bakers who wouldn’t be out of place in Rome, Umbria, Tours, Burgundy, Austria or the Alps.
“We are nurturing some fantastic bakers in this country. We have some classic bakes, too. Our cakes date back 600 years, some of our breads go back thousands of years, and we’re known for our pastries.”
Bake Off has, of course, become just as well known for its celebrity spin-offs, which have attracted movie, TV and music royalty.
Paul recalls how good US actress Teri Hatcher was on the The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer in 2018 on Channel 4.
He also gushes about the late comedian Victoria Wood, who featured on 2015’s Great Comic Relief Bake Off when the show was still on the Beeb.
But Prue’s standout celebrity memory is Russell Brand’s vagina-themed biscuits on the Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off of 2019.
She said: “I thought, ‘This is going to be so embarrassing’, but he talked so passionately about the birth of his daughter. How this was the giver of life, and the symbol of motherhood. He obviously meant it all.”
That really does take the biscuit.
Meet the contestants
Abdul, 29, from London, engineer
Dream bake: “The shape of Nasa’s Perseverance rover, with macarons for wheels, equipment made from biscuits and crumble for the dust from Mars.”
Carole, 59, from Dorset, supermarket cashier
Dream bake: “I just love orangutans, I have been to Borneo to see them, so I would love to make a life-size one.”
Dawn, 60, from Beds, IT manager
Dream bake: “Hever Castle as an enormous cake – featuring animals in period costumes depicting current and historic royal characters.”
James, 25, from Cumbria, scientist
Dream bake: “A three-tier cake – carrot cake, chocolate and lemon sponge. With black icing for that gothic look in homage to horror movie titans.”
Janusz, 34, from East Sussex, PA
Dream bake: “An edible 1,000-piece jigsaw inspired by a childhood fear of getting into my parents’ elevator in Poland, which does not have a door.”
Kevin, 33, from Lanarkshire, music teacher
Dream bake: “I’d like to really master some French patisserie baking, and nail a hideously technical entremet.”
Maisam, 18, from Gtr Manchester, student
Dream bake: “If I had plenty of time, I would probably make the biggest croissant tower, in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.”
Maxy, 29, from London, architectural assistant
Dream bake: “A city filled with skyscrapers made out of cake, biscuits and sugar work.”
Rebs, 23, from County Antrim, masters student
Dream bake: “A big banquet with endless pies, breads and a cake as tall as me. Medieval style with a modern twist.”
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Syabira, 32, from London, cardiovascular researcher
Dream bake: “A big butterfly cake, because this experience has changed me as a person.”
Will, 45, from London, former charity director
Dream bake: “I once made an anatomically correct model of my heart out of biscuits. It looked stunning and tasted great.”