Channel 4 Great British Bake Off Prue Leith issues verdict on 'scarily professional' Paul Hollywood

Channel 4 The Great British Bake Off host Prue Leith has shared her candid thoughts on fellow presenter Paul Hollywood in her new book 'I'll Try Anything Once', describing him as both "scarily professional" and a "prankster". At 84, Prue reflects on her experience with Paul, 58, since joining the show in 2017 when it transitioned from the BBC to Channel 4, which also saw the continuation of Paul's role and the iconic white gingham tent.

In her book, Prue notes: "Paul is scarily professional. Watching him do the job he's done for all those years is daunting. He cuts the cakes without ever dropping a piece and without getting his fingers sticky, something quite beyond me."

She continues: "He asks exactly the right questions of the baker in front of him, then he takes one neat mouthful with a fork, tastes in silence, piercing blue eyes drilling into the baker, and then he delivers judgement: with no erring or umming. Just a spot-on verdict on the design, the colour, the rise, the crumb, the consistency, the flavour. Bang, bang, bang."

Despite his professionalism, Prue reveals that Paul is an "incorrigible prankster", recalling a time he had everyone laughing in the tent after intentionally giving her the wrong name for a contestant, despite her having remembered it correctly initially.

Prue's remarks about Paul come amid speculation regarding her future as a co-host on the programme and the longevity of the show itself, as it nears the end of its 15th season. Prue had previously told Bella magazine that she "won't leave in a hurry", reports Birmingham Live.

In an interview with the magazine earlier this month, Prue made several candid revelations about her outlook on her future, suggesting that being "so near the end" has made her "a bit more reckless now". This was evident in her debut catwalk appearance during London Fashion Week.

She said: "If I was about to try to get a job on Bake Off I probably wouldn't walk down a catwalk in Latex with goth make-up on, but now it's too late. If I want to do it and it sounds like good fun I just think, 'why not? '" Prue also expressed her love for the supportive crowd at the event, saying: "But in spite of all that, I just loved it. The crowd could not have been kinder, whooping and hollering at the gallant old lady (84 and counting) giving it a go. I'm just such an egotist, lapping up the attention."

She admitted that she enjoys similar attention while working on Bake Off, stating in her book: "The thing I love about filming is the pampering, people doing my make-up and hair, fussing about how I look, fetching me in posh cars."

You can watch The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice tonight (Tuesday, November 19) at 8pm on Channel 4.