Nigella Lawson named new judge on The Great British Bake Off

Nigella Lawson has been announced as the new judge on The Great British Bake Off, replacing Prue Leith. Lawson will join the programme for its next series, the 17th, which will launch later this year, and will serve alongside Paul Hollywood, who has continued in the role he has held since the baking competition launched on BBC Two in 2010.

Prue Leith stepped down after nine seasons, saying she wanted to spend summers enjoying her garden and explaining: "I'm 86 for goodness sake!" Lawson said: "I'm uncharacteristically rather lost for words right now! Of course it's daunting to be following in the footsteps of Prue Leith and Mary Berry before her, great dames both, but I'm also bubbling with excitement.

The Great British Bake Off is more than a television programme, it's a national treasure - and it's a huge honour to be entrusted with it." Leith added: "I'm thrilled that Nigella is to experience brilliant Bake Off. She's sassy, fun and she knows her onions - and her croissants, cake and crumble." The TV chef's last series, Nigella's Cook, Eat, Repeat, aired on BBC One in 2020, and she has appeared more on Australian television since, including as a judge on My Kitchen Rules in 2022 and 2023 and as a guest judge on the country's version of MasterChef.

She previously worked on Channel 4 with Nigella Bites and was a judge on The Taste, where contestants prepared a single spoon of food for her, Anthony Bourdain and French chef Ludo Lefebvre.

Key Topics

Culture, Nigella Lawson, Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood, My Kitchen Rules, Mary Berry