The Great British Baking Show has found a replacement for longtime judge Prue Leith, 85, who announced her departure from the series—known as The Great British Bake Off in the U.K.—in a statement last Wednesday. British food writer and television cook Nigella Lawson, 66, will replace Leith and join judge Paul Hollywood, along with hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond, in the show’s upcoming season. Lawson published her first cookbook, How to Eat, in 1998 and hosted her cooking show, Nigella Bites, the following year, going on to release more cookbooks and host additional cooking shows. “I’m uncharacteristically rather lost for words right now!” Lawson wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday, adding that “it is daunting to be following in the footsteps of Prue Leith and Mary Berry before her.” Leith joined the show in 2016, following the departure of Mary Berry, 90, when the series moved from the BBC to Channel 4. The two judges had served on the show for 9 and 7 years, respectively. “The Great British Bake Off is more than a television programme, it’s a National Treasure,” Lawson wrote of the show, which has been on air for more than 15 years and arrived on Netflix in 2018.
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