The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has made a confession about Noel Fielding following Matt Lucas’ exit from the show.
The former Little Britain star announced he would be leaving his role as the co-host earlier this month, and Prue has revealed she would like him to be replaced by “somebody she’s heard of” – admitting that she didn’t know who Noel was before he joined the Channel 4 show in 2017.
“I don't know anything about young comedians. I'd never heard of Noel Fielding until I met him,” she told Hello!. “I'd like somebody that I've heard of [to replace Matt]. I get to love them but the truth is that I've never understood Matt and Noel's jokes anyway.”
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Prue, who joined Bake Off in the same year as Noel, recently expressed her sadness at Matt’s departure when appearing on The One Show, saying: “I'm really sad because I love the guy. He's such fun and he got on so well with Noel. They were just brilliant.
“But I do understand why. If [you're] close to Matt, you know that he never stops working and he has so many projects and people keep asking him to do things and he loves theatre... he absolutely loves that kind of show.
“You can't commit to it if you're on Bake Off, because we film that all summer. So I think he thought three years is enough. But I think he loved it and we're really sorry.”
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Upon announcing his departure, Matt said it had been a “delicious experience”, before thanking the Bake Off team and wishing his successor “all the best”.
His replacement is yet to be unveiled, but comedian and bookies favourite Joe Lycett recently ruled himself out of the running, leaving the field wide open.
The Great British Bake Off airs on Channel 4 in the UK. In the US, it's known as The Great British Baking Show, and streams on Netflix.
