Prue Leith Leaving The Great British Bake Off to “Spend Summers Enjoying My Garden”

The famous tent will look a little different when The Great British Bake Off returns for Season 17, as judge Prue Leith has announced that she’ll be stepping down from the reality competition series. Her reason is a very fair one: As the lover of boozy confections notes on Instagram, “I’m 86 for goodness sake!”

Leith joined The Great British Bake Off in 2017, succeeding Mary Berry as judge alongside the ever-present Paul Hollywood (who’s been judging the show since the beginning). She’ll be leaving the series after nine seasons and “judging more than 400 challenges” (how many calories is that?). Her plans for post-Bake Off life: “There’s so much I’d like to do, not least spend summers enjoying my garden.” Perhaps she might even write another cookbook for her collection.

There’s no word at this time on who may replace Leith alongside Hollywood this fall, though the show has weathered similar changes in the past. “I have genuinely loved it and I’m sure I’ll miss working with my fellow judge Paul, Alison and Noel and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4,” Leith writes. “Whoever joins the team, I’m sure they’ll love it as much as I have. I feel very lucky to have been part of it.”

The Great British Bake Off is streaming now on Netflix. Check out Leith’s Instagram post below, and for more revisit our interview with Noel Fielding on why hosting the show feels like improv to him.